- 6 months ago
Hollywood has a long history of controversial casting choices.
Welcome to WatchMojo.WORLD, where we’re counting down the 20 most whitewashed roles in movies, looking at characters whose casting sparked major backlash over misrepresentation and cultural erasure.
Which casting choice do you think was the worst? Let us know in the comments!
Welcome to WatchMojo.WORLD, where we’re counting down the 20 most whitewashed roles in movies, looking at characters whose casting sparked major backlash over misrepresentation and cultural erasure.
Which casting choice do you think was the worst? Let us know in the comments!
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Short filmTranscript
00:00If I told you everything else that you don't already know, you'd run from here in terror.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most egregious instances
00:09of casting a white actor to play a non-white character in film, or simply changing the
00:13non-white character into a white one.
00:16Some spoilers to come.
00:30This was a mixed bag by all accounts.
00:34On the one hand, this film was considered one of the better adapted video game adaptations
00:38upon release.
00:40On the other, it stars Los Angeles native Jake Gyllenhaal as a street urchin turned Persian
00:45prince.
00:50It would have been potentially trailblazing to see a Middle Eastern actor in the lead role,
00:54as well as a Middle Eastern cast.
00:56But Hollywood must Hollywood, and thus we must watch Gyllenhaal mug it up with a fake
01:01British accent.
01:02The results were not that inspiring, hence Prince of Persia's disappointing box office returns.
01:20This is more the case of a light skin-washing than whitewashing.
01:23When Zoe Saldana was first cast to play singer and activist Nina Simone in a biopic, the news
01:28caused immediate controversy.
01:29For one thing, the real-life Nina Simone was darker skinned than Saldana, from a poor family
01:41in North Carolina.
01:42Saldana is Afro-Latina, with Dominican and Puerto Rican ancestry, chiefly raised in Queens,
01:47New York.
01:48Although Saldana always identified as Afro-Latina, she later regretted taking the role, feeling
01:53she should have advocated for an African-American actress to play Simone.
01:57A misguided choice, all in all.
01:59That's the only explanation I have for that.
02:06Because, of course, the first thing you think of regarding the Great Wall of China is Matt
02:13Damon.
02:14Making the lead of an epic film set in China, An Irish Mercenary, sparked immediate controversy,
02:20with critics accusing the film of falling into white saviour tropes.
02:29Granted, Matt Damon was not playing an original Chinese character, and is just one heroic character
02:34among many.
02:35But for a film financed by Chinese investors, and eager to capture the Chinese market, the
02:40decision to make its lead Irish is a head-scratching decision at best.
02:43Our take?
02:44Go big or go home.
02:45Otherwise, it'll flop at the box office, as the Great Wall ultimately did.
02:53Now, this is a disappointing choice.
03:00For a film about the US occupation of Okinawa and interracial marriage, you would think it
03:04would have one of the most lauded actors in Hollywood history play an equally meaty role.
03:09Instead, Marlon Brando was cast as local native Sakini, who acts as interpreter.
03:16Brando has as great a range as ever, but this yellow face should have never happened.
03:21Brando was himself a strong civil rights activist, bitterly disillusioned with Hollywood whitewashing.
03:26He even famously refused to accept his Oscar for The Godfather, with Sashin Littlefeather
03:31speaking on Native American rights.
03:33No doubt he would have regretted his mischance of having an Asian actor play Sakini.
03:38Angelina Jolie as Marianne Pearl, a mighty heart.
03:44This one is a little complicated.
03:46Angelina Jolie, it turns out, was personally chosen by the real-life Marianne Pearl to represent
03:51her in the film adaptation of the latter's memoir.
03:54But for all the fervor that ensued in the wake of this film, Jolie should have just simply
03:59declined.
04:01Pearl was mixed race, with a Dutch-Jewish father and an Afro-Chinese-Cuban mother.
04:06Whereas Jolie is of German and Slovak descent.
04:09Jolie's performance as the wife of a kidnapped journalist was praised by critics for its restraint
04:14and pathos.
04:15It would have been nice, though, to have seen a mixed-race actress tackle that same role.
04:20Based on Jeff VanderMeer's successful novel, this sci-fi horror film's all-female expedition
04:38into an alien-occupied zone should have been no problem.
04:41But in the novel, Natalie Portman's character is of Asian descent, whereas Doctor Ventress
04:46is half Native American and half white.
04:51Director Alex Garland claimed he didn't know the characters had specific ethnicities, going
04:55loosely by the first book and not the trilogy as a whole.
04:58The novel doesn't even give names to the women, who are described only by their job titles.
05:02The film performed very well, regardless, but it is certainly a missed opportunity.
