Magical Entity Tilda Swinton Responds To Marvel ‘Whitewashing’ Claims

In Marvel‘s upcoming Doctor Strange, actual magical entity Tilda Swinton plays fictional magical entity The Ancient One, who acts as a mentor to Benedict Cumberbatch‘s Stephen Strange, as he discovers his powers. 
When the first trailer arrived, there were rumblings of discontent in certain quarters of the internet, based on the presumption that Swinton, an Anglo-Scottish actress, had been given the role of an Asian character to play. 
In a recent interview with Den Of Geek, Swinton was asked directly about the claims of ‘whitewashing’ that have been made about the film and specifically her character, who has Tibetan roots in the comics. 
In response, Swinton opened her mouth and a brilliant, emerald green frog hopped out; the frog then opened its own mouth and disgorged a piece of tattered parchment, which read: 
“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. 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.”
According to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, the character seen in the film has been completely reworked from the one who appeared in the original source material, telling EW:
“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.”
Doctor Strange is released in New Zealand on October 20 and the U.S.A on November 4; an Australian release date has yet to be confirmed, but it’s probably somewhere in that general area. 
Source: MTV News.

Photo: Jim Spellman / Getty.

More Stuff From PEDESTRIAN.TV