Benedict Cumberbatch is aware of the controversy surrounding his character in Zoolander 2.
In the 2016 comedy—a box office and critical flop—the Doctor Strange actor plays a non-binary, long-haired, eyebrow-less model named All.
"There was a lot of contention around the role, understandably now," the actor told fellow Zoolander 2 star Penélope Cruz, during Variety's Actors on Actors series. "In this era, it would never have been performed by anybody other than a trans actor."
Cumberbatch continued, "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 yeah, it kind of backfired a little bit."
Controversy aside, being on set was a ridiculously good experience. "It was lovely to meet you in that brief moment and to work with Ben [Stiller] and Owen [Wilson]," he added, "and the craziness of that film, being such a huge fan of the first one."
Back in 2015, after the trailer for Zoolander 2 was released, the actor's casting and portrayal of All in Zoolander 2 had spurred an online petition signed by more than 25,000 calling to boycott the movie. It stated that Cumberbatch's role was "clearly portrayed as an over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary individuals" and that "this is the modern equivalent of using blackface to represent a minority."
"By hiring a cis actor to play a non-binary individual in a clearly negative way," the petition read, "the film endorses harmful and dangerous perceptions of the queer community at large."
At the time, Zoolander 2 star and co-writer Justin Theroux spoke out about the controversy, telling The Wrap, "I don't even know what to make of it, because it hurts my feelings in a way. I take great care in the jokes I write, and the umbrage being taken is out of the context of the scene. I wish people would see the movie first. Satire is a thing that points out the idiots."
He never intended to offend. "With social media and all the rest of it, people's issues need to be heard...at the end of the day people are looking for bandwidth," Theroux insisted. "People are looking for places to inject their voice. But our target is not, and never was, to disenfranchise anyone."