'Emilia Pérez,' A Journey of Four Remarkable Women

Director Jacques Audiard shares his inspiration for the film:

"Six years ago, he read Boris Razon’s novel, 'Écoute.' Halfway through the book, a transgender Mexican drug dealer comes along who wishes to have surgery. As the drug dealer wasn’t that developed over the following chapters, he decided to start his story for the film with that character. He wrote a treatment quickly and he realized along the way that it was closer to an opera libretto than to a film script — it was broken down into acts, there were few sets, and the characters were archetypal. 'Emilia Pérez' ultimately took the form of an opera libretto, a little popular opera in the style of 'The Threepenny Opera' by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill."

 
Deadline’s chief film critic Pete Hammond, who can also be seen on PBS SoCal's Must See Movies, moderates a pre-screening interview with Zoe Saldaña.