Selena Gomez 'shines' in new Oscar-tipped musical

US vocalist and histrion Selena Gomez joined her co-stars connected the reddish carpet astatine the London Film Festival connected Friday, for the UK premiere of her Oscar-tipped movie Emilia Pérez.

The Spanish-language philharmonic was 1 of the breakout hits of the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, wherever Gomez and 3 of her co-stars were jointly named champion actress.

The others - Zoe Saldaña, Adriana Paz, Karla Sofía Gascón - appeared alongside Gomez successful London, wherever the movie hopes to proceed its momentum successful the awards race.

Emilia Pérez follows a Mexican Cartel person (played by Gascón), who asks a high-powered lawyer named Rita (Saldaña) to assistance him fake his ain death.

But the crushed helium wants to discontinue and vanish from the satellite of transgression isn't what you mightiness expect - the cartel person wants to alteration sex and unrecorded a caller beingness arsenic a woman.

The remainder of the movie focuses connected 4 women, including the newly-transitioned Emilia Pérez, arsenic they each prosecute their ain mentation of happiness successful modern-day Mexico.

Pérez is portrayed by Argentinian trans histrion Gascón, who has been tipped arsenic a imaginable champion histrion contender successful the forthcoming awards race.

Gomez plays the cause lord's wife, who is kept successful the acheronian astir her erstwhile lover's caller identity, portion Paz portrays Emilia's caller romanticist involvement aft transitioning.

All 4 of the film's stars walked the reddish carpet up of the film's UK premiere astatine the Royal Festival Hall arsenic portion of the London Film Festival connected Friday.

French manager Jacques Audiard came up with the thought for the movie aft speechmaking a section successful Boris Razon's 2018 caller Écoute astir a cause lord who changes identity.

Audiard went 1 measurement further for the film, and made it a communicative of changing gender.

"I was little funny successful a alteration of individuality to evade rival cause barons, and much funny successful the alteration of individuality for the involvement of the idiosyncratic she was and is,” the manager told BBC News. "I was much funny successful the past and what led to that transition."

The relation required idiosyncratic precise circumstantial – a trans actress, who was a Spanish speaker, who could besides sing and dance.

Recalling the casting process, Gascón tells BBC News: “I was contacted erstwhile I was successful Mexico by a accumulation team, and was told 'We request an histrion arsenic brainsick arsenic you - you're the lone 1 who tin bash this role, but you request to larn 5 songs for tomorrow!'

“And I was similar 'OK, let's grounds the full medium and we'll spell connected circuit arsenic soon arsenic you want!’" she joked. “But I did say, ‘this is going to beryllium difficult, I'm not a singer'. But the squad successful the film, they worked with maine incredibly, they truly helped maine with each the songs and made it truthful that we could bash the champion enactment possible.”

Asked astir Gascón's casting, Audiard added simply: “Without her determination would beryllium nary film.”

Interestingly, the histrion campaigned to play some the antheral and pistillate roles – successful different words, the quality some earlier and aft transition.

Audiard had primitively intended for a antithetic histrion to play the antheral cause lord Manitas, because, the manager explained, helium was "uncomfortable asking [Gascón] to revisit thing she was moving distant from".

But, Gascón recalled: “I said to Jacques, I privation to play this relation successful the implicit arc, due to the fact that for maine it is important to bash the afloat part. It wouldn't beryllium the aforesaid movie if different histrion played [Manitas]."

That meant utilizing effects and make-up specified arsenic a fake beard, she explained, truthful she could play the cause baron successful the archetypal conception of the musical.

"This movie is this movie due to the fact that the aforesaid histrion played the implicit performance," Gascón continued. "It's that benignant of relation you person erstwhile successful your beingness and I didn't privation to suffer the accidental to play this.”

Reviews of Emilia Pérez, which is released connected Netflix adjacent month, person been mostly affirmative truthful far.

"It's a wild, gritty, glitter-soaked thrust that defies normal and classification," said Entertainment Weekly's Maureen Lee Lenker.

She praised the film's performances, commenting: "Selena Gomez is simply a invited surprise, shedding immoderate remaining hints of her Disney Channel origins successful her portrayal of a hard-loving woman of a narco.

"The film's climax successful peculiar allows Gomez to radiance arsenic a melodramatic histrion successful caller ways. She conveys heartache and anguish done a tortured physicality that propels her into the unpredictable authorities of a pistillate connected the verge of thing dangerous."

There has besides been praise for Gascón, a "wonderful discovery" who gives "a magnificent performance", according to the Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney.

The Telegraph's Tim Robey described the movie arsenic "amazingly assured – it’s clever, earnest, ridiculous, knowing, forceful and perfectly bonkers", portion Hoai-Tran Bui of Inverse said it was "an emotionally fulfilling triumph".

Not each critics were arsenic enthusiastic astir the film, however.

"Emilia Pérez was primitively intended to beryllium an opera, which possibly partially explains its saccharine sentimentality, repetitive lyrics, and diverging communicative branches. But that doesn’t excuse its astir random, whiplash-inducing tonal pivots," said Slant's Kyle Turner.

However, Lauren Bradshaw of Fangirl Freakout said: "Emilia Pérez is simply a magnificent, genre-bending thrill thrust that transcends the emblematic movie construct, breathing a caller burst of excitement into the mode we deliberation astir film."

As an actress, Gomez is champion known for starring successful Only Murders successful the Building, but besides has a palmy singing vocation with hits including Back To You, Wolves and Love You Like a Love Song.

Saldaña, meanwhile, has starred successful a ample fig of blockbusters successful the past 2 decades, with roles successful the Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy franchises.

It remains to beryllium seen whether Emilia Pérez could beryllium a large awards player, but Academy voters whitethorn spot an accidental to recognise Saldaña's container bureau occurrence via this much critically acclaimed work.

Their co-star Adriana Paz is simply a Mexican histrion whose credits see Not Forgotten, Hilda and La Caridad.

But the film's breakout prima is arguably Gascón, who already had a palmy acting vocation earlier transitioning successful 2018.

Praising her show successful his review, Rooney said: "The warmth, the joyous self-realisation, the complexity and authenticity... that illuminate [Gascón's] characterisation nary uncertainty beryllium overmuch to the parallels successful the Spanish star’s beingness - successful her ain words, she was an histrion earlier becoming an actress, a begetter earlier becoming a mother."

Emilia Pérez has already been selected arsenic France's introduction for the champion planetary diagnostic class astatine the Oscars, which instrumentality spot successful March.

More from the London Film Festival:

• Oscars contender Conclave makes London debut

• Elton John movie documents singer's farewell tour

• Saoirse Ronan says WW2 movie is 'incredibly relevant'