Trivia / The Mambo Kings

• Fake Nationality: With the exception of Desi Arnaz Jr. and Celia Cruz, most of the regular Cuban, Afro-Cuban or Cuban American characters were played by Americans and two Europeans as Maruschka Detmers (Delores) is Dutch, Armand Assante (Cesar) is American of Irish-Italian descent, Antonio Banderas (Nestor) is Spanish, Talisa Soto (Maria) is Puerto Rican American, Roscoe Lee Browne (Fernando) and Vondie Curtis-Hall (Miguel) are African Americans.
• Faux Fluency: At the time of filming, Antonio Banderas could not speak English and Armand Assante could not speak Spanish, so when speaking the other language each had to learn their lines phonetically.
• Referenced by...: The Bongo Twins from Razzberry Jazzberry Jam are named Nestor and Cesar.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Jeremy Irons and Ray Liotta were the first choices to play Cesar and Nestor respectively.
  • Annabella Sciorra was originally cast as Delores, but dropped out before filming began.

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