Thrilled by the news, Selena Gomez, 31, exclaimed "I'm so excited!" into her phone on Saturday, May 25th. The call came from Zoe Saldaña, 45, informing her that they, along with Karla Sofia Gascón and Adriana Paz, had all been honored with the Best Actress award for their roles in "Emilia Pérez."
Gomez, enjoying a picnic in New York City's Central Park with friends at the time, learned the news across the Atlantic. Meanwhile, in France, Gascón attended the closing ceremony to receive the award in person, where "Emilia Pérez" also took home the prestigious Jury Prize.
Taking to Instagram Stories on Saturday, Gomez expressed her gratitude: "Thank you SO much [Cannes Film Festival] and the whole board!"
Greta Gerwig, the director of Barbie, served as the jury president at Cannes 2024. She explained that the voters were unable to highlight a single standout performer from Emilia Pérez, a musical that tells the story of a drug lord named Gascón who enlists a lawyer, played by Saldaña, to assist with gender confirmation surgery.
"It was a film that truly felt like it captured the essence of the dynamic between these sisters, who are very different yet constantly interacting with each other," Gerwig remarked when asked about awarding Best Actress to all four women. "It seemed as though each of them was shining, and together they formed a cohesive unit. Separating them would have diminished the magic of their collective creation."
Gerwig mentioned that the Cannes jury was keen on recognizing the group's collective effort. She noted, “Individually, each member shines, but together they achieve something truly transcendent.”
Actress Lily Gladstone, who was also a jury member, supported this sentiment when presenting the award. She remarked, “We realized that awarding harmony can't be done by singling out individual notes. They are more powerful when they resonate together, so we decided to honor the Best Actresses as a collective,” she said during the closing ceremony of Flowers of the Killer Moon.
"Emilia Pérez," directed by Jacques Audiard, premiered at the French film festival a week earlier and received a nine-minute standing ovation, bringing Gomez and her co-stars to tears.
“Thank you, Cannes!” wrote the star of Only Murders in the Building on Instagram on May 18. “I’m incredibly honored to be a part of something as special as Emilia Pérez. Jacques, I’m deeply grateful for your faith in me. @zoesaldana, @karsiagascon, @edgarramirez25, and every single person involved in this film truly amazed me. Love you all!”
The musical also gave Gomez the chance to act in Spanish, which was a significant shift for her. "I’m going to downplay myself a bit here. This isn’t about the film; I’m truly honored to be a part of it. I’m not as satisfied with my Spanish performance as I could have been," she confessed to AP in an interview published on May 22. "But overall, I hope it doesn’t affect my performance too much, and I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity. Maybe I could have used more time with it, but I was fully committed and eager to be involved. It was definitely a challenge for me."
Saldaña, whose native language is Spanish, praised her costar's dedication. "She worked incredibly hard," Saldaña said of Gomez. "You did such a fantastic job, and you knew your lines perfectly. The language barrier never interfered with the emotion you conveyed as Jessie, and we were all thoroughly impressed."