{"id":1593011,"date":"2022-08-07T09:18:22","date_gmt":"2022-08-07T13:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1593011"},"modified":"2022-08-07T09:22:31","modified_gmt":"2022-08-07T13:22:31","slug":"john-leguizamo-blasts-james-francos-casting-as-fidel-castro-how-is-hollywood-excluding-latinos-but-stealing-our-narratives-as-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/john-leguizamo-blasts-james-francos-casting-as-fidel-castro-how-is-hollywood-excluding-latinos-but-stealing-our-narratives-as-well\/","title":{"rendered":"John Leguizamo Blasts James Franco\u2019s Casting As Fidel Castro: \u201cHow Is Hollywood Excluding Latinos But Stealing Our Narratives As Well?\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">40<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjohn-leguizamo-blasts-james-francos-casting-as-fidel-castro-how-is-hollywood-excluding-latinos-but-stealing-our-narratives-as-well%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1593011&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Actor John Leguizamo, who in recent months has become a vocal critic of what he perceives to be the industry\u2019s mistreatment of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/boundingintocomics.com\/2021\/04\/27\/john-leguizamo-slams-the-oscars-for-lack-of-latinx-representation-claims-the-term-people-of-colour-has-been-used-to-more-effectively-erase-latinos\/\">Latinx<\/a>\u201d actors, is unhappy with the recent announcement that James Franco will be portraying former Cuban leader Fidel Castro due to the fact that the actor is not Latino.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_147185\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-147185\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: John Leguizamo speaking at the 2013 San Diego Comic Con International, for \u201cKick-Ass 2\u201d, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https: \/>, via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>As first revealed by <em>Deadline<\/em> in an <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2022\/08\/james-franco-fidel-castro-alina-of-cuba-movie-1235085397\/\">August 4th exclusive<\/a>, Franco will star as Castro in director Miguel Bardem\u2019s upcoming <em>Alina of Cuba<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The original <em>Spider-Man<\/em> trilogy actor will appear opposite <em>Mayans M.C<\/em>. actress M\u00eda Maestro and <em>New Amsterdam<\/em> actress Ana Villafa\u00f1e, who will portray the dictator\u2019s mistress, Natalia \u201cNaty\u201d Revuelta Clews, and the pair\u2019s daughter, Alina Fern\u00e1ndez Revuelta, respectively.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_175435\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-175435\" class=\"size-full wp-image-175435\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea0947dd5c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"798\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea0947dd5c.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/boundingintocomics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea0947dd5c-300x125.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea0947dd5c-1340x557-1.jpg 1340w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea0947dd5c-768x319-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea0947dd5c-600x250-1.jpg 600w\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-175435\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Spider-Man 3 (2007), Sony Pictures<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Featuring a script by <em>The Motorcycle Diaries<\/em> screenwriter Jose Rivera and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, the film, as per the entertainment news outlet, \u201cfollows the true-life story of Cuban exile turned social advocate, Alina , whose birth was the result of the tryst between Revuelta and Castro.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to the project\u2019s development, lead creative producer John Martinez O\u2019Felan explained, \u201cSince the inception of the film, our focus has been to produce an artistic piece of modern Hispanic history, with the vision for the project as being truly inclusive through uniting actors and creatives from both intergenerational and recent Latin roots from the U.S, Latin America, and the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_175444\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-175444\" class=\"size-full wp-image-175444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.16-boundingintocomics-62eea20a3cdf5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1392\" height=\"1039\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.16-boundingintocomics-62eea20a3cdf5.jpg 1392w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.16-boundingintocomics-62eea20a3cdf5-300x224-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.16-boundingintocomics-62eea20a3cdf5-1340x1000-1.jpg 1340w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.16-boundingintocomics-62eea20a3cdf5-768x573-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/boundingintocomics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.16-boundingintocomics-62eea20a3cdf5-80x60.jpg 80w\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-175444\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Lors de la visite de Fidel Castro \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al le 26 avril 1959 \u00e0 l\u2019invitation de la Jeune chambre de commerce de Montr\u00e9al. Sur la photo, de gauche \u00e0 droite : Ren\u00e9 L\u00e9vesque (journaliste), Claude Dupras (pr\u00e9sident de la Jeune chambre de commerce de Montr\u00e9al), Fidel Castro (pr\u00e9sident de Cuba), Jean-Charles Asselin (pr\u00e9sident de la Chambre de commerce de Montr\u00e9al), Raymond Daoust (avocat). Photograph by Paul-Henri Talbot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Regarding Franco, O\u2019Felan then explained that the actor was cast out of a desire for visual accuracy, as the production team found that he bore a striking physical resemblance to Castro.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinding and convincing James Franco to play Castro,\u201d he continued, \u201cwas a fun and challenging process and has been the collaborative work of the universe, because our director\u2019s original order was to find an actor who holds a close physical resemblance to the real Castro to build from, along with finding someone Alina Fernandez would strongly endorse.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_175434\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-175434\" class=\"size-full wp-image-175434\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea0923fdca.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea0923fdca.