That's because Hollywood doesn't cast asians in leading roles ever.
Yes they do. Lucy Liu alone disproves you several times over, and there'd be even more if I weren't assuming you implied the followup "excluding action films with martial arts."
Why would the main character in Ghost in the Shell not be able to have an Asian accent? Did I miss some sort of plot critical point in the movie?
Because it's an english (hollywood) production. Fluency is a dealbreaker.
More importantly, name any anime character that actually looks Asian. The genre itself is already hilariously whitewashed when it comes to main and supporting characters. More often than not the only ones who look Japanese are the extremely old characters or the ones that are horrible caricature drawings (ugly/fat characters). The general style doesn't lend itself well to characters looking Asian unless it steps well into new territory in terms of aesthetic, and shows that do that tend to not sell well and don't see multiple seasons.
EXACTLY. Great big disney eyes, creamy white skin and all. If they didn't want the Black Widow playing the Major, maybe they shouldn't made made her
look Russian.
Quick: guess this person's ethnicity, pretending no knowledge of the source material!
The only time, it seems, that anime artists make characters distinctly asian is when they're supposed to be unattractive.
Not without some forcefeeding, working out, and "work done." Also, the face is all wrong.
Pssht, more like Maggie
Who?
(google google)
Ah, ok, I didn't remember her from Divergent (I was unimpressed with the movie as a whole, just like the book)... but looking at pictures, same deal applies. Needs more meat, the girl is a stick. Maybe if you could put her head on ScarJo's body. Or put a lot of "Xena padding" in the Major's bodysuit.
Or, and this is totally thinking outside the box here, they could hire a NEW, unknown Asian actress who would be perfect for the role.
Because hiring a total unknown has never worked in the past. *coughSUPERMANcoughCHRISTOPHERREEVEcough*
Sure, so long as she's got the right features and frame, that'd be an option. But I guess they wanted someone with star power, and ScarJo's already got action-lady chops from her Marvel gigs.
Maybe, with the right makeup. Had to google her, too, though.