11 Movie Casting Choices The Public Couldn't Handle
6. Tilda Swinton - The Ancient One (Doctor Strange)
Tilda Swinton is a chameleonic credit to practically any movie production she lands a role on, though that didn't stop many fans expressing frustration at her playing The Ancient One in Doctor Strange.
In the comics, the all-powerful character was a Tibetan man, and so many felt that casting Swinton in the role was "whitewashing" a part that could've been played by an Asian actor.
Yet it was very much a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation, with co-writer C. Robert Cargill explaining that the casting was primarily an attempt to avoid making the movie's Ancient One a Fu Manchu-esque stereotype of the wise, Asian mystic.
Director Scott Derrickson absolutely confessed the difficulties of casting the role, saying, "What I did was the lesser of two evils, but it is still an evil."
In the end, the controversy dissipated relatively quickly once the film hit screens, with Swinton's performance being widely praised alongside the film's generally diverse cast.