Anger over Aloha ‘whitewashing’ casting
Producers behind director Cameron Crowe’s new film Aloha have been criticised for “whitewashing” the movie’s cast.
The romantic-comedy, starring Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone, takes place in Hawaii but bosses at the Media Action Network for Asian Americans claim casting directors failed to include enough Asian- Pacific Islanders in the film.
A press release issued by MANAA representative Guy Aoki to the New York Post reads: “Caucasians only make up 30 per cent of the population (of Hawaii), but from watching this film, you’d think they made up 99 per cent.
“This comes in a long line of films — The Descendants, 50 First Dates, Blue Crush, Pearl Harbor — that uses Hawaii for its exotic backdrop but goes out of its way to exclude the very people who live there. It’s an insult to the diverse culture and fabric of Hawaii.”
Crowe and bosses at Sony Pictures, the studio behind Aloha, have yet to comment on the allegations.
It’s not the first time movie producers have come under attack for such casting decisions.
Ridley Scott faced a similar backlash with last year’s release of his Egyptian epic Exodus: Gods And Kings after selecting British actor Christian Bale and Australian star Joel Edgerton to play historic icons Moses and Ramses, respectively, instead of using actors of Middle Eastern descent.
