Rogue One: A Star Wars Story's leading man Diego Luna revealed that he was "emotional" after reading a touching story sent in by a fan which referred to the importance of representation in cinema.
A Tumblr user spoke about taking her dad to see the popular prequel to the Star Wars franchise, discussing his reaction to discovering that one of the leading characters had the same accent as him. She wrote: "I took my father to see Rogue One today… I wanted my Mexican father, with his thick Mexican accent, to experience what it was like to see a hero in a blockbuster film, speak the way he does… When Diego Luna's character came on screen and started speaking, my dad nudged me and said, 'he has a heavy accent.' I was like, 'Yup.' When the film was over and we were walking to the car, he turns to me and says, 'did you notice that he had an accent?' And I said, 'Yeah dad, just like yours.' Then my dad asked me if the film had made a lot of money. I told him it was the second highest grossing film of 2016 despite it only being out for 18 days in 2016.
© Photo: Getty ImagesDiego plays Cassian in the film
"He then asked me if people liked the film, I told him that it had a huge following online and great reviews. He then asked me why Diego Luna hadn't changed his accent and I told him that Diego has openly talked about keeping his accent and how proud he is of it. And my dad was silent for a while and then he said, 'And he was a main character.' And I said, 'He was.' And my dad was so happy. As we drove home he started telling me about other Mexican actors that he thinks should be in movies in America. Representation matters."
The actor, who play rebel Captain Cassian Andor in the film, shared a screenshot of the touching story on Twitter, writing: "I got emotional reading this!" Fans were quick to express their own thoughts on the subject. "This is amazing," one replied to the tweet. "You clearly inspired many. You crushed it on screen. Hope you make an appearance in Rebels soon!" Another added: "Now I'm emotional as well. This exactly what I needed as a child, a hero who looked and sounded like me or my father."
