Jaymole

I would pick Mickey Rooney as a Japanese in Breakfast at Tiffany's as being pretty insulting:



And John Wayne as Genghis Khan in The Conqueror as being pretty ridiculous:

cungar

Solid Snake

How about West Side Story? A lot of that in there.

Heston in Touch of Evil...as a Mexican. That's all I got.

Also...special mention to RDJr. It's not exactly what the OP wants but damnit. If it's not awesome. Son of a bitch keeps in character to the end of the commentary.

Jules Winfield

I remember The Perez Family caused a huge uproar because Marissa Tomei, Angelica Houston, and Alfred Molina all played Cubans. That's all I remember about that movie though.

BambooLounge

I find crap like that racist and insensitive. Really, Hollywood cannot just make an original movie about African American characters? "Blackifying" movies is insulting intellectually and racially and is probably the most offensive, in terms of stupidity and lack of originality, form of remake.

Solid Snake

I can't see whatever the fuck you posted. what is it?

RocShemp

Benedict Cumberbatch as

BambooLounge

The movie poster for The Honeymooners movie w/Cedric the Entertainer.

RocShemp

It was a pic of The Honeymooners remake.

story

There's a fascinating documentary called Hollywood Chinese about the history of casting persons of various Asian and non-Asian heritages to play various Asian heritage characters. What happens when a person who is of Japanese heritage is cast as a character of Chinese heritage, what happens when a person of Asian heritage is cast in a role which perpetuates harmful anti-Asian stereotypes (particularly regarding the emasculating of Asian men), and so on. Really well-made and the interviews are very heartfelt. I was particularly struck by BD Wong's interview.

RocShemp

I remember they used to cast Japanese and Chinese actors as Hawaiians.

Mabuse

I think I saw the last 45 minutes of this when my DVR failed to record something else. Did it talk a lot about Flower Drum Song?

The most ridiculous racist casting that still permeates Hollywood is slowing going away but still lingering. The comedian Sinbad tells a story about making Jingle All The Way with Arnold Swartzeneger. The studio was hesitant about pairing Arnold with a black sidekick, fearing that a prominent black character might make audiences think it was a "black" film. Throughout the shooting there was special attention to make sure that there was never more than one black person in the frame. If Sinbad was in the shot there could be no other black actors, not even a black extra, in the shot with him.

It's all marketing. Fucking boring uncreative cinema is bad enough but when lazy execs and marketing people pursue numbers above actually being entertaining it's sloppy, stupid, uncreative cinema with an extra helping of racist.

This fear of "two black actors means it's a black movie" is why prominant black actors are always paired up romanticly with Latino actresses or chicks of other "undetermined" ethnicity.

printerati

Julia Roberts and Sarah Jessica Parker as desirable white women.

Tom Creo

JLo as Selena.

Tom Creo

GINO as Godzilla.

Giantrobo

Agree 100%

Mondo Kane

^Puerto Ricans played Japanese soldiers in one of those movies.

Tom Creo

I always wondered about that disc. Is it worth the purchase?

EddieMoney

Tom Creo

End of thread.

RocShemp

Well done, EddieMoney.

Shannon Nutt

This guy look Persian to you?

PhantomStranger

Prince of Persia was ridiculous in its casting, but there are zero bankable Persian actors that could go above a marquee. The movie should have simply never been made in the first place.

Casting diversity these days is all about the bottom line in Hollywood. They have good demographic research that certain minority groups won't go see a movie if they don't see a member of their racial group in the main cast.

GoldenJCJ

I grew up watching this fool without even realizing it was offensive:



And don't tell me I'm the only one who's a little apprehensive about this:

EddieMoney

I'm apprehensive because, IMO, he has really turned into a bullshit actor. It's all about the buck for this clown. It's either junk like this, or his Burton collaborations where he's always gothed the f*** out. Sorry, end of rant.