Benedict Cumberbatch has revisited several of his iconic characters over the years, with multiple turns as Sherlock Holmes in the Sherlock series, Smaug the dragon in the Hobbit trilogy and Dr. Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

But he said there’s one character he won’t play again: All, the gender non-conforming model he portrayed in Zoolander 2.

“I’ve had to apologise for that quite a lot so it’s a difficult one to talk about,” he said in a video interview with Variety.

Benedict said he “loved” the team behind Zoolander, which included Ben Stiller ― who directed, co-wrote and starred as the title character ― and Owen Wilson, who played Hansel.

“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, it got misunderstood, and I upset people and I respect that,” he said. “So I probably wouldn’t do that again now.”

Benedict also issued regrets about the role during an interview with Variety’s Actors On Actors in 2022. 

“There was a lot of contention around the role, understandably now,” he said at the time. “And I think 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.”

The All character led to calls for a boycott of the film by some critics in the LGBTQ+ community. 

“This is the modern equivalent of using blackface to represent a minority,” activist Sarah Rose wrote in an online petition, slamming All as “an over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary individuals”.  

It was one of many flaws with the film: While Zoolander was considered a beloved send-up of the fashion industry, the sequel wasn’t nearly as well-regarded. It has a 22% critics rating and 20% from fans on Rotten Tomatoes. 

See Benedict Cumberbatch’s full discussion of his characters and their lines below: