Actor Benedict Cumberbatch mentioned he’s “had to apologize” quite a few instances for taking part in a nonbinary character as a gag within the film “Zoolander 2.”
Selection reported on how Cumberbatch, finest identified for taking part in Physician Unusual in Marvel films and the titular detective in “Sherlock,” cringed at having performed a non-binary style mannequin named “All” within the “Zoolander” sequel.
Within the 2016 comedy, the 2 fundamental characters, performed by Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, meet the character named “All” and instantly have questions.
The character, with shaved eyebrows and an androgynous look, is requested by Stiller’s character, “So… are you, like, a male model or a female model?”
“All is not defined by binary constructs,” Cumberbatch’s character replies.
“That’s cool, I don’t like labels either,” Wilson’s character says. “But I think he’s asking, ‘Do you have a hot dog or a bun? You have a wiener or a ‘vageener’?”
This and different awkward moments that includes this character have been condemned by liberal critics.
“I’ve had to apologize for that quite a lot. It’s a difficult one to talk about,” Cumberbatch instructed Selection. “I love that group of people and it was the chance to sort of be part of something [in Zoolander] that the first time around was iconic and I was a huge fan of. But it got complicated and it got misunderstood and I upset people. I respect that, so I probably wouldn’t do that again now.”
a nomination for Worst Image on the 2017 Razzie Awards. Philippe Antonello
Mark Von Holden/Shutterstock for The Elvis Suite
As Selection famous, a petition was circulated on the time and had gathered 25,000 supporters calling to “Boycott ‘Zoolander 2’ for its offensive representation of non-binary individuals!”
“Cumberbatch’s character is clearly portrayed as an over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary individuals,” the petition mentioned. “This is the modern equivalent of using blackface to represent a minority.”
The petition went on to argue, “If the producers and screenwriters of Zoolander wanted to provide social commentary on the presence of trans/androgyne individuals in the fashion industry, they could have approached models like Andreja Pejic to be in the film. By hiring a cis actor to play a non-binary individual in a clearly negative way, the film endorses harmful and dangerous perceptions of the queer community at large.”
Selection additionally recalled when Cumberbatch mentioned in 2022 of the half, “In this era, my role would never be performed by anybody other than a trans actor.”
He added, “But I remember at the time not thinking of it necessarily in that regard, and it being more about two dinosaurs, two heteronormative clichés not understanding this new diverse world. But it backfired a little bit.”
