Rogue One’s Diego Luna Gets “Emotional” Over a Fan’s Story of Representation

Rogue One Star Diego Luna just shared an emotional story about why representation in films should matter to all of us.

Unless you have been living in a galaxy far, far away you probably heard about a little movie called Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Many people were worried about how Rogue One, a standalone film, would do with audiences. The film doesn’t feature any Jedis, or epic lightsaber battles. It’s just a gritty war movie about ordinary people who become heroes trying to save each other.

But, much like Star Wars: the Force Awakens last year, the film went over like gangbusters. One could argue a key point in Rogue One‘s success is its much talked about diverse cast. The lead actor is super talented Mexican actor Diego Luna, and he’s talked a lot about how important it is to be represented in film. This apparently struck a cord with one Star Wars fan, Perla who decided to take her Mexican father to see Rogue One and most importantly to see Luna’s portrayal of main character and hero Cassian Andor. She took to her Tumblr page to share her experience, and it’s an emotional read.

Take a moment to read her post below.

http://riveralwaysknew.tumblr.com/post/155327892192/i-took-my-father-to-see-rogue-one-today-ive

Not going to lie, I was tearing up reading this especially when Perls’ dad said: “Did you notice that he had an accent.” I loved how concerned Dad was that the movie did well because every time we buy a movie ticket with a Hispanic or Latinx lead actor, we are telling movie studios, directors and producers we want representation.

Thankfully, Perla’s blog post didn’t get lost in the great internet void. In fact, it was highlighted by Diego Luna himself who tweeted it from his account.

I completely understand why Diego Luna got so emotional reading the blog post. It’s an inspiring feeling to see someone who looks or sounds like you in a big budget movie and the even more so if they are the lead character. This is particularly significant considering a study from the Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism reports about 17.4 percent of the U.S. population identifies themselves as Hispanic or Latinx but out of more than 11,000 speaking characters surveyed in film and TV only 5.8 percent were Hispanic or Latino. This makes them one of the most under-represented group of minorities on television and movies.

On a personal note I’m a huge Star Wars geek and Hispanic. It has always bothered me the franchise the size of Star Wars didn’t have one Hispanic with a speaking part until Jimmy Smits was cast in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones as Senator Bail Organa. It get’s you questioning whether or not in a galaxy far, far away Hispanic’s and Latinx people existed. The Star Wars franchise seems to have heard the concerns of fans and are leading the way to make changes to ensure more people are represented. Rouge One goes a long way in healing old wounds, but we must keep demanding representation. Representation does matter.

UPDATE: Since Perla’s Tumblr post went viral she posted a video of her father, Pablo Perez with a short message to Diego Luna and all the people his story has touched. Don’t mind me, I will be over here in the corner crying.

Next: Rogue One: More Info on the Reshoots We Didn’t Know We Needed

Tell us in the comments if you think Hollywood is doing a better in making sure everyone is represented or does it still have more work to do.