Zoe Saldaña reacts to 'Emilia Pérez' backlash fresh off Oscar win: 'I don't share your opinion'
Despite winning two Oscars on Sunday, Netflix's "Emilia Pérez" couldn't escape addressing its controversies in the backstage pressroom.
Zoe Saldaña, who won best supporting actress, didn't back down when a reporter pressed her about criticism the film has drawn for its depiction of Mexico.
"First of all, I'm very, very sorry that you and so many Mexicans felt offended," she said in the Oscars pressroom. "That was never our intention."
She added, however, that the "Emilia Pérez" team "came from a place a love, and I will stand by that."
The film's plot centers on a drug kingpin played by Karla Sofía Gascón (the first openly transgender actress to be nominated in the best actress category) who is desperate to live a different, female existence and undergoes gender reassignment surgery. Emilia then also becomes an activist in an effort to atone for her wrongdoings as a cartel leader.
Among other controversies − including Gascón's racist and xenophobic tweets − the film has been criticized by people who claim it downplays and exploits Mexico's drug war problem, which has led to the mass disappearance of people at the hands of criminal organizations, a deep point for many with ties to the country.
Since 2006, Human Rights Watch reports, Mexico has seen an estimated 90,000 disappearances, and more than 460,000 homicides including politicians, students and journalists, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Between 2007 and 2023, the Mexican government counted nearly 6,000 clandestine graves, per the International Center for Transitional Justice.
Zoe Saldaña on backlash: 'The heart of this movie was not Mexico'
"I don't share your opinion," Saldaña continued to tell the reporter. "For me, the heart of this movie was not Mexico. We weren't making a film about a country. We were making a film about four women."
"And these women could have been Russian, could have been Jamaican, could have been Black, could have been from Detroit, could have been from Israel, could have been from Gaza, she said. "And these women are still very universal women that are struggling every day but trying to survive systemic oppression and trying to find their most authentic voices."
Saldaña capped off her answer by saying she's open to continuing conversation around the film.
"I'm also always open to sit down with all my Mexican brothers and sisters and, with love and respect, (to have) a great conversation on how 'Emilia Pérez' could have been done better," she said. "I have no problem. I welcome it."
'Emilia Pérez' director on not addressing trans community in acceptance speech
The "Emilia Pérez" winners also drew heat for not mentioning the trans community in any of their acceptance speeches.
After the film won for best original song, the filmmakers were given a chance to rectify that, when a reporter pointed this out to them in the pressroom and asked if they would like to say anything about the trans community now.
Director Jacques Audiard replied: "Since I didn’t win best film or best director, I didn’t have the opportunity to speak, but had I had that opportunity, I would have spoken up." Both of those categories he mentioned went to "Anora."