4) Aloha
You probably heard of the controversy regarding Emma Stone’s casting in Aloha, Cameron Crowe’s Hawaii-set romantic comedy. But if not, here’s a catch-up: one of the film’s main characters is a pilot called Allison Ng, who is of Chinese, Native Hawaiian and Swedish descent. Obviously, a great role for an actor with a diverse background. Or, y’know, Emma Stone, the actress Crowe eventually went with.
One of the less mentioned controversial elements of Aloha concerns the racial make-up of the entire cast. In reality Hawaii is 70% non-white, and yet the cast is entirely white (you really can’t get much whiter than Bradley Cooper, Rachel McAdams and John Krasinski). It’s something the Hawaii-set The Descendants was also guilty of four years earlier, but Hollywood was forgiving enough to give that one an Oscar.