Tilda Swinton Isn’t Worried About Doctor Strange Controversy

By D. Goodman | Apr 23, 2016

Tilda Swinton was recently asked about the “whitewashing” controversy over her casting as the Ancient One in Doctor Strange.

When it was revealed that Tilda Swinton was cast as the Ancient One in the forthcoming Doctor Strange film, it raised more than a few eyebrows. If you are at all familiar with Doctor Strange and his origin, you know that the Ancient One is an older Tibetan male who teaches Stephen Strange the ways of magic and how to use them to battle evil.

Swinton in neither old nor Tibetan or male.

Given how much success Marvel Studios has had swapping the genders and/or race of characters in their films, no one gave it much thought. Swinton is a talented actress and most assumed that there must be a story-driven reason for the changes.

Of course, that was before the whole Ghost in the Shell fiasco which has swept over fandom the last few weeks.

More from Movies

Many fans have had major issues with the casting of Scarlett Johansson as the Japanese character Major Motoko Kusanagi in the film adaption of the best-selling manga. It only got worse when the first image of her in character was released recently and word leaked that Paramount had experimented with technology that would have made her look “more Asian”.

It didn’t take long for the accusations of “whitewashing” to be directed at Doctor Strange and the casting of Swinton as well, even though everyone has known about it for over a year. It seemed far more people took issue with the character not being portrayed as Asian then the fact that the Ancient One is portrayed as a female.

Now Swinton has addressed the controversy and and her response has surprised quite a few people.

When asked by UPI.com about the situation, she said that she was never asked to play an Asian character.

"“The script that I was presented with did not feature an Asian man for me to play, so that was never a question when I was being asked to do it. All will be revealed when you see the film, I think. There are very great reasons for us to feel very settled and confident with the decisions that were made.”"

That actually sounds very similar to what Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said about Swinton’s casting at the time. In December of 2015 he told Entertainment Weekly:

"“I think if you look at some of the early incarnations of the Ancient One in the comics, they are what we would consider today to be quite, sort of, stereotypical. They don’t hold up to what would work today. Also, within the storyline of the comics, and our movie, ‘the Ancient One’ is a title that many people have had. We hit very early on on, What if the Ancient One was a woman? What if the title had been passed and the current Ancient One is a woman?”"

While with Ghost in the Shell the accusations of “whitewashing” may be deserved (although considering it’s an American production I don’t see how it could have worked otherwise) in the case of Doctor Strange it may be a bit off base.

Related Story: Anyone Else Find The Doctor Strange Trailer Underwhelming?

Clearly there is a reason for the fact that Swinton is able to play the Ancient One that will be revealed in the film. Everyone just needs to calm down and wait for the movie to be released before they start grabbing pitchforks and creating “Boycott Doctor Strange” Facebook pages.

As long as it is explained in the movie and said explanation makes sense, who cares who plays the Ancient One? They could have cast Chris Rock in the role and as long as it works and it is entertaining, I couldn’t care less.

Doctor Strange will be in theaters on November 4, 2016.