Allegedly pragmatic racism as practiced by Hollywood.

Re Scarlett Johanssen being cast in the GHOST IN THE SHELL live-action film:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/asian-american-actresses-speak-out-against-scarlett-johanssons-ghost-in-the-shell-casting_us_5717a698e4b0018f9cbbd121

Ridley Scott defending casting Caucasian actors to play Egyptians in EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS:  http://www.hitfix.com/the-dartboard/ridley-scott-im-still-not-sorry-i-cast-white-movie-stars-in-exodus#XIH88Byq3Fp0L4xw.03

Sean Young, star behavior/misbehavior and Hollywood sexism.

From a GUARDIAN profile (inspired by a British theatrical reissue of BLADE RUNNER) by Danny Leigh
(http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/26/blade-runner-sean-young-interview) :

It's strange, how the Blade Runner legend now leaves out both [Sean] Young and her co-star Daryl Hannah, presenting it as the collective triumph of Ford, Rutger Hauer with his “tears in rain” speech, and Ridley Scott orchestrating it all. Then again, that kind of thing often blights actors. Like a lot of what befell Young, it could only have happened to a woman.

The past is unknowable. But the idea that a young female actor new to Hollywood would be directed to the casting couch is hardly outlandish, or that the same actor would face the same demands even as a star. On-set, male actors can scream abuse at underlings and have it passed off as being “driven”; making Wall Street, an unwitting Young had a sign reading “cunt” stuck to her back by Sheen. And when the media reported her trials, they did so with the particular pursed delight that greets a woman’s fall from grace.

As for Hollywood, it often finds it easier to give second acts to men. Young could be excused a smile on noting that the highest paid actor in Hollywood for the past two years has been Robert Downey Jr, whose struggle with drug addiction in the 90s saw him spend time in state prison, as well as mistaking a neighbour’s house for his own and falling asleep in a child’s bedroom.

There are probably too many stories about Young’s “theatricality” for them all to be untrue. In the course of our email exchange, I am not always struck by the urge to get stuck in a lift with her. She admits to a “knack for pissing people off.” It is also rude to heckle someone while he’s collecting an award. But it’s unlikely any of this was helped by how the industry treated her. And she can be funny, and self-aware, and if even half those stories were embellished, and just some of that treatment was down to sheer misogyny – well, that’s quite a bum rap. You’d be angry too.

RIP Tony Scott, Scott McKenzie, William Windom.

Was an extra for 2 weeks worth of THE LAST BOY SCOUT when it filmed at the L.A. Coliseum. Re the few glimpses I got of Tony Scott, my impression was that he was colorful, larger-than-life and enjoyed being co-ringmaster (along with Joel Silver) of the gridiron circus staged for the film. RIP. Now I have to catch up with THE HUNGER and

 REVENGE.--Reposting my comment from the HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE site.

Scott McKenzie, whose passing was also reported Sunday, had a gigantic hit in 1967 called "San Francisco (be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair").  The song, written by John Phillips of The Mamas And The Papas, popularized the ethos of gentle hippie Utopia for AM-radio listeners.  McKenzie also co-wrote another massive hit from 1988--The Beach Boys' "Kokomo."

I best remember William Windom as the genial star of MY WORLD (AND WELCOME TO IT); Windom's cartoonist/humorist character was a fictionalized version of James Thurber.  The series combined adaptations of Thurber material with more conventional family comedy, but was too out-of-the-box for TV in 1969-1970, running a single season on NBC--plus being rerun as a summer replacement two or three years later on CBS.