Follow Up to my rant on "Hitch" and Latina Actresses

If you've been following my blog, you will know what I said about Hitch and "black" movies. Anywho, there's an article talking about this same phenomenon. Read my blog entry below and the article that follows.


http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/story/0,1259,---24952,00.html

Mendes Calls Latina Casting Trend 'Lame'

Mon, Mar 07, 2005, 01:03 PM PT

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Eva Mendes has one qualm about her success.

The 31-year-old "Hitch" star says that the recent trend to have Latina actress star opposite black leading men isn't right.

"I don't even know what to say about it anymore," Mendes says in the March 14 issue of Newsweek, on newsstands now. "Certainly I've benefited, because I've got to work with Ice Cube, Denzel and Will. But it's lame. I wish the mentality wasn't so closed."

"Are We There Yet?" actress Nia Long believes the trend of replacing black actresses with Latina ones is all about marketing.

"Two black characters equals a black film and not just a movie about two people," says Long.

American Black Film Festival founder Jeff Friday calls the casting trend "good business sense" since Latinos are now the largest American minority group.

Indeed, it's perhaps more accurate to observe that Latinas are being cast in leading lady roles more often now regardless of the ethnicity of the leading man. Although Mendes starred opposite three black men -- Ice Cube in "All About the Benjamins," Denzel Washington in "Out of Time" and Will Smith in "Hitch" -- she's also shared the screen with Paul Walker ("2 Fast 2 Furious"), Johnny Depp ("Once Upon a Time in Mexico") and Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear ("Stuck on You").

Two other leading Latina actresses, Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz, have also had their share of a variety of leading men. Hayek's leading men include Matthew Perry, Smith, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Farrell, in the upcoming "Ask the Dust," while Cruz -- who was born in Spain -- has starred opposite Damon, Nicolas Cage, Depp, ex-boyfriend Tom Cruise, Walker and Matthew McConaughey for the upcoming "Sahara." Both actresses will topline "Bandidas," a western action flick to be released later this year.

Mendes is currently filming opposite Cage in the comic book-inspired "Ghost Rider."