Crowe apologizes for Emma Stone casting

[Baitball Blogger]

Seems like it's a current event and involves an issue that is political.

Aloha director Cameron Crowe is responding to some of the fierce backlash that accompanied the release of the movie.

The poorly reviewed Aloha, which had also caused controversy for its use of the Hawaiian word as its title, disturbed many viewers with its casting of Emma Stone as a character named "Allison Ng," who is meant to be a quarter Hawaiian and a quarter Chinese, which Stone is not.

On Tuesday Crowe took to his blog, TheUncool, to offer a "heartfelt apology" for the casting choice. He also went on to explain why he cast Stone in the part in the first place:

"I have heard your words and your disappointment, and I offer you a heart-felt apology to all who felt this was an odd or misguided casting choice. As far back as 2007, Captain Allison Ng was written to be a super-proud ¼ Hawaiian who was frustrated that, by all outward appearances, she looked nothing like one. A half-Chinese father was meant to show the surprising mix of cultures often prevalent in Hawaii. Extremely proud of her unlikely heritage, she feels personally compelled to over-explain every chance she gets. The character was based on a real-life, red-headed local who did just that."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2015/06/03/cameron-crowe-emma-stone-aloha-asian-casting-apology/28400233/

[msongs]

1. so nobody can play hamlet except for white guys? oh no! nt

[Baitball Blogger]

2. I didn't watch Aloha, so I don't know the backstory on this one.

However, the explanation on the video seems to be reasonable. From what I can understand, the real life character does not look like a minority, though she is proud of her heritage. And this does have something to do with the character's personality and outlook on life.

I was hoping someone else had more information.

[el_bryanto]

3. I suppose if Asian actors were as ubiquitous as Whites on film, you'd have a good point.

But . . . well, you don't. I like Emma Stone a lot, and I think she's talented; but minority roles are few and far between unfortunately, and we need to have more of them going to minority actors.

Bryant

[geek tragedy]

4. is there a problem with white guys being excluded from film roles? nt

[Bluenorthwest]

7. When 'Aloha' has entered the lexicon of world wide literature and has been produced so many

times that no one has any sort of a count, anybody can play any of the characters. Is that a fair deal? I have seen Hamlet white, black, male, female, as a man and woman lashed together by ribbons and twine, a hand puppet in a cast of humans, a modern politician, a medieval Prince, a Victorian patient in a lunatic asylum, I have seen Hamlet 17 years old, 70 years old, indoors, outdoors, in Russian, Dutch, Arabic and Japanese. Kabuki Hamlet, Guignol Hamlet, Hamlet, the Musical.
Hamlet in 60 Seconds:

[hughee99]

20. Isn't "Strange Brew" basically Hamlet?

?1278319856

[Johonny]

22. No, its much better

[charlie and algernon]

32. Don't forget a cartoon lion.

[Tom_Foolery]

5. Who would ever apologize for casting Emma Stone in anything?

It seems that she fits the character description perfectly.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. I know, this one could have used a better promo to explain

the character and plot--though, isn't it the screenwriter's job to make the plot points clear? And, whose job is it to put together the right advertisement for this movie?

[Tom_Foolery]

8. The director and screenwriter are responsible for making the plot points clear...

But in the end, it all falls on the director because a movie is his/her vision. The production company is probably responsible for the advertising.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. This was all avoidable.

IMO

[Tom_Foolery]

13. I agree. n/t

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

10. As a movie fan who keeps on these things.....

.....I had no bleeping idea what this movie was about, when it was released or who starred in it except for hearing it was a bomb and awful.

Cameron Crowe, eh?....sure it had an awesome soundtrack for three hours.

[Major Nikon]

11. Who's going to apologize for this?

[Baitball Blogger]

12. Omigod! I almost posted that picture.

LOL!

[whatchamacallit]

15. haha ftw! n/t

[Jefferson23]

25. ha ha ha I never saw that before...and they weren't trying to be funny. n/t

[mainer]

14. Having lived for over a decade in Hawaii, I think this was a jarring choice

I think Emma Stone's a superb actor. But a story set in Hawaii, with a character who's a quarter Hawaiian and a quarter Chinese, would NOT look like Emma Stone. It's essentially Crowe saying, "there are no ethnic actors capable of this role. I had to go white."

