Producer of James Franco's New Movie Responds to Criticism of Fidel Castro Casting
James Franco will be playing former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in an upcoming movie and his casting has drawn criticism from the Latinx community, including from actor John Leguizamo.
John took to social media and said, “How is this still going on? How is Hollywood excluding us but stealing our narratives as well? No more appropriation Hollywood and streamers! Boycott! This F’d up! Plus seriously difficult story to tell without aggrandizement, which would be wrong! I don’t got a [problem] with Franco but he ain’t Latino!”
Now, a producer for the movie Alina of Cuba is speaking out and pointing out that the movie doesn’t focus on James‘ character.
Click inside to read the response…
“A guy like John Leguizamo has historically been looked up to by Hispanics as one of America’s earliest actors of Latin descent since the 90s and I’ve always admired him as a fellow underdog. But his comments are culturally uneducated and a blind attack with zero substance related to this project,” producer John Martinz O’Felan told THR.
“The reality of the ignorance piece falls within his statement suggesting his personal view on being ‘Latino,’ because a land mass or living area does not determine a person’s blood history or genetics,” O’Felan continued. He added that Leguizamo’s “note is a great talking point because they represent the same confusion and identity crisis in Hollywood right now within the Hispanic community in America who are arguing that we should only identify as Latin, which is mostly because of the falsehoods being spread by the actors who are supposed to be representing us, but instead create division amongst their own people.”
He said, “I think he should move past himself and also acknowledge that this story is about a Latin female immigrant living in America who is of historical importance, led by a Latin woman and I’m just an underdog who is making it, so he should also understand that it’s kind of disappointing to see our work getting attacked by someone who claims to be a leader of the Latin community.”
Read all about the plot of the upcoming movie.