French director Jacques Audiard (R) and director Taylor Hackford (L) attend the screening of "Emilia Perez" on opening night of The American French Film Festival (TAFFF) at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) in Los Angeles, October 29, 2024. After his success at Cannes, Jacques Audiard knows he has a marathon ahead of him to defend “Emilia Pérez”: his musical odyssey about the gender transition of a Mexican drug trafficker is already widely tipped for the Oscars.
“I'm terrified,” the filmmaker tells AFP, on a day of interviews in Los Angeles, ahead of the film's release in US cinemas on Friday. “There's something worrying about mass success - it's not your real life.”
At 72, the director will be travelling back and forth between France and the United States over the coming months.
Because Netflix, which has bought his tenth feature film, intends to submit it in the general categories (best film, best director, best actress, etc.), well beyond the race for the Oscar for best international film.
After Telluride and Toronto in September, the artist screens “Emilia Pérez” at the opening of the American French Film Festival (TAFFF) in Los Angeles on October 29. (Photo by AUDE GUERRUCCI / AFP)