Jacques Audiard elaborates on why Emilia Pérez cast features Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, Edgar Ramírez, and Mark Ivanir.

Speaking with the New York Times, Audiard explained why he decided to make Emilia Pérez a musical. The director previously had pondered the idea of a musical for his films A Self-Made Hero and A Prophet. Though he "lacked the courage to do it" those times, he had "long loved opera," which propelled him to make Emilia Pérez. Check out the full quote from Audiard below:

If we had had this conversation three or four months ago, I would’ve said that it just landed on me. But actually, that’s wrong. I think the musical has been chasing me for a long time. Already with my second feature, “A Self-Made Hero,” the composer Alexandre Desplat and I had thought of making a small opera but lacked the courage to do it.

After my film “A Prophet,” [co-writer] Thomas Bidegain and I thought about doing a musical set in the world of narcos, a love story amid the drug trade. But it didn’t happen. When it came to the character that eventually led to “Emilia Pérez,” I knew that I could do it and immediately wrote a short opera in the form of a libretto.

I’ve long loved opera. Now, I’m not an assiduous spectator. Sometimes I’m quite bored. But I have a deep curiosity for this total spectacle. Maybe my desire to do an opera came from my own feeling as a spectator that what’s missing is contemporary opera.

When Audiard was asked if he had any hesitations about the musical approach, he expressed that he wasn't a huge fan of musicals. However, he believes that his pretensions are what encouraged him to take the risk in the first place.

I didn’t have any hesitation. I wasn’t hampered by an excessive love for the musical genre. I don’t actually like that many musicals. It’s a little pretentious to say, but maybe I had the pretension to try to make a musical that I would like from my perspective as a viewer.

What This Means For Emilia Pérez

The Film Is Not A Typical Musical

It is interesting to hear that Emilia Pérez is a musical made by a filmmaker who does not "actually like that many musicals." Oftentimes, movie musicals are flashy endeavors that are made by musical theater lovers, such as the ostentatious historical film The Greatest Showman. However, there are ways in which Emilia Pérez is an atypical musical. For example, many of the songs are very short, lacking the typical arc of a ballad or group number in a Broadway musical. It is still inundated with music since it presents the emotions and inner thoughts that the characters — Emilia, Rita, and Jessi — are experiencing throughout the movie.

Furthermore, Emilia Pérez features a variety of vocal styles that do not all fit the conventional, highly-trained voice mode. Two doctors – one in Singapore and the other in Israel — sound more like typical people bursting into song rather than seasoned stage actors, which adds a different feel to the movie. Even the film's leads bring a variety of vocal styles, adding heterogeneity to the film, which is a refreshing alternative to film adaptations of Broadway musicals such as Dear Evan Hansen.

Our Take On Emilia Pérez As A Musical

There Are Not That Many Original Movie Musicals

Emilia Pérez is worth being a musical for the performance of Saldaña alone, who shines in song and dialogue in the drama. Beyond any one performance, however, Emilia Pérez is a refreshing musical because of its approach while still being centered around the violence in Mexico. While the fact that the movie is a musical may turn off some audiences, I recommend giving this Netflix film a try since it offers a more opera-like alternative.

Source: NYT