Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
There has been a movement in Hollywood in recent years for the industry to pay more attention to white actors playing roles outside of their race. The topic came to the fore recently with the news that the actor James Franco I would be portraying the Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.
James Leguizamo, who recently starred in the greatest hits Top Gun: Maverick and Disney CharmShe took to Instagram to comment on the casting.
“How is this still going? How is it that Hollywood excludes us but also steals our narratives? No more Hollywood grabs and streamers! Boycott! It’s fucked! Plus a really hard story to tell without aggrandizement, which would be wrong! I have no problem with Franco, but he is not Latino! ”.
Franco will star as the dictator in an upcoming movie called Aline from Cuba, which focuses on the life of Castro’s daughter, Alina Fernández. Other actors shared similar sentiments, as fellow top gun star Danny Ramirez, who simply shared the news and said, “What the hell.”
Actress Sol Rodríguez pointed out that Franco would have to learn an accent that he has mocked all his life.
“This is not me reading that James Franco will have to ‘build’ an accent for Castro, when all my life I have been mocked for not speaking English like an American and told countless times to work hard to get rid of it… ”
Actor Jeff Torres said he was being typecast as a drug trafficker while Franco plays Fidel Castro.
“I’m auditioning for another generic Latin American drug dealer and James Franco is playing the role of Fidel Castro. Latinos get dirty here and everywhere. Damn hahaha.”
This would be one of Franco’s first high-profile roles since he was accused of sexually exploitative behavior towards women in 2018. He will also star in the upcoming film. Mallet.
In 2021, he admitted that he had sex with his students at an acting school that he co-owned.
