A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : CULTURE CLASH : OK. Let’s Extend This Thinking: We Get, uh, Madonna to Play Jimmy Hoffa

Unhappy that actress Laura San Giacomo has been cast as artist Frida Kahlo in New Line Cinema’s upcoming film “Frida and Diego,” a group of Latina actresses dressed as Kahlo plan to demonstrate Thursday in front of New Line’s Los Angeles headquarters.

“This is one of Mexico’s greatest artists,” says Dyana Ortelli, a Latina actress who is spearheading the protest, which she hopes will draw 200 demonstrators. “She’s our biggest hero, a woman who symbolizes Mexican pride, and they didn’t even cast a Latino in the role.”

Ortelli says she places much of the blame on co-screenwriter and director Luis Valdez. “Here we have the director and screenwriter who is Chicano and we expected a little bit more support from him,” she says.

Although Valdez was not available for comment, Sara Risher, New Line’s production president, says, “Luis interviewed and auditioned over 15 actresses, nine of who were Latina, including Maria Conchita Alonso (“Colors”) and Apollonia (“Purple Rain”). The criteria for the actress was that she had to look like Frida because we are going to be using a lot of her self-portraits in the film. And, of course, the other important consideration was that she had to have the talent to do the role.”

But protesters also take issue with the fact that Valdez admitted in earlier reports that part of his casting decision was based on audience awareness of the intended actress.

“We always hear the same thing,” says another Latina actress, Evelina Fernandez, who appeared in “American Me.” “They always say that there are no Latino actors or actresses who have names and that’s the reason they give for not giving us work. But how can we ever become a name if we’re never given the opportunity? When great roles like Frida Kahlo don’t go to Latinos, it’s really infuriating. They would never do this to black actors.”

Fernandez points to other Latino roles that have recently gone to non-Latinos, including Glenn Close’s Tony Award-winning role on Broadway in “Death and the Maiden” and “The Perez Family,” a film about a Cuban family that Universal is reportedly developing for actress Mercedes Ruehl (“The Fisher King”). “We do comprise a large percentage of the population and we’re just not represented,” she says.

According to Ortelli, she has also sent a letter of protest to the Mexican government, which is co-producing the film with New Line. “I’ve asked for their support,” she says, “because we’ve been denied this opportunity.”

“Frida and Diego” will tell the story of Kahlo and her husband, renowned muralist Diego Rivera, and is based on Martha Zamora’s 1990 biography “Frida Kahlo: The Brush of Anguish.” Kahlo began painting at the age of 19, shortly after she was almost killed in a streetcar accident in Mexico City. As with many artists, wide recognition of her work--she produced about 200 paintings, many of them self-portraits--didn’t come until after her death in 1954.

The $10-million film, which Valdez says he plans to show at next year’s Cannes Film Festival, will also star Raul Julia as Rivera.