'Doctor Strange' Writer Discusses Tilda Swinton Ancient One Whitewashing Controversy

The Benedict Cumberbatch-starring mystical superhero film, Doctor Strange, won't hit theaters until this fall but, after the first teaser, whitewashing controversy arose regarding Tilda Swinton's gender and race-bend casting as the Ancient One. Now, the film's screenwriter, C Robert Cargill, has stepped up to talk about how the Marvel film was between a rock and a hard place.

The screenwriter appeared on the Double Toasted podcast to talk about Doctor Strange, not long after people on social media stirred the pot with calls of whitewashing. During his interview, the writer explained that things were a little more complicated and there was no way to win with the character's casting: it was a matter of either angering "Social Justice Warriors" or angering China by casting a Tibetan actor.

Saying that the character of the Ancient One originated on a "racist stereotype who comes from a region of the world that is in [a] very weird political place," namely Tibet. For decades, the region has been part of the People's Republic of China, and while there's a strong independence movement, the government of China doesn't recognize its statehood - and it's not a great idea to annoy the country that happens to be one of the biggest markets for Marvel's movies.

"[The Ancient One] originates from Tibet, so if you acknowledge that Tibet is a place and that he's Tibetan, you risk alienating one billion people who think that that's bullsh*t and risk the Chinese government going, 'Hey, you know one of the biggest film-watching countries in the world? We're not going to show your movie because you decided to get political," Cargill said, via The Hollywood Reporter.

He also added the situation was "absolutely unwinnable" and compared it to the famous "Kobayashi Maru" training test on Star Trek, where the crew was bound to lose whatever happened.

Doctor Strange will hit theaters on November 4.