Selena Gomez Says ‘Emilia Pérez’ Was Her ‘Best Experience’ on Set Since ‘Spring Breakers’

Selena Gomez is comparing her Cannes award-winning turn in “Emilia Pérez” to her subversive casting in Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers.”

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The star, who recently shared the Best Actress award at Cannes 2024 as part of the ensemble cast of “Emilia Pérez,” told The Hollywood Reporter that both films “have a special place” in her heart.

Gomez had already been a hit teen star with Disney Channel series “Wizards of Waverly Place” and films such as “Monte Carlo” and “Ramona and Beezus” before Korine cast her as a college student who robs a drive-thru to fund a vacation to Florida. Rachel Korine, Vanessa Hudgens, and Ashley Benson co-starred as Gomez’s onscreen pals; Gucci Mane and James Franco rounded out the cast of the iconic 2013 film.

“Acting has, and will always be, my heart,” Gomez said. “There’s so much that I want to do and that I haven’t even scratched the surface of, and it’s exciting to me. [‘Emilia Pérez’] was probably the best experience that I’ve had on a set since ‘Spring Breakers.’ I’ve been very lucky to be in great projects, but those two have a special place in my heart.”

Gomez reflected on the “incredible” experience working with “Emilia Pérez” director Jacques Audiard, who helped mold Gomez’s character to mirror her own background . Gomez makes her Spanish acting debut with the film.

“Because I had auditioned for this part, and I worked on my Spanish with a coach, and I probably spent half a year trying my hardest to really go after this,” Gomez said. “And even in the audition, I had messed up a few of the lines. Jacques actually was really great, and he said, ‘I think that we should make her Mexican American.’ And we all talked about it as a cast, because people have opinions, and Latinx [identity] in America is very similar to what my character is portraying, which is [speaking] English and Spanish at the same time. We were able to build the character, Jessi, around my ability, and I was so grateful for that.”

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The Emmy nominee for “Only Murders in the Building” added, “It allowed me to not only focus on just making sure I was speaking Spanish — I could be a little bit more free and focus on my performance. But it was probably the best experience that I’ve had on a set since ‘Spring Breakers.’ I’ve been very lucky to be in great projects, but those two have a special place in my heart, because it was something I was afraid to do. It was something I wanted to challenge myself [with]. I couldn’t be more excited about this project, and I was more than shocked over the reception, because none of us had seen the film until we were at the festival. Clearly, we were in great hands with Jacques. I never doubted it. I’m blown away at the reception, and rightfully so. The women in this movie are fantastic.”

Gomez was cast in “Emilia Pérez” after director Audiard saw her in “Spring Breakers” and “A Rainy Day in New York.”

“I knew her from ‘Spring Breakers’ and the Woody Allen film she played in, [‘A Rainy Day in New York’],” he told Collider . “I just wanted to work with her for that.”

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Writer/director Korine previously told IndieWire that the premise was “a metaphor for the rest of the story and some ways representative of that dream that you’re talking about. Things seem perfect at first, for one day. The longer you go, the more horrible it gets, and then it veers closer to the feeling you experiencing in the film. We wanted the film to have this boozy, liquid narrative vibe to it. I wanted it to be images and sounds coming back, this kind of propulsive, frenetic and murky narrative. It was more about capturing this specific energy, something more wild and more closely replicating a drug experience. Something that was more hallucinatory, transcendent, more physical, emotional, you know, and at the same time make it exciting.”