Jacques Audiard not talking to ‘Emilia Pérez’ star Karla Sofía Gascón

Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard has become the latest member of the film’s core creative team to distance himself from star Karla Sofía Gascón as her awards season continues to unravel and said they are not talking.

The French filmmaker said in an interview on Wednesday that he has not communicated with lead actress Oscar nominee after old bigoted tweets resurfaced and she gave an unauthorised television interview last weekend that blindsided the film’s US and UK distributor Netflix.

Audiard’s comments followed a denunciation by supporting actress nominee Zoe Saldana while campaigning for the film in London last week.

“Very unfortunately, it is taking up all the space, and that makes me very sad,” Audiard told Deadline Hollywood. “It’s very hard for me to think back to the work I did with Karla Sofía […] And when you have that kind of relationship and suddenly you read something that that person has said, things that are absolutely hateful and worthy of being hated, of course that relationship is affected. It’s as if you fall into a hole. Because what Karla Sofía said is inexcusable.”

He continued, “I haven’t spoken to her, and I don’t want to. She is in a self-destructive approach that I can’t interfere in, and I really don’t understand why she’s continuing […] I’m thinking […] of how she’s hurting the crew and all these people who worked so incredibly hard on this film. I’m thinking of myself, I’m thinking of Zoe [Saldaña] and Selena [Gomez].”

Audiard, whose film premiered in Cannes last year where Gascón, Saldana, Gomez and Adriana Paz shared the best actress prize, said he would not be getting in touch with Gascón “because right now she needs space to reflect and take accountability”.

The filmmaker said he will be supporting his other cast and collaborators at awards circuit events in support of Emilia Pérez. This weekend brings a full-on Hollywood itinerary that sees the AFI Awards luncheon on Thursday, Critics’ Choice Awards on Friday, and the PGA and DGA awards on Saturday, followed by a Sunday event in Santa Barbara.

The Netflix awards team is understood to be scrambling to pivot away from Gascón as the film’s focus of FYC campaigns in the US and UK, except for existing billboards and prior commitments that are in progress.

• No progress being made in the number of female-made films released in the UK, says Reclaim The Frame