Alina from Cuba: After criticism of James Franco, Fidel Castro’s daughter defends actor

Years after being accused of abuse by students at his acting school, James Franco will return to the big screen to live Fidel Castro in the long Alina from Cuba. Is for Alina Fernándezthe daughter of the Cuban leader in real life, the casting of the actor was “incredible”.

In an interview with deadlinethe woman, who was one of the biggest critics of the government of Fidel Castro, commented the cast of the long about his life. In the movie, Fernández will be played by the American actress Ana Villafañe (New Amsterdam Hospital).

James Franco bears an obvious physical resemblance to Fidel Castroin addition to his skills and charisma,” said the Cuban leader’s daughter. “I think the casting is incredible.”

For the Colombian actor John Leguizamohowever, the escalation of franc It wasn’t that positive. “How is this still happening? As Hollywood is it excluding us, but also stealing our narratives?”, he asked, on social media.

“Enough of appropriation Hollywood and streamers! Boycott! Fuck all this! Aside from a seriously difficult story to tell without aggrandizement, what would be wrong! I have no problems with francbut he’s not Latino!”, said the actor.

Faced with the attempt to boycott the Colombian artist, the producer himself Alina from Cubacame out in defense of the chosen squad. To The Hollywood Reporter, John Martinz O’Felan came to praise We legalizebut said his attacks are baseless.

a man like John Leguizamo has historically been admired by Hispanics as one of the first successful actors of Latin descent to make it in the United States since the 1990s, and I’ve always looked up to him as a fellow underdog,” the producer said. “But his talk is culturally impolite and a blind attack with no substance to this project.”

“The reality of his ignorance lies in his comment on his personal view of what it is to be Latino, because a piece of land or area to live in does not determine a person’s genetics or past,” he said. O’Felan.

Alina from Cuba

Directed by Miguel Bardemthe film tells the story of Alina Fernandezillegitimate daughter of Fidel Castro. Based on real events, the feature will follow the woman’s journey in exile and in the defense of social agendas as one of the biggest critics of her father’s government.

with script by Jose Rivera and Nile Cruzthe film promises to deliver a historical drama faithful to the events of the life of Fernandez and still has Mia Maestro, Alanna de la Rosa, Maria Cecilia Botero, Harding Junior, Sian Chiong and Rafael Ernesto Hernandez in your roster. There is no release date for the production yet, but filming is expected to begin on August 15th in Cartagena and Bogotá, Colombia.

Return after controversies

With Alina from Cuba and me, you, drama focused on the post-WWII period, James Franco returns to movie screens four years after being accused of sex discrimination, harassment and fraud by former students of studio 4your acting school.

At the time, former students of the institution accused James Franco and two other men linked to the school of being coerced into sexually explicit scenes on camera. Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal claim to have been students at the actor’s film school in 2014.

franc admitted that he had sex with students three years after the accusations, claiming they were consensual. In 2021, she struck a deal for the case not to go to trial and paid more than Rs 11 million ($2.2 million) to end the court case.