Why Karla Sofia Gascón insisted on playing Emilia Pérez before and after her transition

For Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón, playing the titular role was something she knew she had to fight for. But she didn't just want to play Emilia — she also insisted on playing the character before her gender-affirming surgery, when she was known as Manitas del Monte, a violent and overtly masculine Mexican cartel boss.

"I knew I was ready to show, by way of example, as they say in Spain," she says, laughing when speaking with Entertainment Weekly. "I proposed [playing both roles] to [director] Jacques [Audiard] because I knew I could do it perfectly well." 

In the vivacious, deliciously bold, and soapy musical, Manitas fakes their own death with the help of beleaguered attorney Rita (Zoe Saldaña) and transitions into the woman they always wanted to be. After years hidden away, Emilia emerges, homesick for the family — wife Jessie (Selena Gomez) and their two young sons — she left behind. So, she employs Rita once more to unite her with her family while also keeping her secret.

In an interview conducted in Spanish and translated to English, Gascón tells EW why she wanted to play Emilia before and after her transition and what she hopes audiences will take away from the film's Mexican themes.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Why did you insist on playing Emilia before and after her transition?

KARLA SOFÍA GASCÓN: There are a lot of things that the movie talks about without being direct, so that's why I wanted the experience of doing both parts. You're right, I did insist on doing both roles because I know my capabilities and I knew I was ready to para muestra un botón basta (show by way of example), as they say in Spain, that I had the ability to play the character. When you know what you want to do and that you can do it, fight for it. That's one piece of advice I can give to everyone: to go for what they believe in, for their dreams, and for what they believe they can do well. But, say if I had studied astronomy, I would be the one that wants to go to space, right? That's why for me [as a trans woman], I wanted to do both parts.

Did playing both roles affect you in any way?

The journey playing both roles, for me, has been marvelous and, in a way, a dream because it allowed me to experience being human in both forms. To be more clear, the experience of the polarities that divide us, that should not divide us, from the masculine and the feminine, a little bit of good and evil, and of violence and love. It's a beautiful game to be able to enter something so deep and so well-constructed. Because we ran the risk that if (the film) were any other way, it could have turned out to be a very, let's say, very superficial. In the end, to have participated in such an important project has been a wonderful experience. I have loved representing both parts of this character because I think they give him an arc, which rarely can be achieved through acting alone. To be able to interpret a person like this is quite a challenge for any type of actor or actress.

How do you hope the Latino and Hispanic community receive the film and its themes?

I think a wonderful thing has happened outside of the performances. Socially, a kind of pineapple has been created around the community and around my character. Everyone is looking forward to seeing her, hoping that wonderful things will happen to her and also hoping that Spanish is finally heard more in the world as well. I think, on many, many occasions, the Latino community feels ignored or relegated. So, minority after minority after trans minority has gathered around me because I feel like I represent so many minorities. In the end, we Hispanics are such a big mountain of love and emotion.

Netflix has a huge worldwide audience. Do you think the world is open and ready to discover Latin American and Hispanic cinema? 

Latin America has so many wonders everywhere, and Mexico is full of amazing things that people don't know about. The first time I went to Mexico, I felt ignorant. I had gone with the idea that it was the country they had sold me in the old movies, that it was a desert with four gentlemen with a hat and a mustache and cacti everywhere. But then I began to discover a country full of wonders, full of wealth, wonderful archeology, and Mayan Aztec culture. You go all over Latin America and discover that there is so much to discover. What can I tell you about the Inca people? What can I tell you about all the natural and architectural beauties that they have in all the parts of South America, Central America, and North America? We have a language, too. It's incredible that we have not even appreciated the cultural wealth both in Spain and in the world.... We should be more united sometimes than we are. I think we have many things to give to the world, many things to learn, and obviously, many things to improve, but I think we are a unity. We're people who want to work and get ahead and enjoy life.

What did you learn from this film that you hope to take with you from now on? Do you want to make films in the United States? 

I want to work with people who offer me the most beautiful characters and I'll go anywhere! If the job is in Hollywood, I'll go to Hollywood. If it's Taiwan, I'll go to Taiwan! Doing new and different things fills me with enthusiasm, but it also has a part that is very tiring, which is to start over and over and over. Actors and actresses in the end, we are always starting. This project ends and in the end you have to prove it again in the next job and then again. It's a very hard and very long road, but also very beautiful. 

Emilia Pérez is now streaming on Netflix.