Karla Sofía Gascón, the actor who made history earlier this year as the first trans performer to be nominated for an acting Oscar, has signalled her next project.
Gascón, whose hopes of securing the leading actress award (which eventually went to Anora’s Mikey Madison) were dashed after offensive social media posts were unearthed, will star as a psychiatrist who “embodies God and the devil” in Italian drama The Life Lift, reports Variety.
Directed by Italian first-timer Stefania Rossella Grassi and co-starring the US actor Vincent Gallo, the film is a psychological thriller about a tormented New Yorker called Gabriel, who becomes persecuted by Post-it notes left in his building’s elevator. Promotional materials for the film suggest these messages “order him to commit atrocious murders of three other tenants who, in turn, want to kill their next-of-kin”. The film is also described as “perturbing, livid and hypnotic”.
Gascón’s rise to fame and fall from grace provided awards season with one of its most vertiginous fairytales in years. After sharing the best actress award at Cannes with her Emilia Pérez co-stars, the newcomer, whose credits until then mostly featured Spanish telenovas, looked set to become the Oscars favourite for her performance as a Mexican cartel leader who transitions while escaping the mob.
However, disquiet among the Mexican and trans communities about their portrayal grew louder as the film’s campaign gathered pace, securing a record-breaking 13 nominations. But Gascón’s own chance at victory then appeared almost nil after posts on X were resurfaced which expressed controversial opinions about muslims, George Floyd and diversity at the Oscars.
Gascón apologised but was cold-shouldered by Netflix and the film’s director, Jacques Audiard, until a U-turn saw her allowed to attend the Oscars – although not to walk the red carpet.
The actor spoke out about the vitriol with which she was met during awards season, saying the pain of the subsequent backlash had led her to “contemplate the unthinkable”. But promoting her memoir a fortnight later, she described herself as “less racist than Gandhi” and said “no one has to forgive me for anything”.
“If anyone feels offended by things I may have done in my life,” she said, “let them come and tell me.”
Gallo, 64, is another sometime Cannes favourite and proud non-conformist, whose explicit road trip film The Brown Bunny premiered at the festival in 2003. However, his career has flatlined over the past decade.
The actor endorsed Donald Trump’s re-election and called him “the greatest president the USA has ever produced”. Last year it was reported that the actors’ union in the US, Sag-Aftra, was investigating after complaints made by three female actors who auditioned for Gallo’s most recent film, The Policeman.
His personal website advertises his services as an escort, as well as selling vials of his sperm, at $1m apiece.
