Monday, March 17, 2025

“Emilia Perez” Scandal May Make Co-Producer Saint Laurent More Skittish About Backing Films

Less than a year ago, the Hollywood trades were filled with stories about fashion companies going into movie production.

The main one, so far, is Saint Laurent formerly Yves Saint Laurent and known as YSL around the world.

Saint Laurent Productions brought three movies to Cannes last year including “Emilia Perez.” They invested big time, and provided costumes.

Now “Emilia Perez” has become a disaster thanks to star Karla Sofia Gascon. Her litany of past racist Tweets has been uncovered, making Netflix cut her loose from their Oscar campaign.

If “Emilia Perez” were in theaters, we could see the result in declining box office receipts. As it is; the movie has had a week performance in international theaters, and isn’t even in the Netflix top 10 movies.

Few people realize that Saint Laurent is a big chunk of money behind “Emilia Perez.” I’m told, however, that this hasn’t been lost on their rival, Chanel.

That company, sources say, is in big push of its own to back films and be part of Hollywood. The fashion house already throws extravagant parties around the world for no reason other than to promote themselves. Chanel will host one of these, given by their PR flack Charles Finch, on March 1st, the night before the Oscars, at the Beverly Hills Hotel. (No mention yet how this will play against the background of the simmering wildfires and massive property loss.)

Finch, by the way, is still promoting “Emilia Perez” on its Instagram page, maybe hoping no one will remember Gascon’s hateful, insane ramblings.

Now that Gascon has blown up “Emilia Perez” into a million pieces, these new fashion production companies may start asking questions about vetting, with deep dives into the social media of the players.

“Emilia Perez” Title Actress X’d from Oscar Campaign, Probably Won’t Attend March 2 Ceremony

“Emilia Perez” Title Actress X’d from Oscar Campaign, Probably Won’t Attend March 2 Ceremony

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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