Benedict Cumberbatch Admits His ‘Zoolander 2’ Non-Binary Character ‘Backfired a Little Bit’
variety.comZack Sharf Benedict Cumberbatch and Penélope Cruz joined forces for Variety‘s “Actors on Actors” series, presented by Amazon Studios, but it was not the first time the two performers had collaborated on screen.
Cumberbatch and Cruz both had roles in Ben Stiller’s comedy “Zoolander 2,” a critical flop in 2016 that also bombed at the box office with just $28 million in the U.S.
Cumberbatch’s casting as a non-binary fashion model named All proved problematic, and the actor admitted to Cruz that he would not be cast in the role had the sequel been made today.“There was a lot of contention around the role, understandably now,” Cumberbatch said. “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.
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