Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1531774
4 8 P E R S P E C T I V E | J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 5 When I began my work on Emilia Pérez, the plan was to shoot the film in Mexico. Location scouting was done there, and almost all the sets were found. However, members of the international cast were not available until six months after I came on to the project. During this time after returning to Paris, director Jacques Audiard completely re-thought his approach. Jacques opted to shoot the film on stage, which offered him all the possibilities of stylization and customization. Virginie Montel, the artistic director, set the tone with Jacques Audiard, and provided the images to support the questions that we were asking ourselves. Bearing in mind that Emilia Pérez was born in the form of an opera, we had to figure out what elements would be kept and what elements we wanted to change. For several weeks, Audiard and I worked with the rest of the design team—artistic director and costume designer Virginie Montel and cinematographer Paul Guilhaume—to precisely define the needs of each scene. We went back-and- forth between the realism of the tough Mexican life and a much more abstract interpretation. D r a m a t i c T r a n s i t i o n s T H E D E S I G N O F E M I L A P É R E Z B Y E M M A N U E L L E D U P L AY, P R O D U C T I O N D E S I G N E R A. & B. A STREET MARKET IN MEXICO BUILT AT THE MONTJOIE STUDIOS NEAR PARIS. ILLUSTRATIONS BY LÉA CARBOGNO MADE WITH PHOTOSHOP. MARKET WAS DESIGNED TO BE SET UP BY DANCERS. A B