Benedict Cumberbatch dishes on a role he 'would never do again'

Benedict Cumberbatch has dished on a role for which he got 'misunderstood'.

In a recent episode of Variety’s Know Their Lines, he candidly talked about a difficulty he faced after filming Zoolander 2.

“I’ve had to apologize for that quite a lot,” the Doctor Strange actor began by saying. “It’s a difficult one to talk about.”

Cumberbatch starred in Zoolander 2, which was released in February 2016, alongside Penélope Cruz, Ariana Grande, Cyrus Arnold, and Ben Stiller.

“I love that group of people and 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.”

Recalling his non-binary role in the movie, the 48-year-old actor concluded by saying, “But it got complicated and it got misunderstood and I upset people. I respect that, so I probably wouldn’t do that again now.”

Following his role, the Hollywood actor received backlash from LGBTQ activists and an online petition was signed by more than 25,000 people to boycott the movie.

At that time, the petition stated, "Cumberbatch's character is clearly portrayed as an over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary individuals."

"By hiring a cis (the opposite to transgender) actor to play a non-binary individual in a clearly negative way, the film endorses harmful and dangerous perceptions of the queer community at large," it concluded.