In her first major casting since breaking out with Cannes hit Emilia Perez, Karla Sofía Gascón will star in Las Malas, a Spanish-language adaptation of the dark fairy tale novel Bad Girls by author Camila Sosa Villada.

Armando Bó, who won the Oscar for co-writing Alejandro Iñárritu’s 2014 drama Birdman, will direct, and is co-penning the script with Josefina Licitra.

The project hails from About Entertainment, based in Argentina and Uruguay; Infinity Hill, best known for their Oscar-nominated film Argentina 1985; and Suma Content, the Spanish independent global production company.

Girls was the debut novel by Villada, an Argentinian actress who is also trans. A blend of the magical and gritty everyday street life, the novel was first published in 2019 and went on to win several awards, including the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize at the Guadalajara International Book Fair, the Grand Prix de L’Héroïne awarded by the French magazine Madame Figaro, and the Spanish Narrative Prize awarded by the Barcelona bookstore Finestres.

Gascón broke out with Emilia Perez, the bold crime musical directed by Jacques Audiard that Netflix picked up out of Cannes. Gascón was honored with the Cannes best actress award, marking the first time a transgender woman has won the award.

Other accolades followed for the actress, including nominations for a Critics Choice, as well as being honored with a European Film Award for best European actress.

Emilia Pérez was selected to be France’s Oscar entry for the best international feature category.