I remember some wiseass writer making a crack about Andy Garcia some years ago in print. Lamenting the lack of decent roles for Latino actors, the hack wrote, "Unless you're Andy Garcia and get to pretend you're Italian."

As it happens, lots of people pretended for a long time that Garcia was anything but what he is - Cuban - because a successful Cuban exile chaps a lot of hides. Since the hides that get chapped are of the kind of people who wear Ché Guevara t-shirts, I'm all for said chapping. I'm even thinking of starting a chapfest.

So I'm definitely up for Garcia's directorial debut, The Lost City, which is about the implications of the 1950s commie revolution in his homeland. It's been getting rave reviews all over the place, which is significant when you consider how much Hollywood types love commie tyrants. My buddy Anne Thompson wrote a great profile of Garcia and the film in the Hollywood Reporter, in which he describes getting Bill Murray to star in the film:

As Garcia cast the picture, it helped that he liked high-profile sports. After playing with Murray at a Pebble Beach Pro Am golf tournament, Garcia sent the actor the "City" script. Murray phoned him. "I don't think anyone will see this movie," he told him. "But I want to be in it."

"Everybody's working for scale," Garcia warned him. Long pause.

"What's that?" Murray asked.

I feel like I should say something profane or sarcastic at this point, but I really want to see this movie. I don't get this feeling very often, so I'm just going to enjoy it, and try to catch The Lost City if it comes anywhere near London. Of course, I'll be wearing this t-shirt when I do.