Selena Gomez’s role in the Spanish musical Emilia Pérez was her longtime dream come true. Although the majority of viewers appreciated and praised her performance, Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez slammed it and called her usage of the foreign language “indefensible.”
The Same Old Love singer who is not a native speaker portrays Jessi del Monte in Jacques Audiard’s musical crime drama.
“I [watched ‘Emilia Pérez’] with people, and every time she had a scene, we looked at each other to say, ‘Wow, what is this?’” Derbez said about Gomez’s performance. When the criticism went viral on TikTok, it found its way to the Wizards of Waverly Place alum.
She commented on the post saying “I understand where you are coming from. I’m sorry I did the best I could with the time I was given.” The singer pointed out that their scrutiny doesn’t take away the fact that she put her heart and soul into that character.
Hablando de Cine host Gaby Meza resonated with Derbez’s sentiments. Although she called the Bad Liar singer a “very talented actress,” she pointed out that since Spanish is not her main language it affected the “nuance” 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 her acting any nuance.” However, she admitted that she enjoyed the film aside from Gomez’s parts. She also pointed out that the film’s director is also not a native of the language he made the film over.
“it takes place in Mexico and you don’t understand the culture.’ It’s like if I made a film in Russian without knowing the culture or speaking Russian and talk in French,” Meza added.
