Well, that was fast. THR reports that just days after being cast in Sean Durkin‘s “Deep Cuts,” actress Odessa A’zion will exit the A24 film due to backlash over her casting. The controversy stems from the character A’zion signed on to play: Zoe Gutierrez, a character in Holly Brickley’s 2023 novel who is half Mexican and half Jewish. A’zion, while Jewish, isn’t Mexican, prompting allegations of whitewashing online.
A’zion used social media to announce her withdrawal from the picture. “THANK YOU guys for bringing this to my attention. I AGREE WITH EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU!” the actress’s statement started. “This is why I love you guys. I’m so sorry that this happened. It is SO important for me to let you in on how it all went down: I went in for Percy [the female lead played by Cailee Spaeny], but was offered Zoe instead and instantly said yes! I’m so pissed y’all, I hadn’t read the book and should have paid more attention to all aspects of Zoe before accepting…and now that I know what I know???”
“Guys!! I am with ALL of you and I am NOT doing this movie,” the actress continued. “F*ck that. I’m OUT. I’d never take a role from someone else that’s meant to do it. That SHOULD do it! That’s not me. There are a plentitude of people more than capable of playing this role and I am NOT one of them. I can’t wait to see who it ends up being.”
What’s most interesting about A’zion’s comments is her pleading ignorance of Zoe’s race before she was cut. Wouldn’t some knowledge of Brickley’s novel and its central characters, no matter how superficial, be crucial to an actor’s decision to accept or reject a role in a project? A’zion’s Instagram post also read as naive when juxtaposed with novelist Brickley’s (unverified) comments about the situation. “Surely it will be rewritten! Which happens all the time. For the record in the book Zoe is half Jewish and half Mexican,” wrote Brickley in DMs. “But in the script it is not specified. Also I have nothing to do with the casting.”
“Deep Cuts,” director Durkin’s follow-up to 2023’s “The Iron Claw,” is a 2000s-set story about two music-obsessed twenty-somethings as they navigate romance, ambition, and adulthood. Saorsie Ronan and Austin Butler were originally cast as the leads last February, but both dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Spaeny and Drew Starkey now star in the film, as music critic Percy and songwriter Joe, respectively. Durkin adapts Brickley’s novel for the film and plans to shoot imminently, so expect a late 2026/early 2027 theatrical release.
A’zion will almost certainly be recast in the wake of the actress dropping out of “Deep Cuts,” despite, as Brickley suggests, how easy it would be to repurpose the novel’s character for the big screen. Still, it’s a minor blow for the rising star, who’s coming off her biggest role to date in Josh Safdie‘s “Marty Supreme.” Other recent work for A’zion includes last years “Until Dawn” and “She Rides Shotgun,” as well as a main role Rachel Sennott‘s HBO comedy “I Love LA.”
Take a look at A’zion’s statement about dropping out of “Deep Cuts” below.
“y'all, I hadn't read the book and should have paid more attention to all aspects of Zoe before accepting… and now that I know what I know??? F-ck that! IM OUT.”
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) January 29, 2026
(via IG) pic.twitter.com/60TIRwMCSC
