Selena Gomez Says Dad Is Proud of Her Spanish in ‘Emilia Pérez’

Selena Gomez makes her father proud.

On Monday, September 30th, the Just murders in the building The 32-year-old actress walked the red carpet for the premiere of her new project Emilia Perez at the 62nd Annual New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center.

She spoke during the event Extra about what her father, Ricardo Joel Gomez, thought of her performance as Jessi Del Monte in the Spanish-language musical comedy and how she interpreted the portrayal in the film.

“I really feel like that was a huge blessing in this film. I hope people understand the meaning behind it and enjoy it, and I’m very grateful for that [director] Jacques [Audiard] “I hope this is just the beginning,” she told the outlet.

The “Love On” singer continued, “I had never really done the kind of dances that were shown in the movie, but it was fun and it felt like a release and screaming the songs and just passionately being there was great.”

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Gomez then shared why it was important to her to speak Spanish in the musical.

“It meant a lot to me that he trusted me with this, and it meant a lot to my family,” she said Extraand added that she had help finding her part in the production.

“I had coaches, yes, and we communicated in Spanish every day, but yes, my father was even so proud. He said, “You’re texting me, Mija,” and I said, “Yeah, I’m texting you in Spanish.” ”

Besides Gomez, Emilia Perez Zoe Saldaña, Edgar Ramírez, Karla Sofía Gascón and Adriana Paz also star.

PEOPLE also spoke with Saldaña, 46, on Monday as she shared her experiences working with her cast mates.

“It’s wonderful,” the actress tells PEOPLE exclusively about bonding with her co-stars. “To this day there is so much love and so much respect. We keep our fingers crossed for each other. We are happy for each other. We watch each other’s makeup and wardrobe.”

“You know, every time we were on the red carpet, we were so excited to be part of this project and work with him [director] Jacques Audiard, that we were somehow childlike while filming Emilia” Saldaña continued.

Emilia Perez debuted at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in May and won two awards – including the best actress award for its female ensemble.

The film, based on Audiard’s opera libretto of the same name, also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival this month, where it was named first runner-up in the festival’s People’s Choice Award The Life of Chuck.

Emilia Perez opens in select theaters on November 1st and begins streaming on Netflix on November 13th.