Elizabeth Taylor Kerry Washington no longer plays the fictional Olivia Pope on “Scandal,” but she still suits up like a gladiator when it comes to expressing her opinions about Washington, D.C. and Hollywood.
20.05.2024 - 14:33 / deadline.com
“We need more female CEOs.”
Such was the declaration today by Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy actress Zoe Saldana at the Cannes Film Festival Kering Suite.
Saldana is winning high praise for her turn as Rita in Jacques Audiard’s Emila Perez. The actress plays an underpaid and underappreciated criminal attorney in Mexico who gets a rich opportunity in repping a cartel lord. However, the kingpin demands to transition to a woman, Emila Perez. But that new identity, life gets complicated.
“I think as women, we’re going got keep creating stories about us for us and forever, but we need more women sitting on boards, because they’re the gatekeepers.”
But Saldana had more advice: “Once those women are there, don’t feel happy that you’re the only woman at the table…make room.”
Specifically, minus three guys for more women. And Saldana wasn’t being anti-guy, rather “bring a chair in, and bring another woman with you.”
“Art survives because we need middle industries to propel us from point A to point B,” Saldana said, “You need a believer who is a shaker and maker. Those seats need to be held by other women.”
Expounding on Emila Perez, Saldana said that Audiard really wanted her to play the part of Rita. The actress had a bit of a reservation going into the project and portraying a Mexican character as she’s of Dominican descent. However, Saldana gave Rita a Dominican backstory.
Saldana had expressed to her agents that she wanted to play a Spanish-speaking role. At a certain point before Emilia Perez, Saldana says she felt that her career plateaued, “but opportunities come” the actress emphasized.
On how she has gone against the grain of typecasting, Saldana explained, “I lean into my team. I would love to say that I’m
Elizabeth Taylor Kerry Washington no longer plays the fictional Olivia Pope on “Scandal,” but she still suits up like a gladiator when it comes to expressing her opinions about Washington, D.C. and Hollywood.
Jack Dunn Several Asian American groups gathered in the Chinatown district of Los Angeles Thursday afternoon to call for comedian Shane Gillis to apologize for using “offensive racial remarks” in his stand-up performances. Leaders of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, Chinese American Citizens Alliance Los Angeles and the Greater Los Angeles Japanese American Citizens League gathered at the Chinese American Citizens Alliance Lodge for a press conference, in which the groups also implored Netflix to cancel Gillis’ new sitcom “Tires” and that Bud Light cut all promotional funding toward his comedy tour unless an apology is issued.
Ruth Langsford has been seen looking fabulous as she debuted a slight makeover as she continues to keep her fans updated on what she's up to after announcing her divorce from Eamonn Holmes.
Katcy Stephan UTA has signed Spanish actor Karla Sofía Gascón for representation. Gascón plays the title role in Jacques Audiard’s film “Emilia Pérez,” for which she made history at the Cannes Film Festival in May as the first transgender woman to win the award for best actress. She shared the honor with co-stars Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz.
Rupert Murdoch is a married man!
A violent criminal has FINALLY been arrested 16 years after his conviction. And as it turned out, he’s been living among us this whole time! In 2005, Tuen Kit Lee broke in
French LGBT+ groups have filed a complaint with the Paris Public Prosecutor against far-right politician Marion Maréchal-Le Pen accusing her of “transphobic insult” for comments she made about Karla Sofía Gascón’s Best Actress win at the Cannes Film Festival over the weekend.
Selena Gomez won the Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival last night (May 25) for her role in the Spanish film Emilia Pérez.The popstar shares the award with three of her co-stars in the film, Karla Sofia Gascón, Adriana Paz and Zoe Saldaña.Emilia Pérez is a musical crime comedy directed by Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust and Bone), and it tells the story of a woman who is tasked with assisting an escaped Mexican cartel leader to undergo sex reassignment surgery.The film received one of the festival’s longest standing ovations after its premiere on May 18, and also won the Jury Prize. It has now been acquired by Netflix.The prestigious win cements Gomez’s gradual move away from music and toward embracing acting full-time.
Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic CANNES — Hosted by “Call My Agent” star Camille Cottin, the awards show for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival competition is underway. Presenters started making political statements right away, as short film jury president and Belgian actor Lubna Azabal called for the release of all hostages in Gaza.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle shocked the world in 2020 when they announced their decision to step down from their roles as senior working royals. They soon relocated to the US, where they started a new life with their son, Archie, and later welcomed their daughter, Lillibet.
Avatar 3 doesn’t premiere in theaters until the end of 2025, but Zoe Saldana just provided an update on the fourth movie in the popular franchise.
Salma Hayek is celebrating an incredible evening at Cannes. The actress and producer shared a post on social media, recapping some of the highlights of Kering’s Women in Motion event. The program, founded around a decade ago, seeks to highlight inequalities of in culture and the arts.
Zoe Saldaña has crafted one of the strongest and steadiest careers in Hollywood. The actress has been involved with numerous lucrative franchises, from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to the Avatar films. In an appearance on Kering’s Women in Motion program at the Cannes Film Festival, Saldaña opened up about her expertise in the industry, discussing gender equality and how she’s handled her dyslexia when learning scripts.
Victoria Stevens The 2024 Cannes Film Festival is underway, with major premieres like “Megalopolis,” “Horizon,” “The Substance,” “Emelia Perez” and more. Check out some of Variety‘s photography from the festival.Hunter Schafer, who appears in Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness, photographed at the Carlton Hotel in CannesJoe Alwyn, who appears in “Kinds of Kindness,” photographed at the Carlton Hotel in CannesKevin Costner, director and star of “Horizon,” photographed in Cannes.Nathalie Emmanuel, who stars in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis,” photographed in Cannes.Ron Howard, who was honored by Variety in Cannes, photographed after his Palais photo call.
Tatiana Siegel Zoe Saldaña says the future of female representation in the film industry is dependent on women continuing to shatter the glass ceiling. And those who do cannot get complacent. “We need more female CEOs.
Cannes Film Festival. The actress and singer, 31, was moved to tears after her new film, “Emilia Perez” received a 9 minute-long standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday. This marked the longest standing ovation for any movie premiere at the France-based cinema bash so far this year.A Variety video shows Gomez smiling and tearing up as the crowd cheers after watching her performance in the film.Directed by Jacques Audiard, “Emilia Perez” is about a Mexican cartel leader, played by Karla Sofía Gascón, who is seeking gender-affirming surgery.
Selena Gomez is turning heads with her style.
Ellise Shafer “Emilia Pérez,” the latest Cannes-premiering film from French auteur Jaques Audiard, is many things at once: a gritty crime film, an ambitious musical and a spotlight on trans issues. At the center of the Spanish-language movie are three women – Rita (Zoe Saldaña), Jessi (Selena Gomez) and the title character Emilia Pérez (Karla Sofía Gascón) — who become forever bonded by their traumatic experiences in Mexico City’s cartel-run underbelly. The confounding elements of the film are what first attracted Saldaña to her role, an overworked lawyer who is kidnapped by a druglord (Gascón) and tasked with assisting her character on a mission to get gender-affirming surgery.
Emilia Perez” got personal about the politics of their genre-bending musical on Sunday. Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña and Édgar Ramírez fielded questions at a press conference for the Jacques Audiard project about the film’s setting in Mexico — a country torn by cartel violence as it heads for a summer election. A Mexican journalist asked the actors if they could reconcile the beauty of the film with the real world corruption occurring in the nation.
Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic SPOILER ALERT: The following review contains some spoilers. Like a rose blooming amid a minefield, it’s a miracle that Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” exists: a south-of-the-border pop opera about a most unlikely metamorphosis and the personal redemption it awakens in a stone-cold criminal. With a Palme d’Or to his name and the cojones to tackle his third movie in a culture and language that are not his own (after “Dheepan” and “The Sisters Brothers”), the director of “A Prophet” takes audiences into the macho realm of Mexican cartels, where Manitas del Monte — a fearsome drug lord with a silver grill and a voice like gravel — wants out, not because he’s had a crisis of conscience, but because he’s decided to embrace his true self … as a woman.