James Franco as Fidel Castro: an already controversial casting choice

American actor and director James Franco has been chosen to play the leader of the Cuban Revolution in Alina from Cuba, a film centered on the Cuban leader’s tumultuous relationship with his illegitimate daughter, Alina Fernández. A casting choice that is already making a lot of noise.

James Francowho won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in 2018 for his performance in The Disaster Artist (film he had directed and inspired by the cult nanar The Room), is preparing to return to the cinema in Alina from Cuba. He will play the famous Cuban statesman Fidel Castro, one of the main instigators of the Cuban Revolution – alongside, among others, Che Guevara – who governed the Republic of Cuba alone from 1959 to 2008 before passing the baton to his brother, Raul Castro. According to statements by the film’s producer to AFP, the 44-year-old American actor was first hired because of his striking resemblance to the Cuban leader.

James Franco again at the heart of a controversy

The film directed by Miguel Bardem, who is none other than the cousin of actor Javier Bardem, will be based on the autobiography of Alina Fernández, illegitimate daughter of Fidel Castro and opponent of the Castro regime who went into exile in the United States. United in the 1990s after fleeing to Spain. The casting of James Franco in the role, however defended by the main interested party, did not fail to make certain Latin American actors react, including actor John Leguizamo (Moulin Rouge!, John Wick, Encanto), who explained his call for a boycott through a message broadcast on his Instagram account (“ How can this still happen? he asks) recalling the lack of representation of Latin Americans in Hollywood.

As a reminder, James Franco, nominated for the Oscar for best actor for 127 hours by Danny Boyle, had completely disappeared from the radar in 2019 following the accusations of sexual harassment which weighed against him, emanating in particular from former students of the American actor and director. Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, the two plaintiffs concerned, had dropped their lawsuits after James Franco agreed to pay them just over $2.2 million to avoid a trial.

Franco only came back publicly – albeit vaguely – on his misdeeds last December during a radio program broadcast on SiriusXM. The latter last appeared on screen in the third and final season of The Deuce (HBO, 2019).

The filming ofAlina from Cuba, co-written by José Rivera (Travel diaries) and Nilo Cruz (winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for the play Anna in the Tropics), will debut this month in Colombia. James Franco will also sign his return in Me, You, the next film by Danish filmmaker Bille August (twice winner of the Palme d’Or, first Shovel the Conqueror in 1988 then Best intentions in 1992) adapted from the eponymous novel byErri de Luca.