You remember correctly. No official reason was given for the Dawson/Braga swap but back channels and rumors were that there was some studio conflict behind the scenes that resulted in nixing Dawson’s participation as retaliation.
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/rosari...braga-steps-in
I knew someone would bring this one up. THIS WASN'T WHITEWASHING. In the original source material the character frequently used Caucasian bodies, and Motoko Kusanagi wasn't even the character's original name. Hell, the creator (who is Japanese) HIMSELF outright denied that it was.
If it was sunk by anything, it was the fact it was simply a meh movie all around on top of a lot of ignorance ABOUT the source material.
Be that as it may, the movie still performed poorly and suffered from bad press because of the viewpoint that whitewashing was afoot. Do you think comic fans who are upset with Sunspot and Cecilia's casting in this movie are ignorant of the source material? If not, I'm not sure what your point is here.
I'm sure, none of them looked particularly good even beyond the whitewashing. I did see Ghost in the Shell, I thought it was very mediocre. Could an Asian lead actress have saved it? I guess we'll never know.