11 controversial castings that REALLY caused a stink - from Emma Stone to Jake Gyllenhaa 

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11 controversial castings that REALLY caused a stink 11 controversial castings that REALLY caused a stink

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Sensitive casting decisions are never guaranteed in Hollywood, as we were all reminded recently when 

Rangers fans threw up their arms at the casting of Caucasian Elizabeth Banks as the villain Rita Repulsa - a character originally played by Japanese actress Machiko Soga in the (generally scrupulously diverse) show.

Add to that the bizarre revelation that Joseph Fiennes will play Michael Jackson in a forthcoming Sky Arts comedy and it\'s plain to see that the whitewashing controversy is going nowhere.

Here are 10 castings that famously raised protests:

There are two projects that incur the anti-whitewashing ire of fans like no others, and both happen to be live-action manga/anime adaptations –

. Hollywood seems to think the only option it to take these Japanese classics and cast a load of white actors in them

And while we\'re still keeping our fingers crossed for no 

is looking inevitable now that we have the first picture of Scarlett Johansson doing her best Motoko Kusanagi impression. And it\'s not just the fans who are protesting – 

Nothing against Scarlett Johansson. In fact, I\'m a big fan. But everything against this Whitewashing of Asian role.😒 https://t.co/VS6r6iish9

It may be helmed by celebrated director Zhang Yimou, and the rest of the cast may be mostly filled out by Asian actors, but that didn\'t stop Matt Damon from playing the hero who defends all of China from dragons.

Damon\'s casting is the latest example of the \'White Saviour\' trope rearing its ugly head in Hollywood.

©  Getty Images Silver Screen Collection / Paramount

The Truman Capote film is an undisputed classic, but the contempt for Mickey Rooney\'s horrible IY Yunioshi has only grown over the years.

Producer Richard Shepherd has claimed that he wanted to cast a Japanese actor in the role, and has even gone so far to say, "If we could just change Mickey Rooney, I\'d be thrilled with the movie," with director Blake Edwards adding that he "would give anything to be able to recast it".

Some of these castings can be put down to out-dated ideas about race, but by 2013 people were asking whether Johnny Depp was really the wisest casting for Tonto.

Despite the actor\'s vague claims to Native American ancestry, audiences were apparently not convinced, one among many reasons 

 became somewhat less loved when audiences noticed that Indian-American engineer Ben Jabituya was played by "thin, white Jewish kid from Chicago" Fisher Stevens.

\'s Aziz Ansari spoke to Fisher about how the casting made him feel as a young man of Indian descent. Not great, it turns out.

©  Getty Images John Kobal Foundation / Warner Bros

The decision to black up legendary stage actor Laurence Olivier as Shakespeare\'s jealous general in 1966 was deemed pretty insensitive at the height of America\'s Civil Rights Movement - and that\'s even before taking into account his made-up accent and weird limp. None of which stopped him bagging an Oscar nomination for the role, of course.

Olivier had some pretty ripe things to say about his \'transformation\', which you can find here if you insist on subjecting yourself to them.

7. Jake Gyllenhaal - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Fortunately, Gyllenhaal had Gemma Arterton there alongside him to add all the exotic mysteries of Gravesend to the "insulting" proceedings.

They may say that 1 in 200 men are descended from Genghis Khan, but we\'re not sure that Western icon John Wayne is one of them.

The Howard Hughes production - which featured a complete lack of Asian actors even beyond Wayne\'s Mongol emperor - is considered one of the worst films of all time, and that\'s even before you factor in the rumours that the nearby nuclear testing site gave

Casting a quarter-Hawaiian, quarter-Chinese person whose appearance doesn\'t reflect her heritage was never going to be easy, even if she is based on a real-life person.

Director Cameron Crowe should have probably dropped that role rather than bringing in Emma \'the whitest Asian person Hollywood could find\' Stone for the part of Allison Ng.

Controversial perhaps because of how not-that-controversial it was at the time for Downey Jr to don blackface to play method actor Kirk Lazarus in Ben Stiller\'s Hollywood in-joke laden comedy. The actor even received a Oscar nomination for the role. Of course, it\'s satire -  it\'s not Downey Jr playing a black actor but playing an ignorant and arrogant white actor who has his skin darkened for a role. Funny? Problematic? You decide.

11. Pretty much everyone in Exodus: Gods and Kings

People were less than pleased - see the #boycottexodusmovie hashtag for details - when the Biblical Israelites vs Egyptians tale cast was filled out with English, Australian and white American actors in its lead roles.

Matters weren\'t helped by director Ridley Scott piping up to say that he wouldn\'t have got the film funded if the "lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such". If only Sir Ridley were more influential and better established...

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