O retrato do anjo Gabriel como andrógino não é incomum. Veja Wikipedia
Tilda Swinton já havia interpretado um personagem andrógino (em Orlando, 1992), o que talvez explique por que o diretor a escolheu para interpretar o papel. De acordo com as seguintes entrevistas com Swinton, foi a ideia do diretor Francis Lawrence de tornar Gabriel andrógino.Angels are described as pure spirits. The lack of a defined form allows artists wide latitude in depicting them. Amelia R. Brown draws comparisons in Byzantine iconography between portrayals of angels and the conventions used to depict court eunuchs. Mainly from the Caucasus, they tended to have light eyes, hair, and skin; and those "castrated in childhood developed a distinctive skeletal structure, lacked full masculine musculature, body hair and beards,....” As officials, they would wear a white tunic decorated with gold. Brown suggests that "Byzantine artists drew, consciously or not, on this iconography of the court eunuch". Some recent popular works on angels consider Gabriel to be female or androgynous.
Gabriel is portrayed as rather androgynous. Would you say Gabriel is more of a he or a she?
Well the angel Gabriel, as the Book of Daniel said, is in the shape of a man. It doesn't say he is a man, just says looks like one and I quite often get given a male frisk when I go through the X-ray at airports so I was up for that. And anyway it's not my idea that I'm impersonating Gabriel, it's entirely Francis Lawrence's so you'll have to blame him for that.
Q. You've played a number of men in your career, most notably in "Orlando." What does the idea of androgyny bring to your performance of Gabriel?
A. The director, Francis Lawrence, did the sensible thing by just presenting the idea to me and then letting it percolate through my brain. It felt like a little bit of a dangerous idea in a big Hollywood movie, and then I ended up thinking it was a good idea, because an angel is not immutable but fluid, and so his identity is amorphous and not strictly human.
Q. How much do you think your looks have to do with this protean quality you have?
A. Quite a lot. The other day, I was going through the airport security and I was searched by a male security guard. I'm very often referred to as "Sir" in elevators and such. I think it has to do with being this tall and not wearing much lipstick. I think people just can't imagine I'd be a woman if I look like this.