Coral Peña on why Spielberg created her character in "The Post"
Coral Peña is making her big-screen debut with Hollywood's A-list: she appears in Steven Spielberg's new movie "The Post" with stars Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. Peña is the only person of color to have a speaking role in "The Post," and the actress explained to CBSN why she's at peace with the decision to cast nearly all white actors.
Peña said the film's lack of diversity made sense considering the characters are based on real people and "The Post" focuses on a real historical event. The film tells the story of Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham's decision to defy the Nixon administration and publish classified documents about the Vietnam War.
"I do think it was really amazing -- Spielberg had kind of contextual knowledge to say, 'This is a very white movie. Maybe we should create a fictional character and have her be a woman of color,'" said Peña. "That was amazing." Peña plays a young government employee with the U.S. Department of Justice named Nancy.
The actress talked about how "The Post" comes amid conversations about women not getting due credit in the workplace.
"I think this film just kind of adds on to that," said Peña. "When you follow [Streep's character] throughout the movie, in the beginning she's not taken seriously, and by the end, people say, 'This is the woman who should be leading this newspaper.'"
Peña spoke about being happy to see more diversity in Hollywood.
"If you just see the nominations from this year versus even last year, there's so many more people of color," she said. "I think there's more, in this country especially, a craving to see more voices and that's what you're seeing reflected in the nominations."
She also talked about finding her own place in the entertainment industry.
"I'm just really excited to continue to represent people who look like me and who grew up in a similar situation that I did," she said. "I grew up in Harlem, in the projects with a single mother, and to add that opportunity to represent people like me is really just the goal."
