Jacques Audiard's Musical Thriller Emilia Pérez Has Broadway Aspirations

Emilia Pérez, Jacques Audiard's Golden Globe Award-winning Spanish-language musical comedy crime film, may be Broadway-bound. In a recent interview with The Ankler, Emilia Pérez composing team Camille and Clément Ducol shared their hopes to translate the screen project to the stage. 

"We would love to put Emilia Pérez on Broadway," said Ducol. "At the start, Jacques mentioned he was thinking of it as an opera, and of course it became a film. But even when you watch it, it looks like a live performance. As we say in French, Zoe [Saldaña] tears off the screen; she’s beyond the screen. It’s like she’s in a theater, you know, she’s on stage. And we would so much love to see Emilia Pérez on stage." Camille agreed, adding, "We’d love a live version, and there have been talks. More to follow." 

Emilia Pérez was nominated for 10 Golden Globe Awards, winning four for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Best Motion Picture - Non-English Language, Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture (Zoe Saldaña) and Best Original Song for the number "El Mal," performed in the film by Saldaña. Camille and Ducol were also nominated in the Best Original Song category for "Mi Camino," performed on screen by Selena Gomez. 

Based on Audiard's opera libretto of the same name, which was loosely adapted from Boris Razon's 2018 novel Écoute, Emilia Pérez follows a Mexican cartel leader (Karla Sofía Gascón), who recruits a lawyer (Saldaña) to facilitate her secret transition to life as a woman.