James Franco will play Fidel Castro in ‘Alina of Cuba’ and the Latin actors are very angry

James Franco has been out of the spotlight for some time due to the sexual misconduct allegations made by five women in 2018. Even Seth Rogen, at the time a great friend and collaborator of him, turned his back on him. The actor admitted late last year that he has learned a lot from this situation and is preparing his return with various projects.

One of the latest to be announced is ‘Alina of Cuba’, the new film by Miguel Bardem (“Mortadelo and Filemón: Mission to save the Earth”), in which will become none other than Fidel Castro. The film will focus on Alina Fernández, Castro’s daughter and one of his regime’s greatest critics. He will be played by Ana Villafañe, while Mia Maestro will play Naty Revuelta, Alina’s mother. The script is in charge of Jose Rivera (‘Motorcycle Diaries’) and Nilo Cruz.

This opportunity for James Franco to return to the nominated film circuit is not without criticism because it is an American actor and not a Latin American who is the dictator. One of the first to enter the discussion was John Leguizamo, who wrote on his Instagram: “Why does it keep happening? Why does Hollywood exclude us and even steal our narratives? No more appropriation! Hollywood and streaming platforms! Boycott! This is terrible! This story is also very difficult to tell without zoom, which would be wrong. Me. do not have problems with Franco but he is not Latin! “.

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It wasn’t the only one. Other Latin American actors and actresses, such as Raúl Castillo, Jess Darrow or Sol Rodríguez, have also raised their complaints on social networks. Jeff Torres has tweeted: “I’m casting for another Latin American generic drug dealer and James Franco will play Fidel Castro. Latins continue to be overlooked here and everywhere. Fuck yourself”.

poor representation

They have reason to criticize because the presence of Latin actors and actresses in Hollywood films and series is still very small. A 2020 study found that only 5% of the spoken roles in the 100 highest-grossing films of the year were played by Latin artists. They are the least represented in the industry, followed by Asian actors and actresses with 7% speaking representatives in the best films of the year. Despite this, in 2018 they accounted for 23% of cinema tickets sold in the United States.

“Alina de Cuba” intends to start shooting on August 15 in Cartagena and Bogotá, Colombia.