Whilst on the promotional global tour for her second Woody Allen collaboration Irrational Man, Emma Stone has been speaking to an News.com about the controversy surrounding her other big 2015 release, Cameron Crowe’s Aloha.
In the comedy, which was a critical and commercial flop in the US earlier this summer ($23 million domestic gross from a $37 million budget), Stone plays Air Force pilot Allison Ng, who is described in the film as “a quarter Asian and a quarter Hawaiian”. The choice to cast the actress in the role was widely criticised, as was the film’s “whitewashed” depictions of Hawaiian culture.
“There’s a lot of conversation about how we want to see people represented on screen and what we need to change as a business to reflect culture in a clearer way and not in an idealized way. There are some flaws in the system.” said Stone. “I’ve learned on a macro level about the insane history of whitewashing in Hollywood and how prevalent the problem truly is. It’s ignited a conversation that’s very important”.
She did defend director Crowe and his decisions, saying “the character was not supposed to look like her background,” she admitted, “I’ve become the butt of many jokes… My eyes have been opened in many ways this year.”
Crowe has since apologised for the controversy and the casting, writing earlier in the year: “From the many voices, loud and small, I have learned something very inspiring. So many of us are hungry for stories with more racial diversity, more truth in representation, and I am anxious to help tell those stories in the future.”
Aloha opens in the UK on September 18th and stars Stone, Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Rachel McAdams (True Detective), Bill Murray (Rock The Kasbah), Alec Baldwin (Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation), John Krasinski (The Office) and Danny McBride (Eastbound and Down).
https://youtu.be/IWWtOQOZSTI?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published July 16, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
