Slipping Into Castro

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/12/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Talk about hiding behind a beard: In the new movie comedy "Company Man," which also stars Sigourney Weaver, John Turturro and Woody Allen, Tony-award winning actor Anthony LaPaglia ("A View from the Bridge") gets to parody one of the 20th Century's most recognizable political figures, Fidel Castro. (In the flick, Douglas McGrath plays a teacher who's sent to Cuba by the CIA in the early '60s to assassinate the Communist dictator.) At a press conference to promote the movie, the Aussie-born LaPaglia, 42, who is married to actress Gia Carides ("Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me"), told reporters, including PEOPLE.com, that he's never met Castro, but he did study films of him in order to mimic the leader's mannerisms and dialect. As for the physical demands of the role, LaPaglia, best know for playing hit men in "Betsy's Wedding" and "The Client," bulked up the "good old fashion way, by getting your hand on every cannoli possible." And what, LaPaglia was asked, goes through a person's mind when he's playing the Cuban premier? Said he, "You hope that you don't go to Cuba and have yourself killed."