DOCTOR STRANGE Star Tilda Swinton Reacts To Kevin Feige's Comments About Ancient One Casting Regrets

When it was revealed that white actress Tilda Swinton would play the Ancient One in Doctor Strange, there was quite a bit of backlash online because a noteworthy Asian character was being "whitewashed." At the time, Marvel Studios issued a statement explaining that many people had held this mantle and, in this movie, the character was actually Celtic. 

It was clearly an effort on the studio's part to avoid any Asian stereotypes or tropes, but Kevin Feige recently admitted that he regrets the choice. "[Was] there any other way to both not fall into the cliché and cast an Asian actor?’" he pondered. "And the answer to that, of course, is yes."

During an interview with Variety, Swinton was made aware of Feige's comments and said she's "very, very grateful that he said that."

"I remember at the time having a question mark in my own mind, and being attendant to the public response to the idea that a Scottish woman will be playing this character, and being aware that there was no resistance at all — there was widespread welcome — which shifted at a certain point, for very good reasons with which I had an enormous amount of sympathy."

Swinton went on to say that she realised a "conscious" wave of criticism started to "righteously" grow as time passed, noting that "The audience feels ever more empowered to contribute to the narrative and to feel heard within the narrative, and that’s a really healthy social development."

This was a blunder on Marvel Studios' part, but their intentions were good - if somewhat ill-advised - and the fact that it's not a mistake they would readily repeat is obviously welcomed (especially with a movie like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings around the corner). 

Swinton did reprise the role of the Ancient One in Avengers: Endgame, but we're not banking on seeing more of that interpretation of the character in the MCU moving forward...