John Leguizamo opened up about some early career setbacks in Hollywood during a recent appearance on the podcast Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade.
Reminiscing about Mike Nichols‘ 1991 classic “Regarding Henry” in which he landed a small part, Leguizamo said he felt humiliated to star as the “Liquor Store Gunman” and said “even talking about [the movie] just gives me PTSD.”
Penned by J.J. Abrams, “Regarding Henry” starred Harrison as a ruthless New York City lawyer whose life unravels after he gets shot in the head (by Leguizamo’s character) during a robbery, leading him on a difficult, yet transformative path to regain his cognitive skills, which brings him closer to his family. The movie grossed an estimated $43 million worldwide.
Leguizamo said on the podcast that he had taken the small role because he was eager to work with Nichols whom he considered “one of the greats” and “because [he] got no jobs” at the time.
“There were no jobs for Latin folk. There just weren’t,” said Leguizamo, who went on to describe Hollywood at the time as a sort of “Jim Crow” environment were role archetypes were “white doctor, white lawyer, white husband, white lover, Latino drug dealer.”
“When I got ‘Regarding Henry,’ it was a drug dealer. I shoot this white guy. It was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m perpetuating what they want to see,’ which is negative Latino images,” he said.
Leguizamo went on to break out a couple years later in “Carlito’s Way” in 1993, and also starred in Julie Newmar’s “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything!” in 1995, followed by “Romeo + Juliet” a year later. He also hosts “Leguizamo Does America,” a documentary series exploring Latino communities and culture across the U.S. He’ll next be seen in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and “Ice Age 6.”
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