Selena Gomez keeps her identity a secret when auditioning for movie roles.
The 32-year-old singer returned to the big screen with A24’s musical-thriller ‘Emilia Perez’, though Gomez has now revealed she and her agents have an unconventional method in landing her Hollywood roles as they try to hide her identity from casting directors to ensure her chances of getting film parts aren’t put in jeopardy.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Gomez said: “If they think I’m too young for a part, or whatever the case may be, we use a tactic where we don’t tell them it’s me auditioning so that they just have to accept me auditioning.
“Because sometimes even them just hearing that I want to audition, they’ll be like, ‘No, that’s not going to match for what we’re doing.’ Or it’s, ‘We’re going to hire people that nobody knows,’ and then they hire, like, Austin Butler, and I’m like, ‘Cool.’
“But I’m not angry, it’s the position I have and it’s Ok.”
On top of keeping her identity hidden in face-to-face auditions, the ‘Lose You to Love Me’ hitmaker revealed she also does the same with her taped try-outs she sends to film studios.
She explained: “I’ll sometimes send in a tape when they don’t know it’s me, or if it’s in person, my managers will just say, ‘Oh, we have a client that’ll have a read.' And most of the time, they’ll go, ‘Ok.’”
Gomez - who made a name for herself as a child actress after appearing in the programme ‘Barney and Friends’ in 2002 before going on to star in the Disney show ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ from 2007 to 2012 - added this tactic had been successful in getting get her a starring role opposite Paul Rudd in the 2016 comedy ‘The Fundamentals of Caring’.
She explained: “It worked on one of the movies I did, because they looked at me as I walked in and I thought I’d lost it immediately because they went, ‘Ooohh.’
“I was like,’ 'No, no, no, no. Just let me read.’ It was ‘Fundamentals of Caring’, a cute little movie. And it worked, I got it. You kind of have to do the dance.”
Looking to the future, the ‘Only Murders in the Building’ actress said she wanted to move away from the “underdog” characters she’s usually typecast as, and tackle something different.
She shared: “I don’t know exactly, but I feel like the roles would be very similar to what I’ve played, which is more soft-spoken and the underdog character.
“And I love those movies, but I have goals of wanting to work with specific people, people on my dream board, and so whenever those opportunities arise, I’ll put myself in that room, no matter what it takes. And I’ll say, ‘Let me show you that I can do it.’”
When pushed about who she wants to work with the most, Gomez revealed ‘The West Wing’ writer Aaron Sorkin and legendary director Martin Scorsese topped her list.
She said: “There are so many. I’d love to work with Aaron Sorkin. I really love all of his movies and anything he’s near. And I’m a massive fan of Scorsese, and I so badly want to make sure he doesn’t quit suddenly or retire.”
