As their Oscar-tipped film 'Emilia Pérez' hits Netflix, stars Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña tell us about their most-played albums, top celeb run-ins and what it's like to get a seven-minute standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival.
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00Just cut to the chase, to listen is to accept.
00:06Hi, I'm Alex from NME, and today I'm joined
00:08by two absolute mega stars from the cast of Emilia Perez.
00:12It's Lina Gomez and Zoe Saldana.
00:13How are we?
00:14We're good, thank you for having us.
00:16The first thing I want to do is pull out a couple of scenes
00:18from the film that absolutely set me
00:21and see how they were for you guys.
00:23Number one, when Emilia's in bed with her son
00:26and he says, you smell like papa,
00:29but he doesn't know that she's transitioned.
00:31I'm crying, she's crying,
00:33you guys must have been crying as well, right?
00:35Yes.
00:36Yes, I wasn't there when they shot it,
00:38but I'm just hearing you say that I'm jet lagged,
00:41but it makes me want to cry
00:42because it is a very special scene
00:45and it's one of my favorites as well.
00:47I remember, I remember, you know,
00:49having some rehearsals with Carlo
00:52and she was learning, you know, that song.
00:55And then when she sang it, I was deeply emotional.
00:59It's a beautiful song.
01:01As a child, I remember just my life
01:04and the love that I have for my parents
01:06through this, how they smelled.
01:07And they just smelled like,
01:08my mom smelled like double mint gum
01:10because she used to always like, you know, crack the gum.
01:12She was always chewing gum.
01:14And my dad just always smelled like cologne
01:16and so delicious.
01:17And the fact that Jack wrote a piece about that
01:21means that he's really connected
01:24with his son's memory of his childhood as well in some way.
01:27And he knew that that's a way of the child
01:30and the mother to bond in Emilia.
01:32So that was deeply moving.
01:34When I saw it after it was executed
01:37and we saw it for the first time in the movie,
01:40that was a very emotional scene.
01:42Scene number two, it's another one for you, Zoe, actually,
01:44is the all-singing, all-dancing gala scene.
01:47Amazing.
01:48But did they call an ambulance for you afterwards
01:50because you must have been in absolute bits
01:52because it looked so demanding.
01:54Actually, I was waiting for somebody
01:56to ask me that question.
01:58My C5, C6, and C7 on my bag after shooting El Mal
02:04was definitely, they were a little inflamed.
02:07So I was a little sore for longer than I can anticipate,
02:11but it was so worth it.
02:13I was nervous.
02:14I was deeply afraid,
02:15wanting that scene to come out really well.
02:17We rehearsed it for maybe like an average of like five,
02:20almost six weeks.
02:21After we shot it, the rush of blood to the head,
02:25the adrenaline that I felt was invigorating.
02:28It's so good.
02:29Yeah, it looks so good.
02:30It's so epic.
02:47We ask this of everyone we interview,
02:48but what's your go-to all-time favourite album
02:52that you just keep going back to all the time?
02:54When I was a child,
02:54there's this Dominican singer called Juan Luis Guerra,
02:58and he's known all through Latin America,
03:00Europe, and other, and in Asia, he's really respected.
03:04But he's a poet,
03:06and the way that he relates to love and other feelings
03:11through just sense memory is quite amazing.
03:15So I just, I love the music of Juan Luis Guerra.
03:18I've always talked about him.
03:19And Maxwell.
03:21There was an album that he did.
03:24It wasn't the Lounge one, but it was right after it,
03:26and it was really great.
03:29It was in the early 2000s,
03:30and I can just press play on that album,
03:33and just like let it play until the end.
03:34It was wonderful.
03:36Okay, I think mine are probably Adele.
03:40Ooh, yes.
03:4119.
03:42Oh, the first one.
03:43The very first one.
03:45I related to a lot of those.
03:47Chasing Pavements.
03:48Yes.
03:49It's so beautiful.
03:50It's so addicting.
03:52And then Frank Ocean's Orange.
03:55Oh my God, of course.
03:57That one's amazing.
03:58So good.
03:59Have any of you ever run across
04:00any of those musicians in real life?
04:02I don't think that she will mind me saying this,
04:05but Adele and I were neighbors in LA.
04:09Oh, wow.
