Selena Gomez has apologised following actor Eugenio Derbez’s criticism of her work on Emilia Pérez.
The Mexican-born actor appeared on the Hablando de Cine podcast, where he confessed to finding the Calm Down singer’s acting “indefensible.”
In the newly released film, Gomez portrays Jessi del Monte, who speaks in Spanish.
Watch the video above.
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Derbez felt she was not right for the movie as Gomez is not fluent in Spanish, though she learnt as much as she could ahead of her role.
“Selena is indefensible,” Derbez said per Deadline. “I [watched the film] with people, and every time she had a scene, we looked at each other to say to each other, ‘Wow, what is this?'”
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Gaby Meza, the podcast’s host, defended Gomez, noting that she has been nominated for various awards for her work on Only Murders in the Building and is a “very talented actress.”
“Spanish is not her main language, not her secondary or fifth language. And that’s why I feel like she doesn’t know what she’s saying. If she doesn’t know what she’s saying, she can’t give her acting any nuance,” Mexa explained.
“I’m glad you’re saying it because I said, ‘Why is no one talking about that?’ Derbez said.
“I feel like they don’t speak Spanish,” Derbez added. “If you watch a Russian film or a German film that is subtitled to Spanish and you see someone [speaking in the original language], you say, ‘Oh, look. OK! Interesting.'”
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Derbez says English-speaking viewers wouldn’t notice that Gomez wasn’t at her best because they read the subtitles before revealing that the director, Jacques Audiard, doesn’t speak English or Spanish.
“I felt it was an interesting experiment,” he said. “How funny that a director… I liked the film, aside from the Selena [scenes] that jump at you, because it has salvageable things.
“But I told myself, ‘How weird that 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 made a film in Russian without knowing the culture or speaking Russian and talk in French.”
A podcast clip was then shared to TikTok, where Gomez saw it and addressed the critiques.
“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.”
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