When Tilda Swinton was cast as The Ancient One in Marvel’s Doctor Strange, a number of fans were upset that the role of an ethnic character is to be played by a Caucasian woman.
Tilda Swinton reacted to the controversy by saying that The Ancient One will not be Asian.
“Well, it's not actually an Asian character "” that's what I need to tell you about it," she told THR. "I wasn't asked to play an Asian character, you can be very well assured of that"¦You just have to wait and see, because it's not an Asian character."
Doctor Strange co-writer spoke about The Ancient One’s “situation”
Photo: Dailymail
The movie's co-writer, C. Robert Cargill, spoke to Double Toasted and revealed why The Ancient One cannot be Asian.
The thing about the Ancient One is it is Marvel's Kobayashi Maru. There is no other character in Marvel history that is such a cultural landmine, that is absolutely unwinnable. I've been reading a bunch of people talking about it and the really frustrating thing about it this week is that most of the people who have thoughts on it haven't thought it all the way through, and they go, “Why didn't they just do this?” And it's like, I could tell you why. I could tell you why every single decision that involves the Ancient One is a bad one, and just like the Kobayashi Maru, it all comes down on which way you're willing to lose.
The Ancient One was a racist stereotype who comes from a region of the world that is in a very weird political place. He originates from Tibet, so if you acknowledge that Tibet is a place and that he's Tibetan, you risk alienating one billion people who think that that's bulls**t, and risk the Chinese government going, “Hey, you know one of the biggest film-watching countries in the world? We're not going to show your movie because you decided to get political.” If we decide to go the other way, and cater to China in particular, and have him be in Tibet"¦If you think it's a good idea to cast a Chinese actress as a Tibetan character, you are out of your damn fool mind and have no idea what the f**k you're talking about. (via Movieweb)
