8) Gary Oldman As A Man With Dwarfism In Tiptoes
What’s interesting about the film Tiptoes is it’s one of very few Hollywood movies to highlight what it’s like to be a dwarf without patronizing the community; it’s one of few Hollywood films to actually provide a meaty role for a dwarf actor – in this case, Peter Dinklage, a fine, Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor; and it’s one of even fewer Hollywood films that has thought it best to cast an average-sized actor as a character with dwarfism.
Yes, despite having a great dwarf actor right there in the cast, Tiptoes director Matthew Bright had the idea to give all five feet seven inches of Gary Oldman the lead dwarf role. Those critics that didn’t blast the decision as insensitive said it was one of Oldman’s better performances, while still conceding that the film was basically appalling.
7) Linda Hunt As A Male Chinese-Australian Dwarf In The Year of Living Dangerously
What tops a person of average height playing a dwarf, a Caucasian playing an Asian, and a woman playing a man? Why all three combined, of course! In Peter Weir’s The Year of Living Dangerously, the character of Billy Kwan, an Australian-Chinese photojournalist with dwarfism, is played by the very American, very female Linda Hunt.
The reaction to the film and Hunt’s portrayal shows how different attitudes were just 34 years ago when this film was released: not only did critics and audiences respond favorably to The Year of Living Dangerously, but AMPAS thought Hunt played the part so well that they gave her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
6) Emma Stone As A Native Hawaiian In Aloha
One thing that no one’s ever said is how much Emma Stone resembles the native peoples of Hawaii. And so, naturally, Cameron Crowe – in one of the more controversial casting decisions in recent memory – handed Stone the part of the Hawaiian native Allison Ng in his romantic-comedy bomb Aloha.
Crowe’s argument was that Stone’s character was a “one quarter Hawaiian who was frustrated that, by all outward appearances, she looked nothing like one.” Which did nothing to stop the shitstorm of controversy heading his way, as the Media Action Network for Asian-Americans accused the director of straight-up whitewashing. Luckily for Crowe, hardly anyone else saw the film.