Selena Gomez Responds to Criticism of Her Spanish in ‘Emilia Pérez’
Selena Gomez is one of four leading ladies in director Jacques Audiard’s musical crime thriller Emilia Pérez. Gomez plays the ex-wife of cartel leader Emilia, played by Karla Sofía Gascón. In the film, the Only Murders in the Building star speaks in Spanish, which she has said she is not fluent in, though she spoke it with her family when she was a child.
Gomez recently responded to criticism of her language skills from actor and producer Eugenio Derbez, who spoke about the movie and Gomez’s performance on the Hablando de Cine podcast. Gomez spotted a clip of Derbez on TikTok, and commented on the video, saying, “I understand where you are coming from..I’m sorry I did the best I could with the time I was given. Doesn’t take away from how much work and heart I put into this movie.”
She added, “Also do not ever say my fans are the problem standing up, as you say, for me.”
In his comments, Derbez said of her performance, “Selena is indefensible. I was there [watching the movie] with people, and every time a scene came [with her in it], we looked at each other to say, ‘Wow, what is this?’”
Podcast host Gaby Meza interjected to say Gomez is a “very talented actress” and a “very good singer.”
“Spanish is neither her primary nor secondary language nor fifth,” Meza continued. “And that’s why I feel she doesn’t know what she is saying, and if she doesn’t know what she’s saying, she can’t give her acting any nuance. … And that is why her performance is not only unconvincing but uncomfortable.”
Derbez agreed, saying, “I’m glad you’re saying that because I was saying, ‘I can’t believe no one is talking about it?’”
He then wondered if audiences who don’t speak Spanish aren’t aware of the issue.
“I feel like what happens is they don’t speak Spanish,” he said. “If you watch a Russian film or a German film that is subtitled in Spanish and you see someone [speaking in the original language], you say, ‘Oh, look. OK. How interesting.’”
The actor then wondered why Audiard, who is French and doesn’t speak Spanish or English as a first language, had his actors in Emilia Pérez speak Spanish and English.
“I feel like he did a very interesting experiment,” Derbez said. “I liked the film apart from Selena’s [scenes] that jump at you because it has manageable things. But I was saying, ‘How strange because if the director doesn’t speak English or Spanish and the movie is in Spanish and English, and it takes place in Mexico and you don’t understand the culture.’ It’s like if I wanted to make a film in Russian without knowing the culture or Russian and speaking in French.”
On December 8, he issued an apology on social media, saying, “I truly apologize for my careless comments—they are indefensible and go against everything I stand for. As Latinos, we should always support one another. There’s no excuse. I was wrong, and I deeply admire your career and your kind heart.”
The four stars of Emilia Pérez, Gomez, Gascón, Adriana Paz, and Zoe Saldaña, were together awarded the Cannes Film Festival’s best actress prize this year for their performances.
