When Tilda Swinton was cast in Marvel’s Doctor Strange as The Ancient One, people thought that the character in the comic books was Asian, why cast an Anglo-Scottish for the role? And the whole whitewashing going on now on Hollywood just got worse.
But the thing is, Marvel knows what they’re doing and who they’re casting, they’ve never failed in casting since day one. And everybody knows that. Maybe that Mandarin casting was also cool, if it really were THE Mandarin. But hey, Ben Kingsley was fun to watch.
Now, with all the controversy and this whitewashing trend happening in Hollywood, Marvel had to say something about it, and here’s their statement:
“Marvel has a very strong record of diversity in its casting of films and regularly departs from stereotypes and source material to bring its MCU to life. The Ancient One is a title that is not exclusively held by any one character, but rather a moniker passed down through time, and in this particular film the embodiment is Celtic. We are very proud to have the enormously talented Tilda Swinton portray this unique and complex character alongside our richly diverse cast.”
“[The Ancient One] 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 bullsh*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 — 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*ck you’re talking about.”
The thing is, and it will always be, we can’t say anything or judge Tilda Swinton and Marvel until we’ve seen the whole movie. It will always comes down to the story and the performance of the actors, right?
Here’s the mind-bending teaser trailer of “Marvel’s Doctor Strange” which will arrive in Philippine cinemas November 2, 2016 and will be distributed in the Philippines by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures through Columbia Pictures. Follow the official social media accounts of Marvel, namely, (FB) MarvelPhilippines, (Twitter) @marvelstudiosph and (Instagram) @marvelphilippines.