Alert – Zoe Saldana reveals she had to AUDITION for Emilia Perez over ZOOM as did costar Selena Gomez – and now both stars are getting Oscar buzz

Zoe Saldana is one of the biggest Hollywood actresses.

But the 46-year-old Avatar star still had to audition for her role as a lawyer who works for a Mexican drug lord in the musical movie Emilia Perez which is already getting Oscar buzz.

That is because director Jacques Audiard was not familiar with her. 

The star made those comments during the 47th Mill Valley Film Festival in San Rafael, California on Saturday.

‘He didn’t offer me the part, I had to audition for him,’ she said during a panel which DailyMail.com got a front row seat to.

‘I had to audition for my role. I wish Selena [Gomez] were here because she would tell you the same thing, she had to audition for the part,’ added the A-list star.

When asked if the director knows who she was she said, ‘He knows and he doesn’t know. If you go to his apartment he has one chair and like 3,000 books so if you are not in any of those books he probably doesn’t know you are.’

Both Zoe and Saldana have been entered into the Emilia Perez Oscar campaign alone with the star of the movie, Karla Sofía Gascón. 

Zoe Saldana is one of the biggest Hollywood actresses. But the 46-year-old Avatar star still had to audition for her role as a lawyer who works for a Mexican drug lord in the musical movie Emilia Perez which is already getting Oscar buzz

 That is because director Jacques Audiard was not familiar with her. The star made those comments during the 47th Mill Valley Film Festival in San Rafael, California on Saturday

She added that she and Selena had a ‘special connection.’

‘I’m so grateful to have women around me that lift me up in every way. And yes, I have a special connection with these women,’ she shared.

‘I feel so grateful that I get to go on this journey with them. We’re also happy for each other and we cheer each other on, and I love that. That can be rare.’ 

And she said she didn’t know what to make of the movie at first as it was sold as an ‘opera.’ But she was very interested in being a part of the ‘experiment.’

Zoe also said it was not a ‘dealbreaker’ whether she could sing or dance, it was about who could capture the characters.

‘I think the surprise that Jacques ended up taking when he cast me was that that I was a dancer for the first part of my life and I can hold a tune in the shower, and he put it to the test,’ said Saldana.

She also said that her first job was as a dancer. ‘My body is the instrument that I use.’

And she said of her character that she did not have confidence. ‘She was underappreciated.’ But then she gets an offer she ‘can’t refuse’ and doesn’t ‘think of the consequences.’

Her character is a lawyer who gets offered a ton of money to help the wealthy drug kingpin transition into a woman. 

She added: ‘And it all came out in the form of these dances and songs because there are her thoughts.’

‘He didn’t offer me the part, I had to audition for him,’ she said during a panel which DailyMail.com got a front row seat to

‘I had to audition for my role. I wish Selena [Gomez] were here because she would tell you the same thing, she had to audition for the part,’ added the A-list star. Gomez seen in September

Saldana said her character had a ‘fascination and fear’ of Emilia. 

‘What drove me was knowing what she came from and that she didn’t want to go back to that,’ said Zoe about her character who is first seen working for a male corrupt legal dynamo.

Before the panel at the Mill Valley film festival, she was on stage with her cast mates.

Zoe said that she had to write down her introduction to the film because she has ADD and dyslexia which means it’s hard to memorize speeches.

‘They just told us last night that we were going to say something,’ she began. ‘I am dyslexic so it usually takes time to memorize a small part… And I am also ADD.’

She then read her note which covered how she knew the movie would be ‘special’ and she loved the ‘power of women, the power of love and the power of hope’ of the movie.

‘Thank you so much for this recognition this means the world to us,’ she ended before she was handed an award for her performance.

Madonna called the musical a ‘masterpiece’

Stars Saldana, Edgar Ramirez, Gomez, Karla and Adriana Paz

The Avatar actress — who received a coveted French honor with the entire Emilia Perez cast, including  Gomez — flashed a cheerful smile as she stepped onto the red carpet at the glitzy event.

The French musical crime comedy is slated to drop on Netflix next month on November 13. 

The actress was seen showing off her fashionable ensemble as she struck a variety of poses on the red carpet ahead of the screening. 

Zoe took on the role of Rita in the Spanish language film, alongside other stars such as Selena Gomez, Karla Sofia Gascon, Edgar Ramirez and Adriana Paz. 

