Despite being one of the biggest pop stars in the world, Selena Gomez has said she’s always had a connection with independent film, and that her new film “Emilia Perez” is “just the beginning of what I feel I can do.” Speaking at the IndieWire Honors ceremony in Hollywood on Thursday, December 5, Gomez thanked some of the indie auteurs who have helped shape her career as an actress.
Gomez said she’s been drawn to independent film and said that they’re movies that “left me feeling unsettled, sometimes in the best way.”
“Supporting independent filmmakers is extremely important, not only because it’s vital to the future of storytelling, but I believe these films are truly the historical records of the times,” Gomez told the crowd. “Where we are with politics, pop culture, and humanity, I am proud to stand alongside so many talented people who continue to take risks and celebrate the power of independent film.”
Gomez shouted out not just her “Emilia Peréz” director Jacques Audiard in her acceptance speech, but also “Spring Breakers” director Harmony Korine and “The Dead Don’t Die” director Jim Jarmusch in building her up, despite all the added attention that can come along with working with a superstar.
“They were the filmmakers that believed in me and didn’t care about what came with it and just trusted me with their characters,” she said.
Gomez also praised Audiard’s filmmaking with “Emilia Peréz,” alluding to just how much the genre-bending Spanish-language musical, in which she plays the wife to a former drug cartel boss, defies expectations.
“It’s truly and simply impossible to capture all the beauty and complexities when I’m asked to describe it in interviews,” Gomez added. “There’s no soundbite that could ever do it justice to the art that Jacques created, and I couldn’t be more grateful for him.”
Gomez, who won the Spotlight Award at the IndieWire Honors ceremony in Hollywood shows a new side to herself in “Emilia Pérez.” She shared the Best Actress prize with her co-stars Zoe Saldana and Karla Sofía Gascón, but she told IndieWire ahead of receiving her honor that even with the recent acclaim, she’s still trying to prove herself to people that she’s a serious actress and not just a pop star with more Instagram followers than anyone.
“I know that I’m going to have to still fight for roles that I want,” Gomez told IndieWire. “There’s still a lot of barriers in my way. … People are like, ‘You must be getting so many calls [for jobs],’ and I’m not! I don’t think that’s how it works, at least for me. I still am proving myself in this field, especially at this degree.”
“Emilia Pérez” director Jacques Audiard in a piece for IndieWire wrote about Gomez’s surprising depth as a performer, saying that when her name was first suggested to him, he had no idea about Gomez’s level of fame.
“On the set, Selena is a living oxymoron, a daily contradiction: strong, fragile, determined, indeterminate, present, absent, sick, healthy as can be, chatty, quiet, etc.,” Audiard wrote. “A string of commonplaces, you’ll tell me, and yet all that is true, the ‘Emilia Pérez’ crew can bear witness to it. One thing I still have trouble understanding: how could someone who works so much, who has worked so much, who has “spent so many hours in the spotlight,” still be filled with doubt? How could she be so talented and so insecure, so vulnerable?”
Watch Selena Gomez’s speech above and check out all of our IndieWire Honors coverage right here.
“Emilia Perez” is streaming on Netflix now.
