by BB Curtis

People are getting on my last fuckin’ nerve.  When the planet is about to catch fire, we want to find more petty bullshit to create issues – incredibly, some that don’t exist.  John Leguizamo is bitching about a non-Latino playing Castro.  Is he upset that he’s not in the news enough lately and needed to get some air time?  Did he lose the role to James Franco? What’s his damage (to use some old-ass vernacular)?

Let’s start with the obvious.  It doesn’t matter what the ethnicity is of an actor playing a role.  It comes with the part about being an actor playing a role.  The expectation is that an actor can become someone else, do both voices and accents, and convincingly portray a character.  That’s it.  That’s the whole thing. Neither Brando nor Caan were Italian, yet they successfully played Italian roles in one of the most popular movies ever made – a movie about an Italian family, no less.  Why?  They can act.  They also had reputations for drawing people to the theater, which generates profit.  Sometimes that’s the ONLY reason a particular actor is chosen for a role.  Let’s think Superman with Christopher Reeve – new dude on the scene.  Brando played his father and Susannah York played his mother.  Why?  Because they were already established actors who could draw some people to the theater when the lead character was being portrayed by someone without a profit-producing track record.  May I point out that none of these people are from Krypton.

Now let’s take a look at Leguizamo who is Colombian and voiced Luigi, an Italian character.  He played Ozzy Delvecchio in Bloodlines, an Italian character.  There are more examples, but I believe two is sufficient to prove a point. 

A bit about James Franco:  “James’s father was of half Portuguese/Madeiran and half Swedish descent. James’s mother is Jewish (of Russian Jewish, German Jewish, Polish Jewish, and Lithuanian Jewish descent).” From <https://ethnicelebs.com/james-franco>

So, are we to understand that Leguizamo thinks that he, himself, may play whatever nationality he wants but Franco has to limit himself to only characters of Portuguese, Swedish, Russian, German, Polish, and Lithuanian background? 

Even more to the point, three non-crossdressers played drag queens in To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. One of those non-crossdressers was Leguizamo.  If you run with Leguizamo’s comment about Franco, shouldn’t drag queens have played those roles?  Does Leguizamo want to donate all the proceeds from the non-Colombian roles he’s played to some charities related to discrimination and never take a role again that is not a Colombian character?  He’s adorable in To Wong Fu.  It’s a wonderful film.  It’s in my top 10, partially because Swayze’s character reminds me so much of my mother, clothes and all.  Mostly because the messages of the film are valuable, and it’s funny as hell, well-acted, with a fabulous cast.  

Additionally, last I knew, producers and directors made decisions on who plays the roles in the theatrical pieces they create.  Unless the actor is so contemptible, based on immoral or illegal acts they have perpetrated, judgement calls on who plays a role should be left to the creators.   The public will make its stance by either paying to see the movie or not, and then whether or not they view it when it streams.  Predominantly, the public proves its decisions financially.

Why are we trying to limit the scope of what an actor is allowed to accomplish?  Have we become this petty?  Nevermind, we have.  This incredibly inane and contemptible behavior is now the norm.  It’s being perpetrated by both the Right and the Left, and it’s just plain stupid.

Here’s why:

The biggest point I would have made is the use of “Latino” by Leguizamo.  However,

John Martinez O’Felan, Mankind Entertainment’s CEO and producer and manager of

Alina of Cuba beat me to it, thankfully!  “For one, let’s take a historical look at true Latinism in today’s mass culture of Hispanics, because a territory does not define a person’s blood trail. What I mean when I say that is that to be ‘Latin’ means of Hispanic, Portuguese, Italian or Latin American heritage and roots, all of the branches of the root of being ‘Latin.’ ”  From <https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/john-leguizamo-criticizes-james-franco-casting-fidel-castro/story?id=88009435>  It never ceases to fascinate how not knowing can create such havoc and lead more of those who do not know down a path of divisiveness.  

This is where we are.  Those who don’t know are in the lead.  I wonder if having some knowledge and fact-checking will ever come back in vogue. 

© Bobbi Bartsch Curtis, 2022, all rights reserved.