Zach McGown Niihau Movie Whitewashing Criticism

Photo: SilverHub/REX/Shutterstock.

Welp, another white actor is headed to an Asian role near you: Actor Zach McGowan is slated to take on the central role in the film Ni'ihau, a biopic about native Hawaiian Benehakaka “Ben” Kanahele. Deadline reported Tuesday that McGown would play Kanahele, a decorated World War II hero known for preventing the Japanese takeover of the island of Ni'ihau, in the Gabriel Robertson-helmed project. McGowan is also set to executive produce the movie.

This is whitewashing at its most obvious. In this case, McGowan isn't playing a character written as Asian or Pacific Islander — as Scarlett Johansson did in Ghost in the Shell or Emma Stone did in Aloha — he's playing a role based on a very real person who was actually a native islander. Benehakaka “Ben” Kanahele, a resident of the island of Ni'ihau, was awarded a Medal of Merit and a Purple Heart for his role in protecting the island of Ni'ihau.

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Twitter already has words for the casting choice. Mainly, people are perturbed at the blatant whitewashing. Users are also puzzled at McGowan's accreditation. As Vulture points out, McGowan describes himself as "that guy from that show" on his own website. Usually, when a white actor is cast in the place of a minority one, it is for the sake of ticket sales. Johansson was supposed to serve this function for Ghost in the Shell — though the movie ultimately bombed following intense whitewashing controversy. McGowan is still a relative unknown. So, what's the purpose of his casting, beyond proving yet again that Hollywood has a problem casting minority actors?

Zach McGowan has been cast to play Hawaiian native Ben Kanahele in the upcoming film Ni’ihau. ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME?! #Whitewashout pic.twitter.com/2ONSFCOMuH
— Laura (@lsirikul) May 9, 2017

Whitewashing is inexcusable even when it's a Big White Name, but who the fuck even is Zach McGowan https://t.co/SuPwmAQfGq
— Huw Downs (@HuwJD) May 10, 2017

Literally EVERYONE in this story is Asian & Pacific Islander, from heroes to villains. WE CAN'T OWN OUR OWN HISTORY!https://t.co/yMD4Q1YsvP
— Jeff Yang (@originalspin) May 9, 2017

Here's why the Niihau movie will 100% flop: they think the man on the left should play the one on the right. pic.twitter.com/5f9KKM97tG
— Travon Free (@Travon) May 10, 2017

Another reigning opinion is that the movie is destined to be a flop. History shows that movies plagued by such controversies rarely perform well at the box office. The Great Wall, which features Matt Damon as a savior of sorts for the Chinese people, was poorly reviewed, as was Ghost in the Shell, Aloha, Doctor Strange with Tilda Swinton, Pan with Rooney Mara, and Prince of Persia with Jake Gyllenhaal. (There are countless other cases of controversial casting choices. In fact, we made a list of them — it numbers at 32, and counting.)

Prince of Persia--FLOP
Exodus: Gods & Kings--FLOP
Aloha--FLOP
Ghost in the Shell--FLOP

What the producers of #Niihau learned from history: pic.twitter.com/8QeZgcmAFS
— teresa lo (@teresalo_tweets) May 10, 2017

McGowan, as previously stated, will serve as executive producer on the movie. This means he has some control over the project. Some Twitter users are tweeting at McGowan, asking him to do the "right thing" and back out of the project.

@Zach_McGowan Dude, there is still time to back out. You don't need this kind of bad publicity. Have some integrity. Don't be like #45.
— Randy Tamura (@randytamura) May 9, 2017

@Zach_McGowan You ought to pay attention to the response to this news. It's not noise, my friend. Respectfully back out.
— Justin Victoria (@YAYItweets) May 10, 2017

An appeal to @Zach_McGowan to pls do the right thing&insist that this role be offered to an actor who truly represents this man's ancestry. https://t.co/io6mBwoOKF
— Emily Willingham? (@ejwillingham) May 10, 2017

Representation for McGowan did not immediately respond to Refinery29's request for comment.

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