‘Mulan’ star upset with Johansson’s casting in Japanese film

Actress Ming Na-Wen has joined critics accusing filmmakers of ‘whitewashing’ the remake of ‘Ghost in the Shell’ by casting Scarlett Johansson over an Asian actress.

Paramount bosses have been targeted for casting a white actress in an iconic Japanese role, and now the first image of Johansson in character has been released, the voice of Disney’s ‘Mulan’ has offered her thoughts on the controversy.

“Nothing against Scarlett Johansson,” she tweeted. “In fact, I’m a big fan. But everything against this Whitewashing of Asian role.”

A critic wrote, “Srsly?? (Seriously) So many grt (great) Asian actresses out there: #LucyLiu would slay this, obviously, but also @MingNa, Arden Cho, Maggie Q, Zhang Ziyi.” Ironically, some fans have suggested the casting is perfect, because Johansson bears an uncanny resemblance to Major Motoko Kusanagi, the character created by Masamune Shirow in 1989 as part of a manga comic book.

The project was made into a cult Japanese anime movie six years later. In the film, which is set in the near-future, Johansson’s character leads a fictional counter-cyberterrorist organisation called Public Security Section 9.