Catherine Zeta-Jones is set to play female drug lord Griselda Blanco in the upcoming true -story movie The Godmother , according to Deadline . But the casting choice is getting a side-eye from several actors, actresses and members of the Hispanic-Latino community.
Not to shade Catherine Zeta Jones, a good actress who has proven that she can take on any role—but it does make one wonder what made the producers select Zeta-Jones to play Colombian queen-pin Griselda Blanco.
Sure, Catherine Zeta-Jones’ dark hair and beautiful eyes could bear a slight resemblance to Blanco if you squint your eyes, and tilt your head slightly to the left. She also might be able to perfect a Colombian accent. But why? Is it too time-consuming and too costly to select a real Colombian actress, or any other Hispanic or Latina actress? We saw the same sort of questioning when Puerto Rican actress Jennifer Lopez was chosen to play Mexican singer Selena.
And who can forget the outrage over Lifetime’s casting of Zendaya Coleman to play late singer Aaliyah? The public backlash from that casting choice was so fierce it lead Coleman to step away from the role.
Regarding the Blanco film, here are some of the current grumblings about Catherine Zeta-Jones playing Griselda Blanco in the new movie.
Black actress Yolanda Ross, of the Whitney Houston Story , had this to say on her Twitter account, “I’m sorry but what part of this casting makes any kind of sense? Come on Hollywood. AreThere NO LATIN actresses???”
Two other Twitter posters state,
#unbelievable #latinasrepresent really??? call #SAGAFTRA plenty of #actresses #DiversityMatters #diversity”
Catherine Zeta-Jones looks NOTHING like Griselda blanco. You mean to tell me we got NO up & coming Colombians to play that role? Smh
Griselda Blanco was a Colombian drug boss that operated out of Miami. The drug queen and outlaw was a ruthless killer who made it her business to let every man in the drug world know that she did not play—period.
In fact, some say Griselda enjoyed killing people. The Cartagena born killer is suspected of killing more than 100 people, including some of her exes, either by her own hand or at her request. Whenever she hired someone to do her dirty work, she always needed proof, like the bloody finger of the victim to confirm that the killing actually took place. In the Hispanic/Latino community, she was known as “La Viuda Negra” (the black widow).
Once Griselda Blanco was a wanted woman, she left the country and disappeared from public view for many years. In 2012, Griselda Blanco was shot dead in Colombia, according to an earlier report by Inquisitr .
According to Philly.com , The Godmother, which is now in development, will be directed by Eva Sorhaug and is due to be released in 2015.