‘Emilia Perez’ Makes History with 10 Golden Globe Nominations

Emilia Pérez, a musical following a drug kingpin’s transition into a women, scored 10 Golden Globe nominations, making the Netflix film the most nominated musical or comedy film in the award ceremony’s history. 

On Monday, the musical received nominations for Best Picture in the musical or comedy category, the film’s star Karla Sofía Gascón received a Best Actress nomination, while co-stars Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña picked up Best Supporting Actress nods in the musical or comedy category. The film’s director Jacques Audiard also got recognition in the Best Director and Screenplay category. Meanwhile, the film’s musical team, Clément Ducol and Camille, picked up nominations for Best Original Score and “El Mal” is up for Best Original Song.

Emilia Pérez follows a Mexican drug cartel boss (Gascón), married to Jessi (Gomez), who fakes their own murder in order to seek out transgender surgery out of the country. With the help of Saldaña’s Rita, the Los Globales drug lord becomes Emilia Pérez and returns to Mexico to run a charity that locates victims of the drug wars. 

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Gascón discussed her initial resistance to the role. “I didn’t want anything so profound,” she said. “It’s very invasive. But nope, the first role offer I got was about something very tough related to transness. And you know what I said? ‘I’ll do it.’ Some things are so beautiful that you can’t say no.”

The cast of Emilia Pérez — including Gascón, Saldaña, Gomez, and Adriana Paz — jointly won the Best Actress Award at Cannes back in May, and France has submitted the musical to the best international feature category at the Oscars.

Emilia Pérez faces stiff competition with Anora, Challengers, A Real Pain, The Substance, and Wicked all receiving nominations in the Best Picture category for a musical or comedy category. In the drama category, Brady Corbet’s historical drama The Brutalist scooped up seven nominations, and will be up against the following films: A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Nickel Boys, and September 5.