Today Vanity Fair released more promotional photos for the new Tim Burton directed Netflix Addams Family spinoff “Wednesday“, starring Jenna Ortega in the title role. It also revealed the rest of the cast which makes an obvious statement as well as raises a question. Though the show is a solo series that follows Wednesday, it seems the entire family will have a very prominent role throughout the show as the cast has been rounded out with two Hollywood veterans in Luis Guzmán as Gomez and Catherine Zeta Jones as Moticia, while Isaac Ordonez from A Wrinkle in Time completes the family as Pugsley. Is this an attempt to reimagine the famous macabre family into one with a Hispanic/Latin flair?
The cast looks great and without any doubt I know they will be great. Guzman is an awesome Puerto Rican actor long known for supporting roles in some of Hollywood’s biggest films and series like Black Rain, Narcos, Oz, Magnolia and Boogie Nights to name a few. While the role of Morticia went to Catherine Zeta Jones, one of audiences favorite actresses. Loved for her roles in Oceans 12 and Chicago, she really broke out with her laser dodging efforts in Entrapment.
She is also known for being regularly cast in roles as Hispanic/Latin characters even though she was born in Wales and her father is Welsh and mother Irish Catholic. It’s understandable considering at first glance most people would assume that she is Hispanic or Latina, as she looks the part, but that was before we knew, now that we are aware that she is not a Hispanic actress I question why she is still being cast in those roles when there are plenty of Hispanic/Latina actresses out there?
Now The Addams Family is not Hispanic. 41 years today of being on this planet I can tell you I’ve never met a Hispanic/Latino family named Adams/Addams. The original creator of the characters Charles Addams is as American as apple pie as he had family ties to two U.S. presidents. I could be wrong, probably am, but let’s be real, probably ain’t. It could also just be a coincidence that most of the cast is Hispanic except for the one lady who just happens to not be Hispanic yet is constantly cast as a Hispanic.
It also is perfectly fine that producers and director Tim Burton (who is not Hispanic/Latin decent last I checked) wants to diversify the cast and concept in the hopes of expanding the audience and opening the door for more Hispanics and Latino actors to have an opportunity at these great characters. I get that, and it is totally cool, which is why I find myself back asking so why did you cast Catherine Zeta Jones?
And then it hits me.
These motherfuckers probably still have no idea that she is not Hispanic. My heart sinks as I realize, “Wait, did they make this entire show not knowing she wasn’t Hispanic? Worse yet, what if they did know she wasn’t Hispanic/Latina and still went with her even thought they are pushing for a Hispanic vibe?
WTF? Why are you doing this me as a Hispanic/Latino, who loves these actors but also wants better representation not only as a writer trying to break in but as a viewer wanting to see Hispanic/Latin talent and content?
Does this really matter? Should I say no because it’s Catherine Zeta Jones and she’s beautiful and a great actress and we love her in everything she does even if it feels a little weird when 3/4 of the cast is Hispanic and 1/4 is this Welsh lady known for (I’m sorry to keep saying this) snagging Hispanic/Latina roles?
I would’ve let this shit slide 20 years ago. Maybe even 10. But not now. Not when I sit back and think “They couldn’t find one Hispanic/Latina woman that looks like Morticia Addams on this entire planet? There’s a million of them in Miami alone.”
The show is going to be fine but the casting tastes bittersweet. Producers would never admit “Oh shit she’s not Hispanic?”. They’d get destroyed. But if casting Catherine Zeta Jones as Griselda Blanco bothered you, than I feel this might fall in the same space.
All this whirlwind thinking eventually brings me to this idea: If you’re going to do a Hispanic centric Addams Family, why not just do a new creepy family that is Hispanic centric, like The Rodriguez Family, so they could join The Munsters and the Addams Family as the new horror household? If you want a Hispanic centric Addams Family, why is Tim Burton doing this? I get it’s Tim Burton, but why not Roberto Rodriguez who is Latino-American, a writer/director and helmed Spy Kids, a crazy successful family action franchise?
When you give Tim Burton control of anything, it becomes about Tim Burton. Doesn’t matter who is cast, even with Christina Ricci floating in the background (who is really the person fans want to see), this is a Tim Burton experience and I just feel weird him using Hispanics/Latinos to boost his name. Yes, everyone involved will benefit, fans and I alike will probably like it, but it still feels, unpleasant.
The point is, if we are going to complain about white people taking roles from minorities than I feel this may fall into that spectrum. Problem is there is no direct say that points to this incarnation of The Addams Family being a Hispanic take. It just feels like it goes without saying when the majority of the main cast is Latin/Hispanic. It feels obvious that is what they are trying to do, so if that’s the case again why is Zeta Jones here? Those dots keep connecting to the continuing bad habit of casting her in Hispanic/Latin roles. If you want to cast without having to work at it, which is what this feels like, then why didn’t you cast Sofia Vergara? Oh, maybe because she was too busy playing Griselda Blanco the famous Columbian drug kingpin and role that Catherine Zeta Jones embarrassingly played in the 2017 TV movie Cocaine Grandmother. While many think Vergara will do the role justice better than Zeta Jones, it still sucks that she has to resort to the typical gangster/drug dealer type casting instead of doing something like The Addams Family or a similar vehicle, which would’ve been cool to see.
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