It hasn’t been the easiest ride for Cameron Crowe with "Aloha." The Sony leaks revealed that internally, the studio had misgivings about the movie, and in the run up to the film’s release, the picture faced backlash from some about a major studio movie appropriating the word "aloha," a term loaded with cultural significance for Hawaiians. And then, there was even more blowback in casting Emma Stone as Allison Ng, a 1/4 Hawaiian native who is described by EW as "a Hula dancing expert with a functional knowledge of Hawaiian folk guitar who rhapsodizes about the islander spiritual energy mana."
Sony responded by issuing a statement defending Crowe and the film, saying: "While some have been quick to judge a movie they haven’t seen and a script they haven’t read, the film ‘Aloha’ respectfully showcases the spirit and culture of the Hawaiian people. Filmmaker Cameron Crowe spent years researching this project and many months on location in Hawaii, cultivating relationships with leading local voices. He earned the trust of many Hawaiian community leaders, including Dennis ‘Bumpy’ Kanahele, who plays a key role in the film." However, Crowe has now come around and apologized to any he might have offended.
READ MORE: Review: Cameron Crowe’s ‘Aloha,’ Starring Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone & Rachel McAdams
Writing on his site The Uncool, the director explains the rationale behind the character and the casting of Stone, but offers his understanding if any were offended:
This movie was excellent and Emma Stone was the one who made it so. I loved her character and saw nothing implausible about someone with a white complexion being of mixed race. Go live in Brazil for a few years if you don\’t believe me. It happen\’s all the time. And even if the casting was less than accurate, which it wasn\’t, who cares. The story was respectful and inspiring, the actors did a great job the message was positive. It is only a fool who takes offense where none is intended. Great job Cameron Crowe, absolutely loved the message and movie. I rarely watch a movie twice, I will be buying Aloha on DVD so even if the internet collapses I can still watch it.
Hi Alicia. Directors and producers often tend to cast whoever they are screwing at the time. As most powerful movie people seem to be white supreme men maybe other ethnicities should train their females be less grossed out by white penis.
The same Sony who\’s defending this film was mercilessly trashing it in e-mails not that long ago.
Why am I not surprised everyone just defends Emma Stone because God forbid anybody ever be critical of her precocious little self. It\’s not about actors "only pretending to be from the country of their character," it\’s about how Asian culture and Asian-Americans in general are always wiped out in films. The ASIAN-AMERICAN character is played by Emma Stone. I don\’t care how pretty you think she is, her playing that part is an obvious whitewash.
It\’s a shame that people are knee-jerk reacting against this character because she is white, and this is not depicting "Real America." This IS real America, this happens. This character is based on a real person who is red-headed and doesn\’t look Hawaiian but is proud of her Hawaiian heritage. I\’m like that, I\’m Mexican but I look white, so it would be kind of nice to see that in film, I can totally identify. These things happen in melting pots. Let\’s not be so PC that we lose track of reality and dismiss real people\’s experiences.
Once you read the statement he made you can see Cameron Crowe doesn\’t apologize for casting Emma Stone.
I agree with JD. This clickbait headline isn\’t just misleading, it\’s flat out false. He did not apologize for casting Emma Stone.
"was written to be a super-proud ¼ Hawaiian who was frustrated that, by all outward appearances, she looked nothing like one." — Excellent way to make sure a white girl got the part. Writing her as white… but with a touch of Hawaiian that no one sees? I love you CC but that is lame and I\’m surprised that you would be so stupid.
Please don\’t shoot a movie in Africa… I hate to think what you\’d come up with.
If the multi-ethnic empire of America is to keep from falling apart from internal bickering, we must continue to hear the voices of the various minority groups to give them a piece of the mainstream. If sufficient access to the mainstream culture is not granted to them, we have seen the results in the radicalism of the 60s, when Blacks led a countercultural minority culture separate from the mainstream, which could only end with violent assassinations at the hands of government agents.
White Hollywood never learn. They just make everything Eurocentric and then back peddle with apologies that mean nothing because they\’re going to keep doing the same white supremacist bullshit. 1/4 Hawaiian?! For what?! So it can start a white woman, that\’s why. Typical.
That\’s a really misleading/mean-spirited headline… and unfair to Stone, who gives one of her better performances in the film. While Aloha is somewhat rough around the edges, the near unanimous rejection is totally perplexing. The things Crowe gets right are so much more difficult than simply telling a clear story. This may read like faint praise, but Aloha is much better than Vanilla Sky, Elizabethtown or We Bought a Zoo.
Alo-huh? — What a storm in a PC tea cup — so now actors can only pretend to be from the country of their character??