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Upcoming Pixar movie 'Coco' will star all-Latino cast

Lee Unkrich, the director of the Pixar film 'Coco,' says the actors in the movie are all Latino. Another step towards more diversity in Hollywood productions? 

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Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Benjamin Bratt (seen here attending the premiere of 'The Infiltrator' at AMC Loews Lincoln Square on July 11, 2016, in New York) will star in the Pixar movie 'Coco.'

More details about the upcoming Pixar animated “Coco” have been revealed, with those behind the project announcing that the upcoming movie will feature an all-Latino cast as diversity in Hollywood projects continues to be a focus of discussion.

The movie, which will be released in November 2017, will depict the story of Miguel, a boy who is living in Mexico and loves music. The movie takes place as Dia de los Muertos  (Day of the Dead) is being celebrated. 

Now director Lee Unkrich, who directed the Academy Award-nominatd Pixar movie “Toy Story 3” as well as co-directing projects such as “Finding Nemo” and “Monsters, Inc.,” says the movie will feature all Latino actors. 

“It was important to us from day one that we had an all-Latino cast,” Mr. Unkrich told Entertainment Weekly. “It focused us, and we ended up with a fantastic mix of people — some from Mexico and some from Los Angeles.” 

The film will star Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Renée Victor, and Benjamin Bratt.

“Coco” will be the newest movie to highlight diversity as the topic continues to be a source of controversy in Hollywood following the 2016 Oscars, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated only white actors for the acting prizes for the second year in a row. 

One of the recent projects that has earned praise is another project by Pixar parent company Disney: a movie version of the classic science fiction novel “A Wrinkle in Time,” which is directed by African-American director Ava DuVernay and will star Storm Reid and Deric McCabe after the decision was made to have the Murry family be mixed-race in the film. (Chris Pine and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are portraying the parents.) 

Other notable efforts by the industry to move beyond the all-white model, include the hit show “Empire," on Fox, which features a diverse cast and was co-created by African-American director Lee Daniels. In addition, actress Mindy Kaling created and stars in the Hulu TV show “The Mindy Project,” while actor Aziz Ansari co-created and stars in the Netflix TV show “Master of None.”

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