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/boundingintocomics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea0923fdca-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea0923fdca-1340x754-1.jpg 1340w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea0923fdca-768x432-1.jpg 768w\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-175434\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Alien: Covenant (2017), 20th Century Fox<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Of their casting process, he recalled, \u201cTo get there on such a tough look to cast, we used Fidel Castro\u2019s ancient Galician heraldry as our focal compass, and then combed through the entire ranks of actors with Latin roots in Hollywood to find someone who has a similar facial structure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn executing a close search into our hopefuls through the eye of Spanish and Portuguese genealogy which the Galicians held, we found that James, by far, had the closest facial likeness of our Industry\u2019s leading actors, meaning that the focus would be to build out his character accent and we\u2019d have a stunning on-screen match to intrigue audiences and bring the story to life with true visual integrity,\u201d he added. \u201cAltogether, working with such a supportive and exciting cast has been a true blessing to our team and project.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_175443\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-175443\" class=\"size-full wp-image-175443\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.16-boundingintocomics-62eea2045cf1e.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"865\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.16-boundingintocomics-62eea2045cf1e.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.16-boundingintocomics-62eea2045cf1e-300x216-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.16-boundingintocomics-62eea2045cf1e-768x554-1.jpg 768w\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-175443\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Fidel Castro meets cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (1961), Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>However, despite the production\u2019s best intentions, its casting of Franco did not sit right with Leguizamo, who took to Instagram the next day to question, \u201cHow is this still going on? How is Hollywood excluding us but stealing our narratives as well?\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_175445\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-175445\" class=\"size-full wp-image-175445\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.18-boundingintocomics-62eea26a441c4.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"589\" height=\"1124\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.18-boundingintocomics-62eea26a441c4.png 589w, https:\/\/boundingintocomics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.18-boundingintocomics-62eea26a441c4-157x300.png 157w\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-175445\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: John Leguizamo Instagram<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cNo more appropriation Hollywood and streamers!\u201d the Encanto actor exclaimed. \u201cBoycott! This F\u2019d up! Plus seriously difficult story to tell without aggrandizement which would be wrong!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leguizamo would conclude, \u201cI don\u2019t got a prob with Franco but he ain\u2019t Latino!\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_175439\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-175439\" class=\"size-full wp-image-175439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea09e2dd1f.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea09e2dd1f.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/boundingintocomics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea09e2dd1f-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea09e2dd1f-1340x754-1.jpg 1340w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.08.06-05.10-boundingintocomics-62eea09e2dd1f-768x432-1.jpg 768w\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-175439\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: Spawn (1997), New Line Cinema<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>This rhetoric echoes the argument he made during a January interview with Nick Barili of The Osars\u2019 <em>Seen<\/em> program that Hollywood was subjecting Latin actors and actresses to a \u201ccultural apartheid\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe census came out, the 2020 Census and said we\u2019re almost 20% of the population,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then a couple of years ago we were only 3% of the faces in front of the camera, less than 1% of the stories, less than 1% of the crew, less than 1% of the executives. That\u2019s cultural apartheid.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-block full\">\n<div class=\"video-player youtube\">[embedded content]<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cAnd the same thing goes for politics, less than 1% of elected officials. And forget about publication. Latin children are least seen in children\u2019s picture books. So right then there, your self-esteem as a child is already being challenged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He would further assert, \u201cSo not only are we invisible, but when we are seen, it\u2019s a negative portrayal.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_147170\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-147170\" class=\"size-full wp-image-147170\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.01.27-06.44-boundingintocomics-61f2e7f70d2c3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1293\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.01.27-06.44-boundingintocomics-61f2e7f70d2c3.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.01.27-06.44-boundingintocomics-61f2e7f70d2c3-300x202-1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.01.27-06.44-boundingintocomics-61f2e7f70d2c3-1340x902-1.jpg 1340w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022.01.27-06.44-boundingintocomics-61f2e7f70d2c3-768x517-1.jpg 768w\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-147170\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA \u2013 NOVEMBER 03: (L-R) Auli\u2019i Cravalho and John Leguizamo attend the world premiere of Walt Disney Animation Studios\u2019 Encanto at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on November 03, 2021. (Photo by Jesse Grant\/Getty Images for Disney)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cHow do you create a Latin star in America when the roles are one-dimensional and not worthy of awards?,\u201d Leguizamo asked. \u201cThe ugly question is, why are Latin people not succeeding? That\u2019s the ugly question. Are we not smart enough? Not talented enough? Not good-looking enough? Not hardworking enough? No, none of those stereotypes and racist ideas because nobody tries harder with less access.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Actor John Leguizamo, who in recent months has become a vocal critic of what he perceives to be the industry\u2019s mistreatment of \u201cLatinx\u201d actors, is unhappy with the recent announcement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1593251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1593011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1593011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1593011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1593251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1593011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1593011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1593011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}