Penelope Cruz by Nico Bustos in Harper's Bazaar Russia January 2021

Penelope Cruz covers the January 2021 issue of Harper’s Bazaar Russia, styled by Claudia Englmann in Chanel for images by Nico Bustos.(IG) / Hair and makeup by Pablo Iglesias

Cruz has enjoyed major exposure recently, due to her role as Graciela, a Colombian psychologist.in the Jessica Chastain produced thriller ‘355’. The female-led film has a new opening date of Jan. 14, 2022. Yes, the opening date was pushed back a full year, due to COVID.

Besides Chastain — who also produced the movie and spearheaded the project from day one — and Cruz, ‘355’ also features Diane Kruger (who replaced Marion Cotillard in a scheduling conflict), Fan Bingbing, and Lupita Nyong’o.

AOC missed the fact that writing for Variety after seeing the trailer, Clayton Davis criticized the casting of Penelope Cruz.

Clayton Davis argues that Chastain’s responses to him are meritless. While agreeing that Colombians are 80% European or mixed European heritage, he accused Chastain of not walking her talk in being committed to advancing women not already in the limelight.

Cruz should have been replaced by Sofía Vergara (who is Colombian) of “Modern Family”; writes Davis. Or Paola Turbay — born in Houston, Texas of Colombian-American parents. No major movie roles but “a standout” in ‘Bosch’ writes Davis. (produced by Amazon Studios with very mixed reviews , writes Vox).

Even Martina García of “Narcos” (2016) would have been better than Cruz, argues Davis. — not as it relates to acting ability or box-office appeal. Those issues are secondary. It’s true that Garcia — who we assume is very talented — has had little work since ‘Narcos’ based on Good search, so how about Dominican Republic-born Dascha Polanco of “Orange Is the New Black” . All of these female actors would have been better choices than Cruz in the projected blockbuster ‘355’, according to Davis.

The fact that Cruz was a significant factor in raising major financing for the film was irrelevant, says the Variety opinion piece. Just more hypocritical poppycock from Chastain. (AOC’s words, but he comes close. Men always know better about women advancing other women.) How about the fact that the cast was all in Cannes together, pitching the deal and Cruz had as much if not more impact on getting the deal done than Chastain? Irrelevant, says Davis. it was a big deal and AOC covered it.

The fact that Chastain originally had a Brazilian Graciela, and Cruz said “no”, because Brazilians mostly speak Portuguese, and it would not be appropriate for her to play the role? So they created a Colombian background, given Colombia’s 80% major European ancestry. “Nope,” said Davis. “No points for that either.” Well I guess he would know, especially about a film inspired by real life events in which women save the world.

All we can say is “We’re glad not to be in the movie business.” The entire op-ed piece is a sobering read. ~ Anne