14 DAY TRIAL // “Aloha,” the Hawaii-set rom-com from director Cameron Crowe, with a principal cast including Emma Stone, Bradley Cooper, Rachel McAdams, Alec Baldwin, Bill Murray, John Krasinski and Danny McBride, seemed poised for greatness.
It turned out to be box office poison, making under $10 million (€8.8 million) in its opening weekend, despite all the recommendations above.
Part of the reason this happened was the casting of Emma Stone as an Asian character (Allison Ng) and the overall feel that the entire movie had been whitewashed. This was, after all, set in Hawaii.
Following the disappointing box office performance and the very harsh criticism from the media and the fans, Crowe is apologizing for any offense he might have caused with the film.
You can see his full statement below, but in relation to Stone’s casting, he has this to say: Allison Ng is inspired by a real-life woman who is also one quarter Asian and whose biggest problem is that she looks nothing like her parents.
Because of this, she’s always explaining herself to others, but she’s proud of her heritage. In other words, Stone wasn’t miscast, but something did get lost in the transition from plan to actual film playing on the big screen. For that, Crowe is sorry.
