There has been a lot of controversy as of late in regards to "whitewashing" in Hollywood movies. This criticism has been in regards to the casting Scarlett Johansson as Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell as well as the casting of Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One in Dr. Strange. For anyone not familiar, The Ancient One has canonically been an Asian man. In order to be somewhat true to the character, here are just a few actors who should have been given consideration over Swinton.
Ken Watanbe
Watanbe was actually in the original consideration to play The Ancient One, but lost out (for reasons unknown to me). As the one who played Ra's al Ghul (or so we thought) in Batman Begins, Watanbe has the degree of playing a mentor that is needed for The Sorceror Supreme. Watanbe has a certain amount of gravitas as well.
Aaron Kwok
Canonically, The Ancient One has been old; however, youth is the clear direction that the producers were going for. This is where Aaron Kwok comes into the equation. Kwok has an air about him that communicates a mentor as well as one who has seen his fair share of conflict. If the need arose, he could have been made to look slightly older.
Chow Yun Fat
Chow Yun Fat has been in a hero-mentor role as well, but he needs to make up for the abomination that was Dragonball Evolution. Chow Yun Fat is a great actor and has been in many martial arts/supernatural films and would have been a great addition to the MCU.
*DISCLAIMER: Chow Yun Fat has been banned from making films in China. This is relevant in that any filming or premieres of Dr. Strange would likely be banned in China because of this.
Many considerations had to be made by the producers of Dr. Strange. Arguably, they were just looking for a new spin on the character, which in and of itself is not a bad thing. The problem comes in when you drastically change an established character. With changes such as this, it comes off as feeling forced or as if the producers are trying to meet some sort of "diversity quota". This is also observed within Dr. Strange. In the comics, Baron Mordo was a white German man; however in this film, he is played by Chiwetel Ejiofor. Despite this, there has been no backlash from comics purists, such as when Michael B. Jordan was cast as The Human Torch in Fantastic Four. Now, I have no doubts about the type of character that Tilda Swinton will try to portray, but I do think the producers should have been more true to the comics in this particular respect.
