Jessica Chastain defends Penelope Cruz’s role in new film amid ‘inappropriate casting’ row

Jessica Chastain has defended casting Penelope Cruz as a Colombian spy in her new film, despite Cruz being Spanish.

Chastain stars alongside Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o, Fan Bingbing and Diane Kruger in the forthcoming The 355, in which the five play international secret agents thrown together to recover a stolen weapon.

All five represent different countries, but Cruz’s casting has faced controversy since the release of the film’s trailer earlier this week (5 October).

Despite being Spanish, Cruz portrays a Colombian, and a Variety columnist condemned the film for not hiring a Colombian actor instead.

“American consumers may be used to lumping together all Spanish speakers,” wrote Clayton Davis. “Cruz is Hispanic, which is not interchangeable with Latina. It’s a constant battle within Hollywood to hire more Latinx actors and actresses, and understand who they are and where they come from.”

He continued: “Cruz is not Colombian or Latina. She’s cast in a role that makes it seem clear that executives and agents put no effort into scouring the world to find a more appropriate choice, or to be even more daring, an actual Colombian actress to play Graciela.”

Chastain, who produced The 355 and was significantly involved in casting the film’s main actors, defended Cruz’s casting in a statement.

“I brought [Cruz] the idea that she could play a fervent agent from Brazil,” Chastain said. “She mentioned that it wouldn’t be right for her to play a character from Brazil, as the majority language is Portuguese.

“I realised that Colombia has a rich ethnic heritage, with approximately 80% of the population having European or mixed European heritage. We settled on a character who is a descendant from the colonisation of Spain in the New World.”

Chastain added that the goal of The 355 was to explore “the international common thread that connects us all”.

“At the end of the day, it wasn’t important where the characters came from, but that they all come together to form an alliance beyond borders,” she said.

The 355, which also stars Sebastian Stan and Edgar Ramirez, will be released on 15 January 2021.

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