05:17Speaking of missed opportunities, in the original 2010 novel by Isaac Marion, Zombie R finds new
05:23life and burgeoning romance with the still-human Julie, referencing Shakespeare's Romeo and
05:28Juliet.
05:29Julie's supportive friend, Nora, is specified to be half-Ethiopian.
05:33When the novel was adapted as a film, the filmmakers cast Californian Leo Tipton, formerly
05:37Anna Lee Tipton, for the role.
05:48It was no great detriment, as the film went on to modest success and solid critical reviews,
05:53but casting more non-white actors would have developed the zombie-apocalyptic world-building
05:58much better, as well as allowing some young talent to get the acting credits they need,
06:02even in minor roles.
06:04This acclaimed film noir directed by Orson Welles has at least one major mister.
06:22While Welles does a compelling turn as the villainous Quinlan, Charlton Heston's casting
06:26as Ramon Miguel Vargas wouldn't fly today.
06:30As Heston could've played a light-skinned Mexican, the brownface was frankly unnecessary, if par-de-course
06:35in the 50s.
06:44While Heston eschews the stereotypical tics and mannerisms common in Mexican roles in his performance,
06:49a believable Mexican he ain't.
06:51It would've been something to have had an actor of Mexican or Latino heritage play the
06:56role.
07:08Hollywood's streak of conveniently forgetting Egypt is still an African country is still
07:12unbroken.
07:13Prince of Persia-style casting shenanigans continue, with the even bigger failure, Gods of Egypt.
07:18Most of the cast of Egyptian gods was of Northern European descent, but the most egregious casting
07:23must be Gerard Butler as the main Egyptian god set.
07:26Though the characters in question are indeed otherworldly gods, you would think the gods
07:34of a specific culture would be played by the descendants of that culture.
07:38Gods of Egypt received a fierce backlash, and a disappointing box office performance.
07:46This casting is a little hilarious in retrospect.
07:58The Ancient One was originally a male Tibetan in the Doctor Strange comics, but the creators
08:02of the film adaptation felt it would lean too much into kung fu martial arts stereotypes.
08:07Similar attempts to cast an Asian woman, the creators felt, would've also fallen into
08:11hoary tropes.
08:12Hence, the character was changed into a Celtic mystic, with Tilda Swinton playing the character
08:27as androgynous, with she-her pronouns.
08:30Attempts to distance the character from his Asian roots failed, with many decrying the movie
08:34as whitewashing and disloyal to the comics.
08:37Either way, Asian actors missed out on a fine role, for no good reason.
08:57This epic historical drama has no shortage of stellar performances.
09:00For a movie called Lawrence of Arabia, though, you'd think that there would be more Arab
09:04actors in key roles.
09:15To his credit, Alec Guinness by no means gives a bad performance.
09:18He clearly did his homework on Prince Faisal, and maintains a strong screen presence.
09:23And the same can be said about Anthony Quinn.
09:26As committed as these two acting giants are, though, wouldn't their roles have felt infinitely
09:30more authentic with people of Arab descent?
09:43Inspired by actual events, a majority of the characters in Ben Mesrich's bestselling novel
09:48were Asian-American.
09:49While this film adaptation isn't without a few actors of Asian descent, the main players,
09:53are all white.
10:00The casting choice that infuriated people the most was Jim Sturgis as Ben Campbell, who
10:04was based on a Chinese-American named Jeff Maher.
10:07Producer Dana Brunetti claimed that he would have, quote, loved to cast Asians in the lead
10:12roles.
10:13But the filmmakers reportedly had no bankable Asian-American stars at their disposal.
10:17While that might be true, you have to wonder how hard they look.
10:26There is simply no excuse for this one.
10:32Truman Capote's novella by the same name only briefly mention Holly Golightly's Asian
10:37photographer neighbor living on the top floor.
10:39For the Blake Edwards film adaptation, however, Mr Yunyoshi appears as Holly's landlord, turned
10:44into a garish comic relief character played by Mickey Rooney, of all actors.
10:49The result is one of the most offensive, garish portrayals in cinema history, with prosthetic
10:53teeth and unfunny cartoonish slapstick.
10:56You would think a photographer would have more grace.
10:58Near Asian representation, this represents no human in this world.
11:02Needless to say, this role is one of the most infamous examples of yellowface.
11:18To be fair, this isn't the first time a white actor has been cast as Ramesses.
11:22Yul Brilla previously portrayed the Pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire in the Ten Commandments.
11:26Of course, that biblical epic was released in 1956, whereas Exodus Gods and Kings came out
11:32in today's supposed-to-be-PC world.
