The role of Selena Gomez in the Spanish musical Emilia Pérez was her longtime dream come true. Although most audiences applauded and praised his performance, Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez criticized it and called his use of a foreign language “inexcusable”.
The Same Old Love singer, who is not a native speaker, plays Jesse Del Monte in Jacques Audiard’s musical crime drama.
“I watched (‘Emilia Perez’) with people, and every time she had a scene, we’d look at each other and say, ‘Wow, what is this?'” Derbez said of Gomez’s performance. When the criticism went viral on TikTok, it extended its reach to Wizards of Waver Place alumni.
Commenting on the post, she said, “I understand where you’re coming from. I am sorry, I did my best in the time I was given.” The singer explained that her investigation does not take away the fact that she had put her heart and soul into the character.
Habilando de Cine host Gaby Meza agreed with Derbez’s sentiments. Although she called the Bad Liar singer a “very talented actress”, she explained that since Spanish is not her main language, it affected the “nuances” of her performance.
“I feel like she doesn’t know what she’s saying,” she said. “If she doesn’t know what she’s saying, she can’t give any nuance to her acting.” However, he admitted that he enjoyed the film apart from Gomez’s role. He also told that the director of the film is also not a native of the language in which he has made the film.
‘This happens in Mexico and you don’t understand the culture.’ It’s like I made a film in Russian without knowing Russian culture or speaking Russian and without speaking French,” Meza said.