04:09So we became friends,
04:12and our children have played together,
04:15and I can honestly say that
04:17once you meet the person behind the artistry,
04:21a much deeper level of respect for her.
04:24She's a remarkable woman.
04:26Living next door to Adele with Zoe Saldana
04:28sounds like a sitcom.
04:29No, honestly.
04:31Yeah.
04:32But a great one.
04:33The one I want in on.
04:34A really great one.
04:35Usually you would just see us in like a row of moms
04:38kind of like, you know,
04:39just looking at our kids going,
04:40what are you doing?
04:41What are you, stop.
04:42Can you please stop that?
04:44Look at mommy.
04:44Eye contact.
04:45Thank you so much.
04:46Like, that's pretty much like our days.
04:47That's mom life.
04:49Selena, I thought you were going to talk
04:50maybe about Nirvana,
04:51because I saw that video interview.
04:53You just completely obsessed
04:54talking about your love of Nirvana
04:55from where you heard it.
04:56I absolutely should have said,
04:58yes, I should have said one of his or theirs.
05:03I am still.
05:04I dyed my hair to be the exact color of Kurt Cobain.
05:08I mean, his documentary is one of my favorites
05:12that music documentaries.
05:15Montage of Heck.
05:16Yes, Montage of Heck.
05:17I've watched maybe 10 times.
05:19It's very emotional,
05:21but really impactful.
05:23Yeah, it's so different, isn't it?
05:24Because obviously it's animated
05:25and it's just so clever.
05:26I think that's why I'm drawn to it so much.
05:28I felt so many things watching it.
05:29Because we're enemy,
05:30I can't let you go away, Selena,
05:32without asking you for an update on your new album.
05:34Well, if I had one,
05:37I would love to talk about it.
05:40No, I think right now
05:41it's been really nice focusing
05:43on this side of the playing field.
05:47We'll see, you never know.
05:48I hope you continue making music.
06:11Good night.
06:13What was the most memorable part
06:14of recording and rehearsing those for you?
06:16I think just being in the recording studio
06:18and collaborating with someone
06:20like Camille and Clément Ducon.
06:22Like, they are so talented.
06:25It was really profound.
06:27And the way that they sort of took a deep dive
06:30into the Mexican culture.
06:31And there was a great deal of admiration and respect.
06:35And I felt that with all their compositions.
06:38I just, I was having a lot of out-of-body sensations
06:42just being there,
06:43because I've never really been in a studio.
06:44Yeah.
06:45It's quite a beautiful place to be in.
06:46It's very peaceful at times.
06:50And I would say for me, personally,
06:52it's the highest note I've ever hit in history.
06:56It was for this movie.
06:57And it was because of their motivation.
07:00They were like, I tried in an octave lower
07:03and I was just like, this isn't,
07:04this doesn't sound as like, mm, at the end.
07:07And they were like, just go for it.
07:09And I belted it out as loud as I could.
07:12I was like, this is going to sound so bad,
07:13but I did it.
07:15And I was so happy.
07:16There was a nine minute standing ovation at Cannes.
07:19And you guys, you stood up, you're sort of,
07:21oh, thank you very much.
07:22By minute seven of those kinds of standing ovations
07:25at Cannes, are you not thinking, right,
07:28do we go now?
07:29Or do we just, when are they going to stop?
07:30Oh, I was very unsure.
07:33Until I saw Jacques walk away,
07:35I was right behind him because it was so overwhelmingly
07:39like, yay, people like it and we did something.
07:43But at the same time, I'm a little uncomfortable
07:47with some of, you know, compliments and things.
07:49So as soon as I saw Jacques leave, I was like, thank you.
07:53You're like, okay, I get it, I'm great, okay, thanks.
07:55Come on, wrap up now.
07:56It forces you to be present.
07:59That was, and that's vulnerable, that's overwhelming.
08:03It was very present.
08:05And the more it kept sort of like vibrating
08:08and coming forward.
08:09Then you go through all these stages of, they must mean it.
08:13They must mean it, this must have moved them,
08:16like it's moved me.
08:17And then that realization makes you emotional.
08:20But yes, as soon as Jacques started walking,
08:22we're like, please.
08:23Yeah.
08:24♪ Here we are ♪
08:27♪ Here we are ♪
08:31♪ Here we are ♪