11:34Naturally, casting another white actor as Ramesses felt like one of the biggest steps backwards
11:42that Hollywood could take.
11:44It didn't help that most of the other actors were Caucasian as well, but Edgerton in particular
11:48seemed grossly miscast.
11:50Where Brynner at least looked the part of a Pharaoh, Edgerton feels more like somebody
11:54playing dress-up at a costume party.
12:01Dating back to the early 17th century, this film's source material is a William Shakespeare
12:05tragedy revolving around a Moorish general.
12:08Though the titular character's exact race has never been confirmed, the term Moor did
12:12mean people with dark skin.
12:14Most likely from Africa back then.
12:16So why in the Bard's name did we get British actor Laurence Olivier in blackface for the
12:21role?
12:22Sure, by the mid-60s Olivier had made a name for himself in multiple Shakespeare adaptations,
12:26but the actor also had to create an accent and a distinct walk, as well as deepen his
12:30voice for a performance that, while Oscar-nominated, was unfavourably likened to Al Jolson's infamous
12:36blackface character Jack Robin in The Jazz Singer.
12:49This seminal sci-fi anime's live-action film adaptation came with major baggage.
12:54The casting of Scarlett Johansson as Major, a cyber-terrorist survivor turned operative
12:58with cybernetic enhancements, especially attractive backlash.
13:02Yet in the Hong Kong-inspired Newport City, based on a Japanese manga, many fans expected
13:07the cast, or at least its lead, would be of Asian descent.
13:11The film's twist that Major was originally a Japanese girl only worsened matters.
13:17Ironically, Ghost in the Shell creator Mamoru Oshii had no problem with the casting, claiming
13:26Major's cyborg body was an assumed one, and Japanese fans were likewise unbothered.
13:31Still, it missed out on a crucial opportunity for an Asian actress to lead the film adaptation
13:35of this seminal work.
13:47Anybody who's familiar with the story of Peter Pan knows that Tiger Lily is Native American.
13:52The folks behind this reimagining apparently didn't get the memo, though, as they cast
13:55the light-skinned Rooney Mara in the role.
13:58The filmmakers tried to compensate for this by having Tiger Lily's tribe be made up of
14:01various different races and nationalities.
14:07While that's a noble gesture, I guess, there's still no reason why Tiger Lily couldn't have
14:11remained Native American.
14:13Mara is an immensely talented actress, but she simply looks uncomfortable in this whitewashed
14:18role.
14:19As far as missteps go, it may not be what made the Red Man Red bad, but it's not that good,
14:26either.
14:27Now, here's a casting choice that made the internet erupt like a volcano.
14:44Although roughly 70% of Hawaii's residents aren't white, this box office bomb enlisted
14:49Caucasian actors across the board.
14:51To make matters worse, Emma Stone was cast as a character who's supposed to be one-quarter
14:55Chinese and one-quarter Native Hawaiian.
15:04As much as We Love Stone, even she felt this was a misguided decision in retrospect.
15:09Actor Cameron Crowe additionally wrote an apology on his blog.
15:13If there is a silver lining to this controversy, it's that more people started to realise just
15:17how common whitewashing is, which will hopefully influence change in Hollywood.
15:37Inspired by Eastern philosophies and Japanese anime, the characters in Avatar The Last Airbender
15:41were largely depicted as Asian and Inuit.
15:44In this despised live-action interpretation, however, our heroes are all white, and any Asian
15:49actors are restricted to minor roles.
15:57You could argue that the cast isn't completely whitewashed, seeing how M. Night Shyamalan populated
16:02the Fire Nation with actors of Indian and Middle Eastern descent.
16:06Since the Fire Nation is primarily depicted as villainous though, this ultimately sends
16:09out a negative message, fanning the flames.
16:12Failing to accurately represent a single character, it's easy to see why The Last Airbender helped
16:17coin the term racebending.
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16:39John Wayne will forever be remembered as a screen legend.
16:51With that said, it was hard to imagine the actor playing anybody other than a cowboy or
16:54a cavalryman.
16:55Given his narrow range, it was especially hard to accept the Duke as Genghis Khan.
17:01No, seriously, we are not making this up.
17:10John Wayne, the most American actor who ever lived, plays the founder of the Mongol Empire.
17:15We know, that sounds like the setup to a joke, and The Conqueror is admittedly pretty hilarious
17:19at times.
17:20Of course, none of those laughs were intentional.
17:22On that basis, this was undoubtedly one of the most ill-advised casting choices ever.
17:27So, which other instances of whitewashed casting had you slack-jawed in disbelief?
17:38Let us know in the comments.
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