Spoiler alert. That’s actress Karla Sofia Gascón playing both roles in Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez.”
The film, now streaming on Netflix, follows Emilia (Karla Sofia Gascón), a feared drug lord who seeks the help of a lawyer, Rita (Zoe Saldaña), to fake her death and undergo gender-affirming surgery.
Gascón portrays a fearsome drug lord before Emilia’s transition. It took a team of artisans who considered Mickey Rourke’s character Randy Robinson in “The Wrestler” to be the prime inspiration. From beginning to end, creating Emilia’s pre-transition look took three hours; an hour and a half of that was prosthetics application.
Prosthetic pieces were applied to Gascón’s nose, jawline and cheeks to make her look as masculine as possible. Makeup department head Julia Floch Carbonel worked closely with SFX makeup artist Jean Christophe Spadaccini to experiment with different noses, damaged skin and hairstyles. Carbonel’s challenge was trying to make Emilia look scary. Carbonel says. “I dug through my inspiration and Mickey Rourke in ‘The Wrestler’ [had] the type of face who fought with bare hands, but also kept a certain coquetry and adornment — tattoos, long hair, thin eyebrows, metal teeth.”
Carbonel also added face tattoos.
Karla Sofía Gascón as Manitas before Emilia Pérez’s transition.
Courtesy of PAGE 114 – WHY NOT PRODUCTIONS – PATHÉ FILMS – FRANCE 2 CINÉMA © 2024.
The character resonates with Gascón on a deeply personal level – if nominated, Gascón would be the first openly trans actress to receive an Academy Award nomination.
Speaking about her post-transition look as Emilia, Gascón worked closely with Carbonel. “I wanted the character to be beautiful and have an image be as far removed from masculinity as possible.” Gascón continues, “Ultimately, the team picked the best color palette (opting for beige, khaki, yellow, brown and peach to enhance her soft features). I really got to trust the team and the ideas they proposed.”
Watch Gascón’s transformation above.
