Emilia Pérez star Mark Ivanir is speaking out about the controversy surrounding lead actress Karla Sofía Gascón‘s social media posts calling them “a shame,” adding that the film’s chances of scoring Academy Awards are “slimmer.”
“That whole event with Karla and her tweets, unfortunately it just affects the movie in general, which to me is a shame because so many people made so much effort, did so many good things in a great movie, and now the chances are getting slimmer because of something that 99% of these people didn’t have anything to do with,” Ivanir exclusively told Parade on the red carpet for the new Netflix film Zero Day on Tuesday, Feb. 18.
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Still, Ivanir was hopeful that his fellow cast members in Emilia Pérez and the film will be recognized, noting that Zoe Saldaña won the BAFTA Award for best supporting actress on Sunday, Feb. 16.
“We won the international, so I hope it’s not going to affect our chances at the Oscars,” Ivanir added.
In the title role of the Netflix original musical, Gascón garnered rave reviews for her role as a drug trafficker who ditches a life of crime to live her truth and enlists a lawyer, Rita (Saldaña), to help her get gender-affirming surgery and fake her death.
Related: Everything You Need to Know About Karla Sofía Gascón, the Star of ‘Emilia Pérez’
After the film was released, Gascón received Oscar buzz and became the first openly transgender person nominated in a acting category. But tide turned against Gascón when a series of social media posts were unearthed on her account on X, formerly Twitter, in which she shared controversial takes on diversity at the Academy Awards, George Floyd and Muslims.
The posts, most of which have since been deleted, were dug up by journalist Sarah Hagi, and were mostly posted in 2020 and 2021.
In one such post, Gascón wrote, “I’m Sorry, Is it just my impression or is there more muslims in Spain? Every time I go to pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels. Next year instead of English we’ll have to teach Arabic.”
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