John Leguizamo's entitled character from The Menu could have learned a thing or two from his time in Dora the Explorer.
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John Leguizamo's entitled character from The Menu could have learned a thing or two from his time in Dora the Explorer.
John Leguizamo’s comments have made him trend on the internet again, and although some people might have trouble remembering the iconic actor, he was one of the greats back in his time. Speaking of a somewhat forgotten actor, Leguizamo portrayed a similar role in the 2022 film The Menu.
As the title suggests, the film was about murder and how chefs around the world are underappreciated for their intense job (really). The film starred Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort from the Harry Potter franchise) alongside John Leguizamo, and the film was a wild ride from start to finish.
Being a bit of an annoying character, Leguizamo donned the character named ‘Movie Star’ and, naturally, met his fate at the hands of the Chef for being entitled, rich, and greedy. However, it seems that Leguizamo’s earlier Hollywood experience would have come in handy if he had this one thing by his side.
Before fame found and knocked on his doorstep, John Leguizamo had voiced the role of Silly Mail Bird in the iconic animated show Dora the Explorer. Although it’s no small feat voicing the role of an animated character, Leguizamo could have used his expertise from the sets of Dora the Explorer to help him survive in The Menu.
The film focused on people who had committed sins with a chef who had been pushed to perfection until he couldn’t bear it anymore. As the food arrived, people started dying one by one in grizzly and jarring ways (not from food poisoning, of course). Amongst the last group of people surviving was John Leguizamo, a washed-up movie star who behaved like Joffrey Baratheon and felt entitled about everything around him.
Maybe if he had Boots by his side, the Movie Star could have taken a slight pause before answering, and he might have been saved. However, the movie ends on a slightly different note since, with the absence of the monkey, John Leguizamo is burned alive while being covered in chocolate syrup and gasoline when Ralph Fiennes’ Chef decides to go out with the marshmallow bang (or S’mores).
The iconic actor himself stated multiple times that Hollywood executives had often rejected him because of his looks and his identity as a Latino (via The Los Angeles Times). Leguizamo stated that he couldn’t get leading roles in Hollywood because Hollywood wasn’t just ready to cast a Latino in the main role.
Aside from that, the actor also stated that he would be typecast into roles of a gangster or a drug dealer. Although initially he did those roles for money, he eventually started refusing the scripts and being more vocal about his Latino roots and Hollywood’s alleged reaction to it.
Despite the controversial talks, Leguizamo was indeed cast in the role of ‘Movie Star’ in The Menu, and it was his way of paying back Hollywood for what they did to him.
Leguizamo purposefully acted out his character in a way that would make people hate him, since that is essentially what he has to say to the Hollywood executives who refused to hire him in the first place. Well played, Leguizamo. Looks like you don’t need Boots from Dore the Explorer, after all.
The Menu is available to stream on fubo in the U.S.
