8 Insane Recent Cases Of Hollywood Whitewashing

6) 21

21 is unique on this list in that its actors play characters who are written on the page as white. They aren’t, as in Prince of Persia or 300, characters who by the nature of geography or genetic makeup shouldn’t be played by Caucasian stars. The issue is that 21 is based on a true story, involving mostly Asian-American figures, and that that story was rewritten so the characters were white Americans.

That’s right, in bringing the story to the screen, Hollywood just ignored the fact that the real people of the story were of Asian descent and instead cast Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth as ‘Ben Campbell’ and ‘Jill Taylor’.

If anything, this makes 21 potentially the most depressing movie on this list: even at the development stage, the film’s makers had zero confidence in getting a film about Asian characters financed, so they just straight up changed the story’s DNA in order to improve its commercial prospects.