John Leguizamo has spoken out against casting actor James Franco as Fidel Castro in the upcoming film, Cuba’s Alina: La Hija Rebelde.
It was recently announced that Franco will play the late Cuban leader in the new film directed by Miguel Bardem from Mankind Entertainment, Maven Pictures and Redbud Studios.
“Alina of Cuba” is based on the real-life story of Alina Fernandez, who is one of Castro’s nine known children. Fernandez is known to be critical of the Cuban government and her father’s rule. Actress Ana Villafane will star in the film as Alina.
John Leguizamo, left, attends the 94th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood and Highland, March 27, 2022, in Hollywood, California. James Franco attends the Filming Italy 2022 photocall on June 11, 2022 in Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy.
David Livingston|Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images, FILE
Leguizamo took to Instagram on Friday to criticize Franco’s casting as Fidel Castro, sharing a screenshot of Deadline’s report confirming Franco’s role.
“How is this still going on?” the Tony and Emmy-winning actor wrote alongside the screenshot. “How is Hollywood excluding us, but also stealing our narratives?”
“No more appropriation of Hollywood and broadcasters!” he continued. “Boycott! This was frowned upon! Plus serious story hard to tell without glorification, which would be wrong! I don’t have a problem with Franco, but he’s not Latino!”
John Martinez O’Felan, CEO of Mankind Entertainment, the film’s lead producer and manager, responded to Leguizamo’s comments in a lengthy statement to “Good Morning America.”
He told “GMA” that Leguizamo’s comments “lack factual substance” and “are an unfair public attack on me and my work.”
“I want to preface my answer by saying that I have always been a fan of John Leguizamo and saw him as one of the early American actors and still am,” his statement began. “However, I want to emphasize that his comments, if you base them on genealogy, have no factual content and are an unfair public attack on me and my work, without reason.”
He continued, “For one, let’s take a historical look at real history and science: a territory does not define a person’s bloodline. What I mean when I say that is that being ‘Latino’ means Hispanic, Portuguese, Italian or Latin American heritage and roots, all offshoots of the root of being ‘Latino.’ So to me his statement represents in part the confusion and identity crisis in Hollywood right now within the Hispanic community in America, of who claim to identify only as Latino.”
“Furthermore, I’ve never met Leguizamo, but I felt called to address the fact that he’s attacking me and my work based on false information because I’m not actually Hollywood as he insists: I’m a Hispanic 4th generation from Texas, part of the Latino community in America and have been the visionaries behind this project since its inception,” said O’Felan.
He added, “Furthermore, I have also spent 16 years developing this district and with the support of Ms. Fernandez, and I took the time to find a female leader with Cuban roots, so he is also attacking this title.” completely unfair. That’s because this is a movie based on a Latina immigrant living in America, which is historically important, led by a Latina woman, and I’m just a weakling who made it, so it’s disappointing to see our work being attacked by someone we thought we’d celebrate him if he hates it and wants to stop it i’ll watch his movies again because he’s been one of my favorite actors for 30 last years.”
O’Felan also said that Franco “takes his job very seriously.”
“He’s been a wonderful artistic collaborator to work with,” he said. “It’s also been fantastic to watch the actress’ character build around him as the perfect antagonist figure in the picture. I can’t wait for audiences to see the end result!”
James Franco attends the Filming Italy 2022 photocall on June 11, 2022 in Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy.
Daniele Venturelli / Getty Images, FILE
“Cuba’s Alina” will be one of Franco’s first roles since he was accused of sexual misconduct by five women in 2018.
Four of the accusers were acting students who attended Franco’s Studio 4, a New York and Los Angeles-based acting school founded in 2014, and one was a mentee of the actor.
Franco agreed to pay just over $2.2 million to settle a lawsuit accusing him and his associates of sexual exploitation and fraud in 2021.
Franco has not publicly commented on the news about his casting in “Alina e Kubes”.
