John Leguizamo declined ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith' because of pay gap, says he felt 'dissed' as a Latin actor
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: John Leguizamo recently sat down for an interview where he spoke about what it means to be a Latin actor in Hollywood.
The 63-year-old actor also revealed the names of the movies that he declined but regrets now, as reported by Business Insider.
John Leguizamo was offered a very small amount for ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’
Leguizamo shared that he refused to work in ‘The Devil Wears Prada', Robin Williams’ voice role in ‘Happy Feet’, and Vince Vaughn’s role in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’.
Elaborating more, the film producer reportedly said, “Well, for ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith', it was because they were paying them [Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt] $20 million and they were going to pay me scale. I felt dissed, and they probably weren't dissing me, but I felt dissed.”
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He further stated, “Sometimes when you're a person of color, you're so used to being dissed that you think you're being dissed, and sometimes you're not being dissed."
"So that's what happens, and you have to go to a lot of therapy to fix that. And ‘Happy Feet', I had done ‘Ice Age'. I was going, ‘I don't want to be doing all these ice movies'. Such a stupid reason. But it seemed logical to me at the moment, and then I lost out on millions,” Leguizamo added.
John Leguizamo was to play Vulture in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’
Elsewhere during the interview, the ‘Spawn’ actor reportedly mentioned his “negotiations” to play Vulture in ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ but could not get the role ultimately.
He explained, “I didn't understand it. I think another actor would've sued because we had agreed on terms. We went through a huge negotiation period, and we had agreed on terms.”
Leguizamo continued, “I hadn't signed a contract, but we had agreed. I think those are sueable terms. And then the head of the studio called me up and said, ‘This is terrible. I feel horrible, and would you give it up?’ And I did.”
“I felt like, if you didn't want me, I don't want to be there either, you know what I mean? My grandma was like, ‘If they don't want you at a party, don't go.’ So I was like, you don't want me at the party. I don't want to be there,” he stated.
Leguizamo also asserted, “I felt dissed and diminished, so I didn't really want to be a part of it.”
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John Leguizamo open to work with MCU
However, the comedian has not vowed to never work with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
He said, “I would if I was offered The Riddler or some part like that. I would go back to other franchises.”
“I mean, if you make it up to me. But then they offered me some tiny scientist in the movie. I was like, ‘No thank you. Thank you, but no',” Leguizamo added.
