Valdez’s ‘Frida’ on Hold : Movies: Criticism from Latino community causes the writer-director to halt the project.

Citing criticism and a feeling of “betrayal” by the Latino acting community, playwright and director Luis Valdez said Monday he has put his film “Frida and Diego” on hold indefinitely.

Valdez said his decision is a reaction to recent protests by some Latino actors in Hollywood who objected to his casting of a non-Latina actress, Laura San Giacomo, in the role of famed Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. The screenplay, which he co-wrote with his wife, Lupe Trujillo Valdez, was based on a biography by Martha Zamora. Valdez had cast Raul Julia as Kahlo’s husband, muralist Diego Rivera.

Financing for “Frida and Diego” had been in doubt since the Aug. 5 decision by New Line Cinema to withdraw from the project. The producers said that they had several offers from other film companies but that no deal had been announced.

“I’m basically fed up,” Valdez said in a telephone interview Monday. “And then to be attacked by the people who are (supposed to be) supporting you is a betrayal. If it takes stopping this project in order for people to start talking about the problem, then so be it.” Valdez said that for his fellow Latino critics “to suggest that I have been somehow selling Latinos short . . . is to completely distort the situation. It is difficult enough to make movies about strong women . . . it is damn near impossible by Hollywood standards. And then to expect me to introduce an unknown in the lead is to expect too much.”

Valdez said that if he proceeded with the film now, audiences would “see the casting rather than the story, due to the controversy.” He said he has released Julia and San Giacomo from all obligations.

The director said he had realized that in this project, “I have no artistic freedom.” He said that New Line “would not approve my plans for nationwide auditioning of an unknown Latina for the role of Frida” and that box-office considerations for the unusual subject matter also had to be factored into the casting.

Valdez and producers Donald Zuckerman and Kevin Benson said they were confident they will find financing for the film. “When Luis is ready to make the picture, we’ll be ready to make the picture,” said Zuckerman.

“I am personally hopeful that there is a silent majority out there that we have not heard from,” Zuckerman added, referring to the protesters, who, on Aug. 6, held a press conference and a demonstration in Beverly Hills.

One of the activists reached Monday was “surprised and disappointed” by Valdez’s decision. “It was never our intention to stop the movie and not to stop Luis Valdez from making it,” said Dyana Ortelli, an actress who has worked with Valdez on stage and screen in two of his better-known works, “Zoot Suit” and “La Bamba.”

“I just felt that if they were so careful about choosing the right director, they should be careful about choosing the right actress,” Ortelli said.