Eva Longoria and John Leguizamo lead petition for Hollywood to support Latino actors amid Odessa A’zion ‘Deep Cuts’ controversy
Eva Longoria and John Leguizamo are at the forefront of a petition for Hollywood to give greater support to Latino actors amid Odessa A’zion’s controversial casting in the A24 movie, Deep Cuts.
On January 29th, Marty Supreme actor A’zion took to her Instagram Stories to announce that she would be pulling out of her next movie, Deep Cuts, after being cast as a Mexican character.
After originally auditioning for a smaller role, A’zion was offered and accepted the role of Zoe Gutierrez. In the book, Gutierrez is of Mexican heritage and is Jewish. While A’zion is of Jewish heritage on her maternal side, her father is German.
The star revealed to her fans, “I’m so pissed y’all, I hadn’t read the book and should have paid attention to all aspects of Zoe before accepting…and now that I know what I know? Fuck that. I’m out!”
Now, over 100 Latino actors, artists, and storytellers in Hollywood have signed an open letter urging Hollywood to increase Latino voices across the entertainment industry.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, the letter reads in part: “Recent casting decisions around the character Zoe Gutierrez in A24’s Deep Cuts have exposed a troubling pattern. We acknowledge and commend Odessa A’zion for listening, reflecting and deciding to exit the project and become an ally. Yet how did this happen?”
It continued, “The absence of Latina audition opportunities, and the choice to replace a clearly Latina character with a non-Latina actress, signals a broader, ongoing erasure of our community from the stories that define our culture.”
The letter, which was also signed by the likes of Jessica Alba, Gina Rodriguez, Danny Ramirez, Becky G, Michael Pena and Gloria Calderon Kellett, clarified, “This is not about any one actor or project. It is about a system that repeatedly overlooks qualified Latino talent even as our identities, histories, and experiences fuel the most enduring stories.”
It calls for “concrete action”, including demands to audition and hire more Latino actors for a diverse range of roles, to hire more Latino executives in greenlighting rooms, and increase Latino voices as consultants from the earliest stages of project development.
“The world is watching,” the letter closes out strongly.
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