This image was lost some time after publication.

Pity the Memoirs of a Geisha team. They expected to be celebrated for their decision to go with an all-Asian cast, a potentially risky move for a major Hollywood production, but instead find themselves the victims of the tricky cultural tensions between the Japanese and Chinese:

For months, the Internet has been filled with vitriolic debate over cultural insensitivity, and Zhang has been denounced in China for her starring role. The arguments boil down to this: A movie about Japanese culture should have a Japanese actress in the lead.


The filmmakers, however, thought that would be shortsighted and discriminatory. Producers Douglas Wick ("Gladiator") and Lucy Fisher, and director Rob Marshall ("Chicago"), say the casting was an exhaustive, meticulous process that considered acting ability, star power and physical traits.

"Some Japanese actresses didn't even want to audition, because they couldn't speak English and were too afraid to try to take it on," Fisher said

Don't these critics know how difficult it is to cast a big-budget film, especially one with serious Oscar hopes? There were probably several times during the "exhaustive. meticulous" casting process where the director and producers were so frustrated by the lack of marquee-worthy Japanese talent that they were ready to fill all the geisha roles with white men with British accents. But after a serious gut check and at least one disastrous test screening in which audiences howled at a pivotal tea ceremony scene involving Sirs Anthony Hopkins and Ben Kingsley, they knew they had to stick to their principles.