John Leguizamo: Minorities Need Access To Jobs That Get Their Stories Told | Big Think

John Leguizamo: Minorities Need Access To Jobs That Get Their Stories Told

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American culture has been predominately representative of white stories for most, if not all, of its history. The majority of American movies lead with white actors, even when it’s not appropriate. Most recent and most famous, was Cameron Crowe’s 2015 rom-com Aloha, when Emma Stone was cast as Hawaiian. Then there was the cast of Exodus, which takes place in Egypt, yet has a white cast. And the early days of Hollywood... let’s not even go there. The shame is too much. Though director Ridley Scott has defended his decision and Cameron Crowe has apologized, people remain relatively mad about both. And rightly so.

When John Leguizamo (of Romeo & Juliet, Moulin Rouge, Bloodline, and in the soon-to-be-released The Infiltrator), first tried to get his foot in the door of Hollywood, he came across the same problems most minorities face. There were not many parts available for non-white actors, and even fewer three-dimensional roles.

Leguizamo, and many actors like him, had to fight for every role he could get. Viola Davis had a wonderful moment that pushed these issues to light, when she won Outstanding Lead Actress for How to Get Away With Murder, a role that actually gave her a chance to show she could win an Emmy (her talent was always there, wasted on bit parts). Leguizamo took a different route, not waiting for opportunity but taking it. He wrote the roles he wanted for himself.

But things are slowly changing. The Black Lives Matter movement is still forcing our eyes open in the best possible, albeit tragic, way, and with police dash-cams and body-cams, it’s harder to deny the truth that minorities have always know and lived. But the divide is slowly closing, despite many in the Trump fan base trying to push it wider. Things have changed over the last few years – the headlines sound worse, but the fact that these things are on the agenda is a sign of the nation’s progress. The spread of smartphones and social media has allowed the issues to come forth, and Leguizamo is very optimistic about this. Someone in New York can be a witness to an event in Florida, as social media can broadcast it all in real time. Because of this freedom of observation, people are coming together more than ever, and steering the country in a more unified and progressive direction.

The Infiltrator is out now and stars John Leguizamo, Bryan Cranston, Diane Kruger and Amy Ryan.

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JOHN LEGUIZAMO:

John Leguizamo is a multi-faceted performer and Emmy Award winner who has established a career that defies categorization. With boundless and visceral creativity, his work in film, theatre, television, and literature covers a variety of genres, continually threatening to create a few of its own. In March of 2014, Leguizamo debuted his 5th HBO solo special, Ghetto Klown, an adaptation of his Drama Desk Award-winning one-man stage show of the same name. Leguizamo most recently starred alongside Ice Cube and Kevin Hart in Universal’s hit comedy, Ride Along and in the Open Road Films feature Chef, written and directed by Jon Favreau.

In 2011, Leguizamo returned to Broadway with his new solo play, Ghetto Klown, the next chapter in his hugely popular personal and professional story. Directed by Academy Award winner Fisher Stevens, Ghetto Klown follows in the unabashed, uncensored, and uninhibited tradition of Leguizamo’s Mambo Mouth, Spic-O-Rama, Freak, and Sexaholix… a Love Story.

To add to his list of attributes, Leguizamo is also an accomplished author. He recently penned his autobiography Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends, which was released by HarperCollins in October 2006. The New York Times called the book "brutally funny," while USA Today coined Leguizamo as "one of the most exciting talents to come along in some time."

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TRANSCRIPT:

John Leguizamo: As a Latin person, you know, minorities, black people have to do it as well. We have to immerse ourselves in white culture and learn about white culture. And it’s all we were taught in school and in movies. And so we learn but it’s not reciprocal, you know. It’s not a reciprocal thing that happens that white culture wants to learn about Latin culture or black culture. But there are a few. There are a few. Jane Elliott being one of the great ones...

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