“It’s everything you’ve always wanted to do,” read the promos for “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “And Audrey Hepburn’s the one you’ve always wanted to do it with!”

When I think of that classic 1961 film now, I imagine Hepburn’s character, Holly Golightly, swanning through Manhattan in an amazing hat. But for all its fabulous charm, “Tiffany’s” can be nearly unwatchable. The problem, of course, is Mickey Rooney, who is cast as “Mr. Yunioshi.” With Mr. Rooney outfitted in giant buck teeth, speaking in a mock Japanese accent — well, the racism of the yellowface is more than enough to wreck the film.

Years later its director, Blake Edwards, said, “Looking back, I wish I had never done it.”

Mr. Rooney, for his part, said, “Those that didn’t like it, I forgive them and God bless America, God bless the universe, God bless Japanese, Chinese, Indians, all of them and let’s have peace,” a statement that even now seems like a curious misunderstanding of who in this situation is most in need of forgiveness.

I thought of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” last week when it was announced that Scarlett Johansson would be playing the part of a transgender man, Dante Gill, in a new film called “Rub and Tug.” There’s been a heartfelt cry of protest from the trans community, a group understandably made weary by film after film about our lives without any actual trans people being involved.