Washington DC [US], August 24 : Comedian and actor John Leguizamo recalled being "humiliated " by his role in Mike Nichols' 1991 film 'Regarding Henry', reported People.
Leguizamo played a convenience store robber in the movie, which centred on a lawyer, played by Harrison Ford, who loses his memory after being shot during the crime and struggles to regain his speech and mobility.
"You know, I was kind of humiliated by it," Leguizamo said of his role in the movie. "I did it because I got no jobs. There were no jobs for Latin folk. There just weren't," as per the outlet.
He said that, as a Latino actor in the '90s, "there were no opportunities," as per the outlet.
"When I got Regarding Henry, it was a drug dealer. I shoot this white guy. It was like, I'm perpetuating what they want to see, which is negative Latino images."
When asked if he was ever told to "Latin it up a little more" for the part, Leguizamo said it was implied, reported People.
"They didn't have to say that to me as much. I was the flavour they were looking for, like a ghetto hoodrat," he said. "I had been working against that. All my acting teachers, when I was 17, were like, 'No one can understand you with that accent. Do you really speak that way?' "
While Leguizamo didn't like the message the part conveyed, he admittedly "really wanted to meet Mike Nichols because he's one of the greats."
"But there I am with my sloppy fro and I'm in the drugstore, I mean in the bodega, and there's Harrison Ford and I'm robbing the place," he recalled. "Even talking about it just gives me PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)."
In the three decades since starring in Regarding Henry, Leguizamo has been a big advocate for his community, pushing for more representation in films, lobbying for a National Museum of the American Latino, and creating a docuseries, Leguizamo Does America, that shines a spotlight on "Latin excellence", reported People.