Actor Benedict Cumberbatch said that he “had to apologize” several times before playing a non -binary character as a gag in the movie “Zolander 2.”
Variation reported About how Cumberbatch, the best known for Doctor Strange in Marvel films and the titular detective in “Sherlock”, he shrinks in a non-binary fashion model with the name “All” in the follow-up “Zolander”.
In the 2016 Comedy, The two main characters, played by Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, meet the character called “All” and have questions immediately. The character, with shaved eyebrows and an androgynous appearance, is asked by Stiller’s character: “So … are you, like a male model or a female model?”
“Everything is not defined by binary constructs,” replies the character of Cumberbatch.
Benedict Cumberbatch arrives on the 28th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in the Barker Hangar on Sunday 27 February 2022 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
“That’s cool, I don’t like labels,” says Wilson’s character. “But I think he asks:” Do you have a hot dog or a sandwich? Do you have a sausage or a ‘vageener’? “
These and other uncomfortable moments with this character were convicted by liberal critics.
“I had to apologize a lot for that. It is a difficult thing to talk about,” Cumberbatch told Variety. “I love that group of people and it was the chance to be somewhat of something (in Zolander) that was iconic for the first time and I was a big fan of. But it became complicated and it was misunderstood And I have made people up.
As Variety noted, a petition was distributed at the time and he had collected 25,000 supporters who called to boycott “Zoolander 2” for his attacking representation of non-intelinaire individuals! “
The movie “Zolander”, directed by Ben Stiller. Seen here, I am Stiller (as Derek Zoolander). Theatrical release September 28, 2001. Screen Capture. Paramount Pictures. (CBS Via Getty Images)
“The character of Cumberbatch is clearly portrayed as an exaggerated, cartoon-like spot of Androgynis/Trans/Non-Bino individuals,” said the petition. “This is the modern equivalent of the use of Blackface to represent a minority.”
The petition Further transported: “If the producers and screenwriters of Zolander wanted to give social comments on the presence of trans/androgogyne -individuals in the fashion industry, they could have approached models such as Andreja Pejic to be in the film. By a CIS actor to rent a non-binary individual in a clearly negative way, endorses harmful and dangerous perceptions of the queer community in general.
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Variety also remembered when Cumberbatch said in 2022 of the part: “In this era my role would never be performed by someone other than one Transactor. “
He added: “But I remember that I did not necessarily think about it, and it was more about two dinosaurs, two heteronormative clichés do not understand this new diverse world. But it has failed a bit.”
