Ana de Armas is one of the rising stars in Hollywood. The young actress has managed to prove her mettle as a talented young star. She has even received an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in Blonde. Though the actress started out small, she always put a lot of thought into the characters she picked out. Her smart picks have a huge role in helping her get where she is today.
One of her most memorable roles is of Marta in Knives Out, starring Daniel Craig. But the actress originally dismissed the role and for a good reason. A reason that was proven right by the comments made about her by the Oscar-winning actress, Jamie Lee Curtis.
Ana de Armas turned down Knives Out for a good reason
Ana de Armas had previously portrayed pivotal roles in movies Blade Runner 2049, War Dogs, and Knock Knock. But one of her most iconic roles was of Marta in Knives Out. The character of Marta is a very human character, who is funny, nervous, scared, and throws up whenever she lies. There was a lot of depth to the character. But sadly the casting email sent to Armas did not really highlight the same. The information she received was that Marta was a “pretty Latina caretaker.”
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ana de Armas shared why she initially turned down the role. She shared,
“Getting an email that described the character like that — without any more information or a script attached because it was high-profile and secret — just really didn’t speak to me … So, because of the character description, my imagination immediately went to a portrayal that was not necessarily very positive or exciting in relation to Latin culture.”
It is totally understandable why the actress wanted to avoid playing a character who was just a pretty Latina as she wanted to avoid being typecasted and misrepresentation for her culture. It was also proved right by the shameful comments made about her by Jamie Lee Curtis.
Jamie Lee Curtis assumed Ana de Armas was inexperienced
When Jamie Lee Curtis met Ana de Armas on the set of Knives Out, she was quick to assume that the actress was unsophisticated and inexperienced. Why? Because she thought that Armas was someone who had just arrived from Cuba and trying to fit into Hollywood. The actress soon realized how wrong she was, but her assumption about Armas just proved how good the young actress’s reason was to avoid the role.
Jamie Lee Curtis confessed in her interview with Elle for its cover story on de Armas,
“I assumed—and I say this with real embarrassment—because she had come from Cuba, that she had just arrived. I made an assumption that she was an inexperienced, unsophisticated young woman. That first day, I was like, ‘Oh, what are your dreams?’”
The cover story detailed in the article on Curtis,
“[Curtis] asked because she was so impressed with de Armas that she wanted to introduce her to Steven Spielberg to play Maria in ‘West Side Story,’ or to Curtis’s godchildren Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal. She was surprised [de Armas] already knew Jake. De Armas is also close with Keanu Reeves, her costar in her first English-language film, Eli Roth’s ‘Knock Knock.’”
Such an assumption coming from an experienced actress like Jamie Lee Curtis sure does surprise the fans. This also validates why the Blonde actress prefers choosing characters that don’t wrongfully portray people for her culture, which has long been happening in Hollywood.
Knives Out is available for renting on Prime Video.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, Elle
