Sort of following up on the "digital facelift" story,
Ghost In The Shell production tried using visual effects to make ScoJo more Asian. Do we really need to say that this is a bad idea?
Look, I get why ScoJo was cast in the movie, it makes sense on a number of levels:
* she's a box office name that can open a movie and I can't think of any Asian actresses who can do the same.
* it sounds like everyone else in the movie is going to be Asian.
* The Major (her character) is supposed to feel separate from everyone else, being a different ethnicity visually helps with this.
* We're already cool with the idea of ScoJo being in Asia and alone thanks to Lost In Translation, so this feels familiar. "Similar but different," as the old saying goes.
* The Major is an android, and given how Western culture is treated over there, it makes sense that an android would be made to look like a white person than an asian person.
* The movie isn't about being Asian, it's about being human. Or post-human, as the case may be. This makes this particular instance different than Emma Stone in Aloha or whitewashing the cast of Akira, where being Asian is a key element of the characters and story.
And finally, I can't believe no one's mentioned this despite it JUST happening a week or two ago: there actually IS an android Scarlett Johannson! That's an insane coincidence.
I mean, honestly, it's hard to say anything for certain until the movie comes out, but whitewashing is a huge problem in Hollywood, and it's partly racism and partly financial, and on top of that we have the high barrier or entry, richer folks tend to be able to afford pursuing a career in the arts, and those people tend to be white, which leads to a less diverse pool to draw talent from. And of course, only a small spoonful from that pool can open a movie, and that's the big consideration when it comes to casting.