10 Upcoming Movies That Are Causing Huge Controversy
3. Lilo & Stitch
Prior to the SAG-AFTRA strikes shutting down production, Disney was deep into shooting their live-action remake of cult fave 2002 animation Lilo & Stitch.
However, shortly before filming began, some fans cried foul at the casting of Sydney Agudong as Nani Pelekai and Kahiau Machado as David Kawena, feeling that Disney had made a concerted effort to cast lighter-skinned actors in both roles compared to their animated equivalents.
Machado was eventually replaced with the darker-skinned Kaipo Dudoit, albeit only after racial slurs were discovered on Machado's social media accounts.
Fans then called for Nani to be recast, though given that production shot with Agudong for months before the strike shut them down, this evidently didn't happen.
As such, there's the feeling among those eager to see appropriate representation in Disney's live-action remakes that the studio would rather cast White-presenting actors than those with darker skin tones in step with the original animated characters.