Fiennes, a white actor from Salisbury, England, stars alongside Brian Cox (as Marlon Brando) and Stockard Channing (as Liz Taylor) in a TV special about the "true...ish" tale of their post-9/11 roadtrip from New York City to Ohio.

The feature forms part of Sky Arts' new eight-part Urban Myths series. The show drew criticism last year when Fiennes was cast as Jackson, but apparently that wasn't enough to deter the producers, who were dead set on having a white actor portray a black man.

Fiennes made attempts to defend the choice, noting the sensitivity of the issue and describing his role as "one that has got to be positive entertainment and not bring about division [or] put anyone's noses out of joint."

As well as Fiennes as Jackson, the series will see Eddie Marsan as Bob Dylan, Iwan Rheon (Game Of Thrones, Misfits) as Adolf Hitler, Ben Chaplin as Cary Grant, and David Threlfall as Samuel Beckett.

Urban Myths begins on 19 January. Find out more.