Benedict Cumberbatch admits there’s one controversial role he ‘wouldn’t do’ now after apologising for it in the past

There’s one particular character in Benedict Cumberbatch’s repertoire that he’s had to apologise for playing.

The 48-year-old actor is widely known for his roles in Sherlock, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Doctor Strange, there’s also one controversial role that’s not only an outlier in this list, it’s also considered very offensive.

Cumberbatch portrayed a non-binary fashion model named All in the film Zoolander 2. The sequel was released in 2016 as the follow-up to the 2001 Ben Stiller comedy, however, it failed to live up to the hype and made just $28 million at the US box office.

Zoolander 2 was also met with awful reviews with a measly 22% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Benedict Cumberbatch in Zoolander 2 (Paramount pictures)

Reflecting on the role for Variety's Know Their Lives video series, Cumberbatch admitted: “I’ve had to apologise for that quite a lot. It’s a difficult one to talk about. I love that group of people and it was the chance to sort of be part of something 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.”

The casting of Cumberbatch in the role drew backlash at the time and LGBTQ activists urged film fans to avoid the movie because of his casting. One online petition called for a boycott of Zoolander 2.

“Cumberbatch’s character is clearly portrayed as an over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary individuals,” the petition stated, which can still be viewed.

“This is the modern equivalent of using blackface to represent a minority. If the producers 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.”

Benedict Cumberbatch recently starred in the Netflix series Eric (Netflix)

Cumberbatch also shared his thoughts about playing the character during an episode of Variety’s Actors on Actors series. When speaking to Penelope Cruz in 2022, he said: “There was a lot of contention around the role, understandably now.”

He added: “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.”