What first drew you to Emilia Pérez?
My team called me and said that they had just left a meeting with director Jacques Audiard and he was looking to cast his new movie, and they felt that there was a role that I was really right for… my heart almost exploded inside my chest. And then having a Zoom meeting with him, I was so nervous because he’s one of the directors I absolutely adore. He was so approachable and made me feel so safe.
Landing the part?
We ended up having two-hour conversation via Zoom – and it was supposed to be audition! I needed to sing and maybe read some sides. We went straight into singing after we had conversation, and it was amazing. I remember leaving that Zoom and thinking, ‘If I don’t do this movie, I’m going to be so sad’. When it’s serendipitous, you’re like, ‘Oh my God, he felt it too!’
The non-audition audition
It was still an audition… it could have been a wonderful conversation and then dramatic thumbs down gesture. But we had a second Zoom where I did read scenes, and we did have conversations of, ‘Hypothetically speaking, if you were to play Rita, how would you explain an Afro-Caribbean woman living in Mexico City?’
Obviously, these are questions that it’s OK. It’s OK to have those inquiries, even though as a Latina who has lived in Latin America, the multicultural breakdown of people per country is very normal for me. But I understand that it is not normal for many people that just get to superficial or topical introductions to certain countries. It was a five-minute conversation. I was like, she was born in Dominican Republic, but then she ended up there studying and now she decides to pursue her career there.’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, that’s fine. Great. So we want you to play Rita.’ I was just like, ‘What? Wait a minute, we’re moving really fast!’
Every other day was a favorite on-set memory! Putting together Rita for the very first day of shooting. There was a suit I needed to wear under the suit that I ended up wearing, and the bushy eyebrows, the braid, no makeup… There were gold shoes Rita wears in her ‘before.’ Every character goes through journey of before and after – never at the degree that Emilia does – but Rita has her own transformation.
The first scene we shot was the Alegato, which is the very first scene of the movie when you see her putting together a closing argument for this case she’s building. I remember just thinking, ‘This is going to be a wonderful summer, a beautiful experience and dream come true.’ I just felt that and I remember I got really emotional.
Tapping into Rita’s mindset for Emilia Pérez?
Revisiting and taking a walk down memory lane through sense memory, and finding moments in my life where I felt completely overlooked and misunderstood. Tapping into psychosocial breakdown of colonized nations, where their identity is reliant on class systems that are not ladders, but are actually formed in chains. There’s a color system, a skin color system. So going back to that, which is a quite painful journey for me, but understanding its importance to finally be a part of stories that are telling these realities of Latin America, or other nations.
Advice for getting into character?
You have to shed yourself out of it, because you always kind of go, ‘Well, I’m gonna do this with the character’. And at the moment that thought comes into mind, don’t. It’s OK to come into work and not know what you’re gonna do, because it doesn’t depend on you. It depends on what your other actor is giving you, what your director wants you to do, the environment they’ve designed. If you come already with an idea, it’s such a rigid way and one-dimensional way of working, and you’re not really open.
Which character have you felt most connected to?
I try to connect with characters all the time… you have to be present in order for you to give 120%. But I have a special affinity with Neytiri in Avatar. I worked so hard for that character, and I had to really de-humanize myself to become this humanoid. It was like going to school, and I never went to school – I always had a chip on my shoulder. Well, it’s kind of an insecurity of, ‘I’m less than, I will always be less than as an artist because I don’t have the training, the background, the pedigree that sustains all the work that I’m wanting to do.’ But for Neytiri, I had gone to school because I had many months of training.
First time a fan spotted you?
I was walking around Times Square with a friend, and we were talking about a project. There was a group of high school girls and they had seen Center Stage. I remember getting really dysregulated because they were screaming, and I almost covered one of their mouths! I remember thinking, ‘Oh, that was awkward,’ and telling myself, ‘Well, I need to know what to do when that happens, if it does happen.’
But then I completely felt ashamed. Like, ‘Oh, I can’t, that means I’m expecting to be famous.’ I’ve never normalised fame in my life. I don’t know how to live in it. I really don’t. So it always catches me by surprise when people recognise me.
Feeling empowered?
Sometimes it’s just getting everything on my list done for that day. What makes me feel empowered, too, is empowering other women. It’s just stepping outside of my comfort zone, not being afraid to be there for other women. Not having that fear that if I’m there for others, I’m not gonna be there for myself.
We need to really be honest with ourselves, and a lot of us are very reserved and sometimes a little too stingy with our compliments. You have to be generous; when you see it and you feel it, then say it and do it. That’s very empowering. And say no, and advocating for other women to say no when they need to, when it feels right for them.
Lesson you’ve had to learn the hard way?
You know, I don’t mean to sound arrogant – I think that for the most part, when I needed to say no, I’m quite comfortable saying no. Now saying no is… I’m learning when I’m overbooked, when my fountain of work is full and I can’t take on any more. I’m learning to say no more, so that I can say yes to my family, to family time and personal time for sure.
One final thing to say about Emilia Pérez?
I just wanna say thank you to everyone that has been drawn to Emilia Pérez. It means so much to all of us women. Trans women, women of color, immigrant women – women trying to find their most authentic self and trying to be free. Thank you for making space for female-driven narratives in films and in art.
Emilia Pérez is available to watch now on Netflix.
