John Leguizamo looks back on the controversial role of Al Pacino in “L’Impasse” and lifts the veil on a part of his career during which he was sorely lacking in opportunities as an actor of Colombian origin.
For John Leguizamo, 1993 was a breakthrough year thanks to back-to-back Super Mario Bros. releases. and The Impasse. In this latest film directed by Brian De Palma, the actor played mobster Benny Blanco opposite Al Pacino as Carlito Brigante, a Puerto Rican criminal who is dragged back into a life of crime. The only problem is that Al Pacino is not Puerto Rican, which is why the experience was so “strange” and “surreal” for Leguizamo.
As Variety reports, the comedian recently spoke on the subject in an interview with Insider.
“You know, it was a thing of the time. Before that he played a Cuban“, he said referring to Pacino’s iconic role, Tony Montana, in Scarface. “Yes, in this film, he takes on a bit of a Cuban/Mexican accent.”
The filming of L’Impasse was therefore a special experience for the Colombian actor.
I know he tries and he’s a great actor, so brilliant, he was my hero. But it was strange. It’s a weird experience being a Latin man in a Latin story written by a Latin man and the main character is a white man claiming to be Puerto Rican. I’m not going to lie, it’s surreal. It was surreal. I turned down the role several times and then finally decided to do it.
United International Pictures (UIP)
However, the impasse marked a turning point in the career of John Leguizamo, who is also known for having played in 2 flagship productions by Baz Luhrmann, Roméo + Juliette in 1996 and Moulin Rouge! in 2001.
“I really knew I could play. It wasn’t like I couldn’t play, I knew I could”, he continued. “I trained hard. It’s just that Hollywood was weird and it always has been weird. It’s always been ‘Holly-would never do that’. And I knew it. When I went to college, and alongside great actors, white men had 5 auditions a day and I had one every 5 months. The cast breakdown was like [les lois] Jim Crow. White actor, white actor, then every 5 months, Latin actor to be a murderer. These were my opportunities.”
This end of the year is busy for John Leguizamo, who you can currently find on the poster of the thriller Le Menu by Mark Mylod, alongside Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult, as well as Violent Night by Tommy Wirkola, opposite David Harbour, the trailer of which you can discover below.