Films like “I Saw the TV Glow” and “The People’s Joker” have made trans narratives a big part of arthouse cinema this year. That direction continues this fall with the musical crime comedy “Emilia Pérez,” a film about a drug cartel leader who looks to leave her former life behind by transitioning.
Karla Sofía Gascón, who plays the titular cartel leader, told TheWrap’s editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman at our 2024 TIFF Studio sponsored by Moët & Chandon and Boss Design that she searches for roles that are as far removed from her real-life experience as possible — and what could be more far removed than playing a drug lord?
“I think that part of our job as actors and actresses is really to be able to fully understand human beings and to be able to promote an evolution in the people that watch us thanks to this understanding,” she said.