Doctor Strange co-writer C. Robert Cargill pointed to two reasons why Tilda Swinton was cast as The Ancient One in Marvel ’s next superhero flick.
The Ancient One is originally an elderly Tibetan man and the casting of Tilda Swinton has caused a furor over whitewashing, especially after shots of Scarlett Johansson as “The Major” in Hollywood’s Ghost In The Shell remake surfaced.
The casting of Swinton, says Cargill, is prompted both by a consideration for China’s massive importance as a film market and due to the racist nature of the original character.
“There is no other character in Marvel history that is such a cultural landmine, that is absolutely unwinnable,” said Cargill on the Double Toasted podcast . He went on to explain that while he had no part of the decision to cast Swinton, he supports it. Even the acknowledgment of Tibet as its own sovereign nation risks offending China (and its millions of moviegoer dollars), while the character itself he calls “Marvel’s Kobayashi Maru” after Star Trek ’s unwinnable trainee test.
“The Ancient One was a racist stereotype, who comes from a region of the world that is in very weird political place. He originates from Tibet, so if you acknowledge that Tibet is a place, and that he is Tibetan, you risk alienating 1 billion people who think that that’s bulls— 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,” said Cargill.
“So, what Scott decided to do — and this happened before I came onboard, so I wasn’t part of this decision at all, although there’s part of me that wishes I was — was, he was just like, ‘There’s no real way to win this, so let’s use this as an opportunity to cast an amazing actress in a male role.”
You can see the trailer for Doctor Strange below:
Doctor Strange releases in theatres this November 4.
