Zoe Saldaña SaysEmilia PérezCast Are Still Close After Filming: 'We're Rooting for Each Other' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Zoe Saldaña attends the ‘Emilia Pérez’ premiere during the 62nd New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on September 30, 2024 in New York City.Photo:Theo Wargo/Getty

Theo Wargo/Getty

Zoe Saldañaonly has wonderful things to say about her time with the cast ofEmilia Perez.

“It’s wonderful,” Saldaña says of the cast’s tight bond. “To this day, there’s so much love, there’s so much respect. We’re rooting for each other. We’re happy for each other. We’re fixing each other’s makeup and wardrobes.”

“You know, every time on the red carpet, we were so excited to be a part of this project to be working with [director] Jacques Audiard that we were kind of childlike when we were shootingEmilia,” she continues.

For Saldaña, even attending premieres like the NYFF or a previous debut for the film at theCannes Film Festival, allows the cast to “still maintain that joy because we knew we signed up for something special.”

“We knew what it meant to us,” she concludes. “And knowing that it’s becoming something special to so many people is impactful. It’s really impactful. So I think that that re-bonds us all over again.

Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia Pérez and Adriana Paz as as Epifanía in ‘Emilia Pérez’.Shanna Besson/PAGE 114

Shanna Besson/PAGE 114

The rest of the film’s cast has also been candid about how much it meant to them to participate in the movie. On Aug. 19, Gomez, 32 shared anInstagramvideo of themoment she found out she was cast. In the clip, she can be seen her holding back tears immediately after getting the call.

“I can’t believe I got the movie! I’m so gonna cry right now, I don’t want to cry,” she says in the video.

Zoe Saldana, Adriana Paz, Karla Sofia Gascón and Selena Gomez attend the “Emilia Pérez” Premiere during the 62nd New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall on September 30, 2024 in New York City.TheStewartofNY/Getty

TheStewartofNY/Getty

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Per a synopsis on Cannes' website, the film follows an “overqualified and undervalued” Rita (Saldaña) who “is a lawyer at a large firm that is more interested in getting criminals off the hook than bringing them to justice.”

It adds, “One day, she is given an unexpected way out, when cartel leader Manitas hires her to help him withdraw from his business and realize a plan he has been secretly preparing for years: to become the woman he has always dreamt of being.”

Emilia Pérezis in select theaters Nov. 1; the movie begins streaming on Netflix Nov. 13.

source: people.com