Juan Carlos Garcia/Reform Agency
Wednesday, January 04, 2023 | 08:52
Mexico City.- Names in Spanish of actors, directors, cinematographers and specialists in various areas appear more and more in Hollywood movies and series, but for John Leguizamo, that is not enough.
Born in Bogotá, Colombia 62 years ago and living in New York since he was a teenager, the prestigious actor assured that the most powerful film industry must open up even more towards productions with content, heart and Latino ideology.
“I feel grateful because I have had great opportunities, because I have worked with great directors who fought for me, who appreciated my talent, but Hollywood is still racist. There is very little (of Latinos) in Hollywood, much more is needed,” he said. Leguizamo in interview.
Between 1985 and 2022, the actor has registered almost 200 film titles and twenty television series. He has just released Night Without Peace, with David Harbour, and El Menú, with Ralph Fiennes, in the commercial section; while Dark Blood and Waiting for Godot came out as part of the arthouse circuit.
In his history, he also has interventions in acclaimed films such as Moulin Rouge: Love in Red, Spawn and Romeo + Juliet.
Today there are names of actors such as Diego Luna, Eiza González, Tenoch Huerta, Salma Hayek, Demian Bichir and Oscar Isaac in leading roles in the Mecca of Cinema. The Colombian celebrates this fact, but insists that greater visibility is needed.
“We (Latinos) contribute 2.8 trillion dollars. If we were our own country, in the United States, we would be the fifth richest in the world. We are an economy that contributes. We are 30 percent of what Hollywood earns and 30 of what streaming earns.
“But we are less than 2 percent in the leading roles, in the superhero movies, in the stars. And I want to change that. There have been many excuses from Hollywood, but Latinos here in the United States want to win Oscars, we deserve very much characters better than they can win Oscars, but you can’t win them if they don’t give you the characters,” the producer also pointed out.
Latinos do generate box office
Leguizamo tells, for example, that with the film Encanto, in which he gave voice to Bruno Madrigal, Disney generated a great box office and critical success.
“With Charm we proved that we could do it, and in theater, on Broadway, Lin-Manuel Miranda and I proved (with Viva Broadway) that things can be done and we Latinos have a call. That’s what we want,” said John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (his real name).
Next June, the actor who voiced Gor Koresh in The Mandalorian will celebrate 20 years of marriage to Justine Maurer, with whom he had children Allegra Sky and Ryder Lee.
“I am very fortunate in the life I lead, personally and professionally. I have the best (wife) and my children are my adoration. As for roles? I am looking for something that is not anything like what I have done.
“I always look for characters that are enriching, that represent growth for me, and that are credible. I never think about the fame that they could give me. If I did that, I would be a mercenary of my work and I am not.”
He said that it does not bother him to be a reference in films where there are clichés such as violence, sexuality, nudity and drug trafficking, because they are part of a reality. He even affirmed that the US has been more and more open to these issues.
“Censorship is no longer so latent. Streaming has more options than open television. We are already more comfortable with nudity, in the US they were very puritanical.
“The body is a beautiful thing, sex is divine, but why not have them like in Europe, which has always been done,” he said.
