Los Angeles - (AFP) - American actor James Franco will play Fidel Castro in the independent film "Alena de Cuba", which centers on the "rebellious daughter" of the late Cuban leader, the film's producer announced.

Producer John Martinez O'Phelan told AFP that the director had wanted to cast an actor "who looks like Fidel Castro physically and who has charisma."

Martinez said he ultimately decided to offer the role to James Franco after considering the possibility of casting one from a group of people with Latin American or Iberian ancestry.

The participation in this film will be the second for Franco, 44, since he was accused of inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment in 2018.

Four former students of the acting school founded by James Franco claimed that he sexually exploited them during nudity scenes.
In an interview conducted with Franco last December, the actor who was nominated for an Academy Award in 2011 for the movie "127 Hours" admitted that he had sexual relations with some of his students.

Miguel Bardem, a relative of Spanish actor Javier Bardem, will direct Alena de Cuba. Martinez O'Philan said that the film will be shot in Colombia from August 15th.

Ana Villavinier plays Alina Fernández, daughter of Castro and Natalia Revuelta Claus, whose role has been assigned to Argentinian Mia Maestro.

Alina Fernandez, 66, has been living in exile since the 1990s and resides in Miami. Fernandez, who opposed the Cuban revolution, wrote an autobiographical book entitled "Castro's Daughter: An Exile's Memoirs of Cuba."