Backlash After Rooney Mara Cast as Native American

Rooney Mara was recently cast as Tiger Lily in the Peter Pan origin movie Pan, Variety reported this week, and as the New York Daily News notes, the backlash has been fierce. Commenters and Twitter users were quick to point out that Mara is white, while Tiger Lily is Native American. "Rooney Mara cast as Tiger Lily in new Peter Pan film because there are clearly no Native American actresses," reads one representative tweet.

The studio did tell Variety it considered other actresses including Lupita Nyonog’o and Adele Exarchopoulos for the role, and that the film's world (set during WWII) will be "multi-racial/international." But on Jezebel, Callie Beusman writes, "The movie will also star Garrett Hedlund (white person) and Hugh Jackman (white person). So, yeah, it kind of goes without saying, but a bunch of white people does not a 'multi-racial/international' fictional world make. And rewriting a character as white in order to squash complaints that you didn't hire a Native American actor is pretty s----y." The role of Peter has yet to be cast.