8 Biggest Casting Mistakes In Upcoming Movies

1. Scarlett Johansson As "The Major" - Ghost In The Shell

Do I even need to explain this one? While the Ancient One controversy is a contained situation, this is a big deal, regardless of your affinity for the original anime. Casting Scarlett Johansson as Motoko Kusanagi (neatly called only by her rank, The Major, in press releases) is the latest in a long line of caucasians being cast as Asian characters. And with decades of social change between us and it, it strikes as even more thoughtless than Micky Rooney in Breakfast At Tiffany's (the live-action remake also has Michael Pitt as Hideo Kuz, but that's gained less traction because of the lead).

What makes it worse than similar cases of inexplicable white-washing is that the studio have shown an explicit understanding that what they've done is wrong and have tried, in the most insensitive way possible, to fix it by allegedly experimenting CGI-ing Asian features onto Johansson. Now that's a mistake.

The marketing reasons behind this change are pretty obvious - getting an actress recognised in the West on-board increases the movie's financial chances ten-fold (look at how the live-action Attack On Titan sank without a trace in the UK) - which only goes to prove that while this is a bad choice on its own, like the #OscarsSoWhite controversy it's really only a high-profile symptom of a wider race problem within the whole movie industry.

Agree with this list? What other upcoming casting decisions have you scratching your head? Share any more down in the comments.