Celia Cruz fans sez noooooooo Whoopi

[BorderEevilIII]

This reminds me of Madonna was in the stages of doing Evita. Goldberg may have the voice, but will she win over fans of the late Cruz...

WHOOPI GOLDBERG FILM ANGERS CELIA CRUZ FANS
Whoopi Goldberg has enraged fans of recently deceased salsa queen Celia Cruz by revealing her plans to portray the Cuban singer in a new movie.

New York's Cuban community is outraged because Goldberg is black, while Cruz - who died on July 16 - was Latina.

Latinomix radio station host Celines Toribio fumes, "Whoopi doesn't sing and she's not Latina. For you to portray a life like Celia Cruz, you have to have that Latina flavor."

More than 140,000 people attended Cruz's funeral last week, and the sudden news of the Goldberg film has struck an bad chord with her legions of fans.

But the "Rat Race" actress owns the rights to the Cruz story, having negotiated the agreement with the singer herself.

Goldberg replies, "To see a rich, dark, chocolate woman in command of thousands of people with her voice and her energy helped me believe that anything is possible."

BAFTA-winner Samuel L. Jackson is slated to play Cruz's husband Pedro Knight.

sfgate-dailydish

[James Logan]

I say give her a chance. I mean, if Sam L. gives it a shot, then it's worth waiting and checking out, right?

[Razorblade Smile]

I don't like Whoopie, and I never heard of Celia Cruz...but it does seem like the epitome of bad taste to announce an intended movie not two weeks after the woman's death. Holy Hell, give her fans some time to mourn before Hollywood starts pimping her.

[Dead Halloween]

http://cgi.abc.es/galerias/imagenes/grammy320020919p.jpg

http://img.yupimsn.com/canales/entretenimiento/temas/cumpleanos/whoopi_goldberg.jpg

Nope, we dont need a Celia Cruz movie yet and not with Whoppi.

[BorderEevilIII]

Celia Cruz is briefly seen in this movie...

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/6302497175.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

[electriclite]

Apparently Hollywood has not learned from it's debacle with "The Perez Family" that you should not piss off Cubans in two things: Their national pride and their icons.

Celia Cruz had a public wake here in Miami that looked like a presidential funeral! And I heard that the burial in New York looked like Princess Di's funeral, with her coffin carried in a horse-drawn carriage!


I understand the need for NAME actors to draw in audiences, but most of the people who are largely aware of Celia Cruz are hispanic and her die-hards are mainly Cuban, so I think it would be in a studio's best interest to cast the film with actors who are at least the same ethnicity of the characters they play. I know Whoop's a great comedienne and can create characters, but the main audience for this film is gonna boycott it because a hispanic isn't playing the part. Die-hard hispanic fans can be THAT stubborn.

Besides, this movie feels like a straight to video affair already.

[FeverDog420]

I don't know how Whoopi's gonna work out, but we can all be grateful Jennifer Lopez isn't being considered yet.

[Grebdron]

This is weird. I posted in here yesterday, and it's disappeared.

I think people are over-reacting. Would it be better, or more succesful if it was left entirely up to Hispanics? Let a Hispanic movie company pony up the cash. Find the perfect Hispanic lead actress. Let only Hispanic audiences watch it.

Come on. Whoopi wants to celebrate the woman's life. And apparently had the woman's blessing.

[maria_901]

I don't know how Whoopi's gonna work out, but we can all be grateful Jennifer Lopez isn't being considered yet.

Amen