James Franco to play Fidel Castro in new film

“Finding and convincing James Franco to play Castro was a fun process.”

James Franco will play Fidel Castro in a brand new feature film about his daughter, Alina Fernandez, Deadline reports.

Alina de Cuba will begin shooting on August 15 in Cartagena and Bogota, Colombia. The Spanish colonial architecture of these two cities is reminiscent of the settings of Castro’s time in Cuba.

The film will highlight the life of Alina, who was born from a secret relationship between Fidel Castro and public figure Natalia “Naty” Revuelta. At the age of 10, she learned from her mother that “El Commandante” was her biological father. She became one of his greatest critics and was even forbidden to leave the country.

The producer, John Martinez O’Felan, mentioned to Deadline that he was looking for someone who physically resembles Fidel Castro and has his charisma.

“Finding and convincing James Franco to play Castro was a fun and challenging process and was the collaborative work of the universe, as our director’s initial order was to find an actor who physically resembled the real Castro to build from, in addition to finding someone that Alina Fernandez would strongly approve of,” added O’Felan.

He concluded the interview by saying that working with such an exciting and challenging cast has been a true blessing.

In short, we are counting the days until the release of Alina from Cuba on the big screen.