The premise is: ‘In Mexico, a lawyer receives an unexpected offer to help a feared cartel boss retire from his business and disappear forever by becoming the woman he’s always dreamed of being,’ per IMDB.   

When asked if the director knows who she was she said, ‘He knows and he doesn’t know. If you go to his apartment he has one chair and like 3,000 books so if you are not in any of those books he probably doesn’t know you are.’ Both Zoe and Saldana have been entered into the Emilia Perez Oscar campaign alone with the star of the movie, Karla Sofía Gascón

Here Zoe was seen on the red carpet as she said she liked speaking both English and Spanish for the part 

Emilia Perez first premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival back in May, where it competed for the Palme d’Or. 

The project eventually won the Jury Prize during the festival, while the female ensemble won the Best Actress award. 

In August, the musical crime comedy was released in theaters in France – and is slated to become available on Netflix in the U.S. and U.K. starting on November 13. 

The movie was also selected as the French entry for Best International Feature Film for the upcoming 97th Academy Awards. 

EMILIA PEREZ TRAILER 

The first trailer for the new movie Emilia Perez from Netflix was shared.

Selena Gomez, 31, is seen as the sexy cartel wife Jessi in the trans gangster Spanish language musical.

Karla Sofía Gascón and Zoe Saldaña also appear in the riveting fast-paced clip.

The movie is a crime comedy film written and directed by French icon Jacques Audiard.

It is based on Audiard’s opera libretto of the same name, which was in turn loosely adapted from Boris Razon’s 2018 novel Écoute. 

The movie can be seen in theaters on November 1 and will go to streamers on November 13. 

The first trailer for the new movie Emilia Perez from Netflix was shared on Monday. Selena Gomez , 31, is seen as the sexy cartel wife Jessi in the trans gangster Spanish language musica

The star is seen breaking down in tears as she wears a fur coast and silver earrings

Saldana plays one of the protagonists in the film named Rita Moro Castro,

The film is entirely in Spanish as it takes place in modernday Mexico.

According to IMDB the synopsis of the film is: ‘Lawyer Rita receives an unexpected offer. 

‘She has to help a feared cartel boss retire from his business and disappear forever by becoming the woman he’s always dreamed of being.’

The cast of the film is led by Gascon who portrays male cartel leader Juan ‘Small Hands’ Del Monte who transitions to female Emilia Perez.

In the film Rita is tasked with assisting the escaped cartel leader Emilia with undergoing sex reassignment surgery in order to both evade the authorities and affirm her gender.

In one scene she is seen opening her jacket as she is called a ‘queen’ 

Back in May, the stars of the film attended the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France. 

It was there where Gomez had wiped away tears from her eyes after received an impressive nine-minute standing ovation.

The Love You Like A Love Song singer portrays the cartel leader’s unsuspecting wife in the movie. 

The 31-year-old actress  is also seen in a nightclub

She seems to be having fun as she dances with the women

Zoe Saldana has a supporting role in the edgy film

Her character is named Rita Moro Castro

According to IMDB the synopsis of the film is: ‘Lawyer Rita receives an unexpected offer. She has to help a feared cartel boss retire from his business and disappear forever by becoming the woman he’s always dreamed of being’

It was revealed that the A-lister had signed on to star in Emilia Perez in January 2023. 

The star-studded cast features Edgar Ramirez.

Production on the feature was at first set to take place in 2022, although shooting was delayed by several months due to scheduling conflicts.

Audiard spoke to Variety earlier this year and revealed that he did not initially envision Emilia Perez as a feature-length film.

Here Selena is seen with her drug cartel husband and their two kids

One of the film’s posters feature Gomez alone

Back in May, the stars of the film – pictured left to right: Selena, Edgar Ramirez and Saldana – attended the premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in France

The director told the media outlet that he originally thought that the project would take the form of ‘an opera libretto in four acts,’ although he later changed his mind.

‘It was the first time that an idea [for a film] came to me under this shape,’ he added.

The filmmaker went on to state that he shot the movie predominantly in studios, as working on set gave him ‘more freedom for the parts that are sung and choreographed.’

He described his choice to film his project in a studio as feeling ‘like a return to a primary intuition.’