Hollywood displays some heavy gender and racial biases, and one of the movies that has received major criticism for it is Cameron Crowe's star-studded flop "Aloha."
The movie starred Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, and Bill Murray and was set in Hawaii, a state where Caucasians only make up 30 percent of the population. However, the movie does not showcase this racial diversity, given its lead characters and other cast members.
Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that Stone was cast for a role intended for an Asian-American woman, even though she is not. Coming to the defense of the casting choice, Stone explained: "The character was not supposed to look like her background which was a quarter Hawaiian and a quarter Chinese."
Stone also lamented to news.com.au that she has been the butt of many jokes after taking on "Aloha," but she has learned a lot of valuable lessons as well after filming the movie.
"I've learned on a macro level about the insane history of whitewashing in Hollywood and how prevalent the problem truly is. It's ignited a conversation that's very important," she said.
"Aloha" was an undeniable flop, since it had a USD37 million budget but merely managed to take home USD23 million worldwide.
But that's not all the Stone has earned criticism for. The young actress also earned flak for her onscreen romantic interests - all of whom are aged 40 years old and above. For "Aloha" she was paired with Bradley Cooper, then with Ed Norton in "Birdman," Colin Firth in "Magic in the Moonlight," and soon Joaquin Phoenix in "Irrational."
Stone is only 26 years old, so having leading men who are almost twice her age has definitely upset some fans. A lot of seasoned actresses have also complained that Hollywood seems to prefer getting younger actresses to pair with older actors - a fact that has not been gone unnoticed by Stone.
"It's rampant in Hollywood and it's definitely been that way for a long time, both culturally and in movies. But in 'Irrational Man,' the film is contingent upon the age difference; the movie is about that disparity," she explained. "And when I did ;Magic in the Moonlight,' Colin Firth and I talked about the gap which was huge, absolutely, because he was born the same year as my dad."
Stone agrees that something has to change with how Hollywood presents its movies, because the movie making industry needs to stop being idealistic and focus on being realistic. "There are some flaws in the system," said Stone. "My eyes have been opened in many ways this year."
