The daughter of the late Cuban President Fidel Castro, Alina Fernández, doesn't mind seeing James Franco on screen as her father.
After allegations by the Colombian-American actor John Leguizamo that Franco was a miscast for the planned biopic "Alina of Cuba" because he was not Latino, Fernández defended the actor ("127 Hours").
"James Franco bears a striking resemblance to Fidel Castro, is talented and has charisma," the Cuban, who lives in the United States, told industry service Deadline.com on Tuesday.
allegations of cultural appropriation
In recent days, Leguizamo has repeatedly accused Hollywood of discriminating against Hispanic actors on social media.
The American film industry regularly casts whites like Charlton Heston, Al Pacino and Ben Affleck as "Latin".
“Hollywood excludes us,” the actor (“Carlito's Way”) raged, accusing the film enclave of cultural appropriation.
Last week it became known that the producers of the film "Alina of Cuba" had engaged the Californian Franco as Castro.
Most of the roles in the film adaptation of the life story of Castro's daughter Alina, who was born in Cuba in 1956 and fled to Spain in the early 1990s, were cast with Hispanic actors such as Ana Villafañe, Mía Maestro and Maria Cecilia Botero.
Miguel Bardem, a native of Spain, is directing.