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

17. No, I'm pretty sure it's essentially saying there are probably a lot of people

who would like to see Emma Stone in a bikini.

Casting decisions are business decisions.

[mainer]

24. Right. Cause Asian girls in bikinis are such a turnoff.

And no one wants to pay to see that. They only want to see white girls in bikinis.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

31. no, it's about name recognition

People see movies because they want to see specific actors. Emma Stone in a tropical setting will be appealing to some moviegoers.

It's about selling the movie, not satisfying the agendas of perpetually aggrieved who almost certainly wouldn't have watched it in the first place regardless of the casting.

[mainer]

33. It appears no one watched it anyway

even with Emma Stone in it. It's been declared as an unmitigated flop.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

16. The true path to energy independence is harnessing fake outrage

Where were the Miami Cubans to lose their shit over Tony Montana?

[Johonny]

21. They existed

I remember reading a Roger Ebert column defending the choice of Al Pacino for the role. People confuse the lack of acting roles for minority actors with the demand that every role be played by the "right" kind of actor. When you have very few opportunities then the lack of a certain role being filled a certain way generates outrage, but the real problem is the total lack of opportunities. There are lots of incidental roles in any production, but often minorities are not cast in these roles unless the part calls out for X. It was incredibly true up through the 80s. It is less true today, but not totally false...

[KamaAina]

18. I know at least one person who is part Hawaiian and looks haole

that is, Caucasian.

[Baitball Blogger]

23. I think that's part of this particular character's bio, and it should

have made for an interesting socio-cultural perspective, but it sounds like the movie fell short of its mark. People didn't seem to get it.

[KamaAina]

27. Most malihini (visitors, foreigners) don't.

P.S. The opposite of malihini is kama'aina, lit. "child of the land". Now you know.

[Baitball Blogger]

29. mahalo.

[mainer]

26. Turns out Crowe has done this before.

"Even more ridiculous is the fact that this may not be the last time Cameron Crowe has given an Asian role to a white actor. In his upcoming Showtime comedy Roadies, which he wrote and directed, Crowe has cast white actress Jacqueline Byers to play Natalie Shin, a groupie-verging-on-stalker of the fictional band the TV movie follows.

The casting news came in January of this year, and while no one seems to have noted the suspiciously Korean last name of Natalie Shin's character, one anonymous commenter on Deadline has noted:

"Nothing against the young lady who booked the role, but in the script the superfan Natalie Shin character was Asian-American. In light of so much criticism (especially recently) about lack of diversity in Hollywood, I wonder why they decided cast a white actress."
Hmm. I know, anon comments are super reliable. The Internet has yet to lend other, more solid evidence of this yet, but in light of Aloha, I would not be surprised if Crowe has pulled another yellowface. Maybe Cameron Crowe doesn't know what Asian people look like?"


http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2015/06/cameron-crowe-casts-white-woman-to-play-asian-in-roadies

[Warpy]

28. Kind of silly considering a white actress won an Oscar for playing a Chinese man

The film was "The Year of Living Dangerously" and the actress was Linda Hunt. It was a good movie, Hunt was especially convincing.

While I would prefer seeing roles opening up for POC, I can't really object the casting of a white person as an American Mutt who doesn't look like one. I'm one of those too.

[procon]

30. Funny thing about "acting", while the cast needs to perform

according to the script, they don't actually need to be, or look, like the characters they play. Just as its OK to hire an actor to play a doctor in a movie, an actor doesn't need to be ethnically pure to play a certain role either. It's acting, folks, entertainment, not a documentary photo vignette, or a museum diorama.

[mainer]

34. Would any of you object if Emma Stone played an African American slave?

Say, if she were the lead actress in "Twelve Years A Slave"? That's okay with you?

But of course, because it's all about box office, and the business guys in the top office want Emma Stone, regardless of the role.

And it's all -- ACTING! That's what matters!

[Nye Bevan]

35. What about Hugh Laurie pretending to be American in "House" and "Veep"?

Do we really need a foreigner to fake an accent and pass himself off? Are there not deserving American actors for these roles?

[Number23]

36. Glad that he did. He should have.

That's one instance of Hollywood whitewashing apologized for, 6,992,779,991 more to go.