PostedAugust 8, 2022, 4:23 p.m.
«Appropriation»Non-Latino, James Franco is challenged for his role as Fidel Castro
The choice of the American comedian to embody the Cuban dictator in the film “Alina de Cuba” does not please actor John Leguizamo at all.
According to the film’s production, James Franco physically resembles the real Castro and is someone director Alina Fernandez strongly supports.
imago images/MediaPunch
Actor John Leguizamo has criticized James Franco’s choice to play Fidel Castro in the upcoming ‘Alina de Cuba’ film.
Thursday, Deadline announced the casting with a statement from lead creative producer John Martinez O’Felan: “Finding and convincing James Franco to play Castro has been a fun and challenging process and has been the collaborative work of the universe, as the order Our director’s initial step was to find an actor who physically resembles the real Castro, and go from there, plus find someone Alina Fernandez would strongly support,” it read.
On Friday, in an Instagram post, John Leguizamo reacted to the news: “I have no problem with Franco but he’s not a Latino!” – “Page Six” reports that James Franco is of Jewish, Portuguese and Swedish descent.
Call for boycott
The Bogotá-born comedian continued, “How can this stuff still happen? How does Hollywood exclude us but also steal our stories? and called on “Hollywood and streamers” to end “appropriations.”
Asking his fans to “boycott” the feature film, the one who doubles Bruno in “Encanto” added: “It’s nonsense! Plus (a) seriously difficult story to tell without embellishing it, which would be incorrect!”
The independent film, which also stars Ana Villafañe as Alina Fernandez and Mía Maestro as Natalia Revuelta, does not yet have a release date.
(Cover Media / Lematin.ch)