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Hot on the heels of his awards-buzzy performance in The Odyssey, John Leguizamo has reportedly landed a major role in another Universal film, one that will take him back to his roots: Miami Vice ‘85.
The Hollywood Reporter understands that Leguizamo will play the film’s main villain, a cartel boss. Leguizamo made his television debut in 1986 on an episode of the hit series Miami Vice.
Unlike the 2006 feature film adaptation directed by Michael Mann and starring Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell, this Miami Vice movie will be a period piece that Universal has said “explores the glamour and corruption of mid-80’s Miami.”
Director Joseph Kosinski’s movie is particularly inspired by the series pilot and first season (1984-85). A recurring villain in the first season was Columbian cartel lord Esteban Calderone, whose drug trafficking operations stretched from New York City to Miami and into the Bahamas. He first appeared in the pilot episode, “Brother’s Keeper”, and returned later in the season when an undercover Crockett and Tubbs went to the Bahamas to finally stop Calderone.
Leguizamo played the cartel boss’ vengeful son Orlando Calderone in two notable episodes, the first being the Season 2 finale and his second and final time as Orlando in a High Noon-style episode in Season 3. (In Season 5, Leguizamo played a different drug dealer character, Angelo Alvarez, in one episode.) Although the series was episodic, the hunt for Calderone was a main throughline of Miami Vice’s first season so it’s possible that might also serve as the spine of Kosinski’s film.
Could Leguizamo actually be playing the elder Calderone in Miami Vice ‘85? That would truly be a full circle moment for the actor, who has not always had kind things to say about Miami Vice.
Leguizamo was only 19 when he landed his recurring role in Miami Vice, but he initially looked down his nose at the show. “It was huge but I was such a theater snob,” Leguizamo recalled in a 2016 chat with Interview Magazine. “It was a different time where theater people really looked down on TV acting, so I was like, ‘This is nothing, man, I’m better than this shit.’ I was really arrogant. … What a punk.”
In his 2014 TV special, Ghetto Klown, Leguizamo called Miami Vice “the Latin exploitation series of the '80s,” telling the audience “I became Calderon Jr., cocaine Colombian Mafia prince. And as you can see, I'm the palest Latin brother of the bunch. But I blame my grandfather, 'cause when he found out I was doing television, he says ... 'Mijito, nenito, only white Latinos make it to Telemundo, mijito.'"
Leguizamo also called out the stereotypical roles that he and other Latinos faced coming up in the 1980s. "It'd be me and all the same dudes — Benicio Del Toro, Benjamin Bratt, Esai Morales and Jimmy Smits," NPR quotes Leguizamo as saying in the special. "And you'd go out there and [the roles were] all gang leaders, drug dealers, janitors, murderers. And you're like, 'All these roles? Really? Don't we contribute more?' I mean, I went to college, man. I'm an educated human being, and I know a lot of hyper-educated Latin people."
Of the actors Leguizamo specially mentioned – Benicio Del Toro, Benjamin Bratt, Esai Morales and Jimmy Smits – Bratt is the only one who did not appear on Miami Vice.
Miami Vice ‘85 will be filmed for IMAX and hit theaters on May 19, 2028. Filming begins soon. The cast includes Michael B. Jordan, Austin Butler, Alden Ehrenreich, Whitney Peak, Camila Morrone and Danny Ramirez.
Miami Vice ‘85 is produced by Dylan Clark (The Batman) and Kosinski and written by Dan Gilroy and Eric Singer, based on characters created by Anthony Yerkovich from the series executive produced by Yerkovich and Michael Mann.
Speaking of Mann, the director will appear next month at Beyond Fest for the premiere of his recently revealed Miami Vice: Director’s Final Cut of his 2006 remake.
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