John Leguizamo compares 90s Hollywood to racist regime

John Leguizamo has admitted he once felt “humiliated” playing a Latino gunman in Regarding Henry and compared the industry of the 1990s to the Jim Crow era.

The 65-year-old American comedian and actor appeared on the Fly on the Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade podcast, where he spoke about Mike Nichols’ 1991 movie Regarding Henry.

Leguizamo, who played the role of Liquor Store Gunman in the film, said he felt “humiliated,” confessing, “even talking about [the movie] just gives me PTSD.”

He went on to note that his willingness to work with “one of the greats”, Nicholas, persuaded him to opt for the small roles “because [he] got no jobs” at the time.

The John Wick star recalled, “There were no jobs for Latin folk. There just weren’t,” and explained that Hollywood at the time felt like a “Jim Crow” system where the roles were “white doctor, white lawyer, white husband, white lover, Latino drug dealer.”

“When I got ‘Regarding Henry,’ it was a drug dealer. I shoot this white guy. It was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m perpetuating what they want to see,’ which is negative Latino images,” Leguizamo quipped.

For the unversed, Regarding Henry, which was written by J.J. Abrams, chronicled the story of Harrison Ford’s Henry Turner, who was a hard-hearted New York City lawyer.

Turner’s life took a dramatic turn after Leguizamo’s character shot him in the head during a robbery, which led him on a struggling but transformative journey to retrieve his cognitive skills and help reconnect with his family.

It is pertinent to mention that Regarding Henry amassed about $43 million worldwide.