The novel the film is based off of takes place in Japan and features characters entirely of Japanese descent, but the film largely ignores that and only casts one Japanese actor in a major role.
The movie doesn't have a single major actor of color even though the United Kingdom's armed forces had large numbers of fighters from South Asian and East African and France's armed forces had large numbers of fighters from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia who played a pivotal role in the evacuation out of northern France.
Kirsten Dunst played Edwina Morrow, a biracial teacher in Virginia during the height of the Civil War.
Scarlett Johansson played Major Motoko Kusanagi, a Japanese comic book superhero.
Tilda Swinton plays the Ancient One who is Asian in the comic books
Rooney Mara played Tiger Lily, who is Native American.
Emma Stone played Captain Allison Ng, a character who is portrayed as one quarter Chinese and one quarter Hawaiian.
Colin Quinn portraying Amy Townsend's (Amy Schumer) dad tells her he has "no desire for an oriental woman to touch me above the waist" after she encourages him to get acupuncture therapy.
Staff Aside
While played for laughs, the comment plays into the trope about Asian women giving men "happy endings" after a massage.
Christian Bale (Moses), Joel Edgerton (Ramses), Sigourney Weaver (Tuya) and Aaron Paul (Joshua) are all white actors who played the role of ancient Egyptians.
Dr. Julia's (Jennifer Aniston) asks Nick (Jason Bateman) "did you suck that c*ck like a Bomb Pop down to the blue?" and he responds "I ate that d*ck. I ate those balls, and I licked that kid's sweaty a*shole" after unintentionally finding himself in a sex addiction group being moderated by Dr. Julia in her office.
Maura promotes the false stereotype that "French women don't shave their underarms."
Johnny Depp played Tonto, a Native from the Comanche tribe in what is now the Southern Plains of America.
Benedict Cumberbatch played villain Khan Noonien Singh, a genetically engineered human originally from India.
Pete (Paul Rudd) mocks the family doctor's Indian accent by imitating how he says words like "fruit" and "French fries."
Desi (Megan Fox) says that her perky breasts are "going to go National Geographic on me" by the time she turns forty.
Historical Context
National Geographic magazine was once notorious for photographing older naked African women whose breasts sagged lower than those of younger women and then plastering the images all over their magazines in the name of education.
Ben Affleck played Tony Mendez, a Mexican-American CIA operative who is the lead character in the film.
Ms. Halsey (Cameron Diaz) cries "this is why the Japs are overtaking us" to her students after essays they wrote failed to impress her.
The guys wake up in an over-the-top dilapidated room in Bangkok, Thailand with outdated radio and a cockroach crawling around. The power also would often go off in the building. But in the original movie, when in America, they woke up in a spectacular suite at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
In the book the movie is based on, Mickey Haller is biracial with a Mexican mother but in the movie he is played by Matthew McConaughey.
Fred (Jason Sudeikis) tiptoes into a Korean massage parlor and asks for "a rub-and-tug and finish off with a tea bag, please."
Staff Aside
Hollywood has long cast Asian massage parlors as a place where men can go to get much more than a massage.
The guys have a long chat discussing whether they would "make out with a guy or let him blow you" and refusing to pick one isn't an option because "your whole family will die" as if it's a completely normal thing for straight men to have that kind of discussion.
Asian characters Sokka and Katara are played by white actors Nicola Peltz Beckham and Jackson Rathbone.
Welsh actor Michael Sheen played Yusuf Atta Mohammed, an American Muslim special forces soldier.
Jake Gyllenhaal played Prince Dastan of Persia, a fictional character of Persian descent.
Mary (Sandra Bullock) worries that her blind date's mother "probably thinks he's gay" because he's not married yet and says her parents are "pimping me out to test his sexuality."
Phil (Bradley Cooper) makes a couple homophobic remarks including yelling, "Paging Dr. F#@got" and his answering machine message says, "don't text me, it's gay."
"Don't Text me, it's gay," says Phil at the opening of Hangover.
Peter's dad says that his son Robbie never had a problem making friends growing up because "he probably wanted to suck their d*cks."
Justin Chatwin played Goku, a Japanese anime superhero.
British director Damien Cockburn makes several mistakes costing the studio a lot of money upon which studio boss Les Grossman says to him, "This is all your fault, you limey f*ck!
Staff Aside
The entire movie is a satire on the film industry, but this is not one of those moments. They are making fun of directors sometimes going over budget and getting into squabbles with studio execs. And they chose a British director as their foil as, apparently, it's funnier for a foreign director to screw things up than an American. And you can call him limey too for added laughs. It is all genuinely very funny as is the entire movie which is super hilarious. But they are still using the British as a butt of one of their jokes here.
Guru Pitka (Mike Myers) portrays a widely admired and respected figure in Indian culture by spending the entire film making fun of their accents and religious beliefs.
Assassin Fox is a black woman in the comics Wanted was based on but in the movie version she is played by Angelina Jolie.
Tony Stark flirts with a couple women while playing craps and invites one of them suggestively blow on his dice for good luck. He asks Rhodey (Terrence Howard) to also blow on them for luck, but he pushes his hand away saying "I don't blow on a man's dice" causing an unlucky snake eyes crap roll. The scene at the table exudes glamour and excitement, and even after losing that lost roll, Tony leaves happy.
The movie is based on the MIT Blackjack team who were mostly Asian, but the main leads Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth are white.
Eben Oleson is Inuit in the comic book series, but the film cast Caucasian actor Johsh Hartnett to play the part.
Rob Schneider dons yellowface makeup and a wig to portray an over-the-top caricature of an Asian minister.
Angelina Jolie played Mariane Pearl, a woman of mixed heritage who was married to slain journalist Daniel Pearl.
Colin (Matt Damon) calls the opposing rugby team a bunch of "queers" and "homos" after a pickup game with his police trainee buddies. In a later scene Billy (Leonardo DiCaprio) calls Colin a two-faced F-word.
Marine Sergeant Jason Thomas is black in real life, but the film cast white actor William Mapother to portray him.
The lead race announcer tells the audience that "Girard is sitting on the pole, which is a statement of fact and in no way a comment on his sexual orientation."
Staff Aside
The pole position in NASCAR is the driver who had the best qualifying time in race trials, but the announcer felt he needs to clarify because Girard is gay.
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