Why were Mexicans offended by ‘Emilia Pérez?’ Zoe Saldaña issues apology in wake of Best Supporting Actress win

Zoe Saldaña won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 2024 musical crime film Emilia Pérez on March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. However, in the wake of her win, a journalist in the post-award press conference shared with her how the movie had been "really hurtful" for Mexicans as Mexico was "at the heart of the film."

In response, Zoe Saldaña shared that she was "very, very sorry that many Mexicans felt offended" by the portrayal of Mexico in Emilia Pérez, adding it was "never our intention."

"We spoke from a place of love. I don't share your opinion. For me, the heart of this movie was not Mexico. We were making a film about friendship. We were making a film about four women," the 46-year-old explained.

The American actress went on to add that while she stood by her film, she is open to "sit down with all of my Mexican brothers and sisters" so they can talk about the film and have respectful conversations on how Emilia Pérez could have been done better.

Emilia Pérez drew criticism from the Mexican and LQBTQ+ communities seemingly for the subjects it explored. The plot revolves around a male Mexican drug lord (played by Karla Sofía Gascón) who aims to transition into a woman with the help of his lawyer (played by Zoe Saldaña) and seek "restorative justice" for the country's "disappeared," aka the dead and missing, who had been the victims of drug-related crimes.

As per BBC, the genre-mixing, characterization of transgender protagonist, lack of representation of Mexicans among the lead cast and crew, and general depiction of Mexico reportedly did not sit well with certain sections of the audience.

The New York Times also added "minimization of cartel violence" to the list or the trivialization of Mexico's "ongoing struggle with organized crime."

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Exploring more why the Mexican community rallied against Emilia Pérez

Following its world premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in May 2024, Emilia Pérez earned a lot of criticism from different individuals and groups. For instance, US-based LGBTQ+ organization Glaad called the trans characterization in the film "retrograde" despite lead actress Karla Sofía Gascón becoming the first trans woman to be nominated for best actress.

Similarly, Francisco Peredo Castro, a film expert and a history and communications professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico called it a "real disaster."

Mexican screenwriter Héctor Guillén called out the film following its Golden Globes victories. He took to X and tagged the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in a post the day after the Golden Globes and shared a poster reading:

"Mexico hates Emilia Pérez/ Racist Euro Centrist Mockery/ Almost 500K dead and France decides to do a musical."

Later, Guillén told BBC he tried to "copy the Hollywood way of promoting films [for awards consideration], you know, when they basically say, 'amazing film.'"

"I wanted to do a counterpart of that, I wanted to get another vision out of what 'Emilia Pérez' is to many of us Mexicans," Hector added.

Guillén further described the movie's director Jacques Audiard as "a great filmmaker" who was "well-intentioned," but slammed his decision to shoot it in studios outside of Paris and his way of handling a sensitive national subject. He called the dialogues "inorganic" and cited the latest Mexican government figures, saying:

"There's a drug war, nearly 500,000 deaths [since 2006] and 100,000 missing in the country. We are still immersed in the violence in some areas. You are taking one of the most difficult topics in the country, but it's not only any film, it's an opera. It's a musical. So, for us and many activists, it's like you are playing with one of the biggest wars in the country since the Revolution [in the early 20th Century]."

He continues:

"Part of the plot is about searching mothers of the disappeared [searching for their children], one of the most vulnerable groups in Mexico. And there were zero words in the four Golden Globe acceptance speeches to the victims," Hector condemned.

Another point highlighted by the screenplay writer and several others online was why more Mexicans were not included in the production of Emilia Pérez. He mentioned that the makers disregarded Mexican industry screenwriters, creators, writers, and actors other than Adriana Paz, adding that she did an "amazing job."

Zoe Saldana defending her film at the Oscars backstage (Image via Reddit/Creative_Sea2433)

He wished the production had been "more open" to advice from within Mexico and figure out the "correct way to tell the story."

"Because I did think at the end of the film, there was an opportunity to be a great, great, audacious film in the right way… in a few years this movie will be one of the biggest embarrassments of European film," Hector told NY Times.

According to Hector Guillén's conversation with BBC, the film's Mexican-born casting director Carla Hool made a "really painful" comment at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Q&A. Here, the director claimed she was looking for Latin/Mexican actors but finally chose the "best ones for the job."

Notably, out of four leading actresses, Adriana Paz is Mexican. Meanwhile, Zoe Saldaña is an American citizen with roots in Dominican Republic. Karla Sofía Gascón is Spanish who has worked in the Mexican TV industry, while Selena Gomez is American with Mexican heritage.

Selena Gomez's portrayal was called out by Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez on the Mexican film podcast Hablando de Cine last year. Derbez criticized Gomez's Spanish pronunciation as "indefensible" while talking to host Gaby Meza. In response, Selena commented on a TikTok post carrying the podcast video that she "did the best I could with the time I was given."

Amid this, Derbez apologized for his remark, while Meza said the interview was not a criticism of Selena Gomez's acting or her Spanish accent. Gaby explained that their discussion was meant to inform people that if they didn't speak Spanish, they should watch her "good performance with subtitles."

"What isn't good is that there's a disconnect between the words she says and her understanding of them. Her body, her voice, her tones say something, but the dialogue doesn't match with what she's saying. And that's not Selena's fault because I think she wasn't given the proper indications, the tools for her performance," the podcaster noted.

A netizen reviews Emilia Perez Oscar wins (Image via X/@RobertoMorris)

Gaby Meza added that Emilia Pérez is "designed for export" with a French director American actresses such as Gomez, and they were trying to communicate in Spanish.

"If you go to resorts in Mexico, tourists can buy things that look Mexican, but they're made elsewhere. With this movie, you might see references to Mexican culture, and it might speak about Mexico, but it wasn't made in Mexico," Meza concluded.

Camila Aurora, a Mexican trans content creator, also made the short film parody Johanne Sacreblu in response to Emilia Pérez. It was shot in the streets of Mexico City, where Mexican artists used stereotypical French accents and attire. As per NY Times, it gained 3.2 million views on YouTube.

However, unlike online theories that Jacques Audiard never set foot in Mexico, the French director of Emilia Pérez went to Mexico many times to search for filming locations and cast Mexican actors.

"I had the idea of making an opera of Emilia Pérez and then I got a bit scared, I felt like I needed to inject some realism into it. So I went to Mexico, and we scouted there during the casting process as well, maybe two, three times and something wasn't working," Audiard told BBC.

He added:

"And I realised that the images I had in my mind of what [the film] would look like just didn't match the reality of the streets of Mexico. It was just too pedestrian, too real. I had a much more stylised vision in my mind. So that's when we brought it to Paris and reinjected the DNA of an opera within it."

Jacques Audiard refused to speak about Emilia Pérez (Image via X/@TheJonathanSim)

Regardless, during a press conference in Mexico earlier this year, Audiard apologized, saying that the film was meant as an "opera" and was thus not "realistic." He further mentioned,

"If there are things that seem shocking in Emilia Pérez then I am really sorry… Cinema doesn't provide answers, it only asks questions. But maybe the questions in Emilia Pérez are incorrect."

While a large part of the Mexican community condemned the film, certain sections lauded the cast and crew. For instance, filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro, called Audiard "one of the most amazing filmmakers alive" whose vision of the film was "hypnotic and beautiful" in an on-stage moment at a Directors Guild of America screening in October 2024.

Likewise, BBC reported that director and writer Issa Lopez called the movie a "masterpiece." Visual designer Alberto Muñoz told the NY Times said he understood the reservations about the movie but also appreciated its technical aspects, calling it an "entertaining movie."

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Exploring more about Zoe Saldaña's recent apology

Following her recent Oscar win for Emilia Pérez in the Best Supporting Actress category, Zoe Saldaña shared that the women portrayed in the film could have been Russian, Dominican, Black from Detroit, Israel, or Gaza, instead of Mexican, yet the plot would have been relevant.

"And these women are still very universal women that are struggling every day, but trying to survive systemic oppression and trying to find the most authentic voices. So, I will stand by that." Zoe added.

The daughter of immigrant parents of American-Dominican origin who also won the Golden Globes in February in the same category told BBC that these were "really sensitive times where communities are very vocal about being represented accurately."

She mentioned respecting that as her primary goal while also allowing space for "gentle filmmakers" like Audiard to portray their vision despite being not a part of that community, as they often had the "best story to tell" and admirable approach.

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Emilia Pérez was nominated in 13 categories at this year's Oscars but only won two. Besides Zoe, the song El Mal won the Best Original Song.