In a Variety 'Actors on Actors' interview with Penélope Cruz, Benedict Cumberbatch discussed his experience acting as the nonbinary model All in the 2016 movie Zoolander 2.
The role was a contentious one that sparked a lot of backlash online, including a petition to boycott the movie that gained over 25,000 signatures after the movie’s trailer came out. The petition said that “Cumberbatch’s character is clearly portrayed as an over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary individuals. This is the modern equivalent of using blackface to represent a minority.”
This backlash is in part because the character is the butt of more than a couple of sexual jokes, with characters asking if they have a "hot dog or a bun,” and other crude, transphobic comments. All also refers to themselves as “hermself” at one point.
Nylon’s review of Zoolander 2 after its release said:
“In both private and public spheres, trans* people are asked—usually invasively—by cisgender people (individuals whose gender aligns with the one they were assigned at birth) to validate their gender identity by confirming whether they have a penis or a vagina.”
"How is it okay to not only inaccurately represent a trans* person, not use a trans* actor, but make a joke out of a more than valid identity in the process?"
Cumberbatch has had time to reflect on the role. In his Variety interview with Cruz, he told her that there’s no way he would have played the role if the movie had been cast now.
“There was a lot of contention around the role, understandably now."
“And I think in this era, my role would never be performed by anybody other than a trans actor. 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."
While it is unclear from the film if All's identity was meant to be trans, non-binary, or a combination of the two, it is important to note that the terms aren't mutually exclusive. The HRC defines non-binary as "an identity embraced by some people who do not identify exclusively as a man or a woman" and transgender as "an umbrella term for people whose gender identity is different from the sex assigned to them at birth."
The post Benedict Cumberbatch Says Playing ‘Zoolander 2’ Non-Binary Character ‘Backfired’ appeared first on The Mother of All Nerds.
Benedict Cumberbatch Says Playing ‘Zoolander 2’ Non-Binary Character ‘Backfired’
Source: Pinoy Inquirer News
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