Casting appreciation gif.
This seriously pisses me off because TWO men of the “correct” ethnicity/race were asked to play the role of Khan. I don’t remember their names because this back when Into Darkness was in casting yo but they BOTH DECLINED.
So there’s a HUGE difference between “well, we asked the best in the business and they both said no, so we should go with another actor of the ‘incorrect’ race who is also very well suited for the role” and doing what the Hunger Games did which is literally only let white girls audition for Katniss.
When actors decline there is fuckall you can do. It’s shitty, no doubt, that Khan ended up being white, but BC did a great job in the role, while knowing he was third choice. I won’t begrudge him for taking it, and I won’t begrudge the casting crew for going with him after their best actors declined.
^ Bless.
OHHHHH OHHH OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Now I understand more!!!
Actually, they considered 3 people before asking Benedict. The first one was Benicio Del Toro. He already accepted the role but backed out because he wanted to be paid more than the contract suggested. The 2 others just flat out declined. They had started the principal photography and they were still looking for an actor who will accept the role. When Lindelof suggested Benedict, they immediately bugged him to film an audition reel despite knowing he’s on a Christmas vacation because they’re running out of time(hence the famous Iphone audition story.) And apparently, he was kept in the dark about the true identity of his role. He only knew about it after he signed the contract.
So you see, Benedict didn’t back out even though he was tricked into accepting the role and the pay was cheap(he said it himself and added that he could earn more doing theatre.) He might have contemplated about it(Brent Spiner said that Benedict asked him and Patrick Stewart one time if accepting the role would ruin his career) but he stood his ground.
So yeah, the casting crew didn’t have any choice and Benedict Cumberbatch got some balls.