Benedict Cumberbatch is currently promoting The Hollow Crown in Britain. We still don’t have an air date here in America, but it will probably air next fall on PBS, that’s my guess. But the British premiere is upon us, and as such, Benedict covers some of the local British magazines. I can’t say I took this Radio Times cover very seriously though. The mud around Benedict’s face just looks… wrong. Very wrong. Benedict spoke about playing Richard III to the mag:
Learning he was related to Richard III: “I was literally dressed as Shakespeare’s version of Richard III when I received an email from Leicester University saying that I was a not-altogether-ridiculously-distant descendant of Richard. I’m a third cousin 16 times removed, which is still distant, but puts me ahead of an awful lot of other people.”
Attending the reinternment of Richard III in Leicester Cathedral. “To have been present when Richard III found his resting place was moving. I was at the burial of a king.”
Why Richard III’s story is important in the modern world: “These films stretch way beyond the remit of historical or period drama. They are about everything we’re facing – all the debates about who we should ally ourselves with, whether we should be part of Europe, and how deep these divides go within a society. And the violence of medieval warfare has a resonance with what’s going on with extremism in the world…To see the headlines, and then read the day’s shooting script, realizing we are enacting a beheading, literally taking someone’s head off their shoulders – sad to say, these are things which are still part of our world.”
I’m sure there are some in Britain who feel that Benedict might be stretching to find a modern context for the Richard III story, but I think he’s right – there’s a tunnel vision when it comes to modern struggles, like Donald Trump is the first fascist to ever run for office, or that a nation’s isolationist tendencies ebb and flow. But there are far-ranging histories with all of these issues.
Benedict also chatted with Culture Mag about how vanity and how he hated that he was photographed at Pres. Obama’s speech:
He doesn’t have any vanity as an actor: “I’ve had a career that’s not dependent on the way I look – but that is a great liberation for an actor, so I’m not really that vain about it. As myself, of course, I get a bit of, like ‘Oh God, I look like s**t’, but as an actor I’ve never, ever cared.”
Being photographed at Obama’s speech in London: “We were right beside the press pack, and there were people there with telephoto lenses. When they realised that Barack was going to be another five minutes, the whole lot just went wumph, onto me, onto the side of my face… I was just like, ‘How many times can you take a photo of a not particularly attractive profile – again and again.’ I mean, thank God Sophie was there, so that kind of drew the eye of the photographs, as it always should. But it was just embarrassing.”
Whoa, first of all… I kind of think it’s wrong for Benedict to refer to Pres. Obama as “Barack” right off the bat. I mean, do they know each other? Are they friends? Did Obama say “call me Barry, Benedict”? No. Also, “thank God Sophie was there, so that kind of drew the eye of the photographs, as it always should…” I get that he’s trying to be self-deprecating, but he makes Sophie sound like she’s there to be the eye-candy.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Fame/Flynet, Radio Times, Culture.
I know Sophie’s supposed to be the evil, cunning, unworthy witch who ‘trapped’ him or whatever, but I’m starting to feel sorry for her. There was a video from this event and the CBE thing (and something else I cant remember) and he seems to completely ignore her. He seems very cold towards her. But I’m sure that’s all her fault, of course.
God, is this nonsense still going around? They’re a perfectly nice, normal married couple (who don’t forget we’re together for like a year before they took their relationship public). There are tons of photos and videos of them cuddling and kissing, handholding, even a video of her pinching his butt. Anyway pap shots show like 0.000000000% of their lives, and are such artificial environments.
Two of my close friends are or have been married to famous people, one has never walked a red carpet with her husband of nearly a decade and they live their life privately very happily despite fans and tabloids speculating about them, my other friend always looked rigid and super uncomfortable on the red carpet because it’s just so stressful, and that made fans certain their relationship was unhappy. One time my friend was papped crying at a movie premiere – it was because the movie was really sad and about a real life tragedy that affected my friend! But of course the fans say “they obviously had a huge fight.” Ugh. It’s so effed up, thinking you know anything about total strangers. (Not you personally, the nutty fans on Tumblr who are obsessed with writing fanfic about Cumberbatch’s marriage.)
yes this nonsense is still going around and it’s hilarious how tumbr reacts.
He sure was on quite a few dates with beautiful blonde or curly haired women when he was supposedly “together” with SH. Sophie’s friends love leaking pics of her to her (fake) fansites. If BC and SH had really been together for this long then I there would have been leaked private occasion pics of them by now. But there aren’t.
Lol, I was never offended by their relationship…….more laughing that the ‘Batch tried to make it seem like they were Prince Charming and Snow White in a Happily Ever After, and not two people who were friends, accidentally got pregnant, and decided to make a go at it. Which, the more I think about it, I think it’s good that he’s not talking shit about how they got together, but it was just kinda funny to me. Other than that, I’m meh on them as a couple, and the only truly annoying thing is *someone* tried to make Sophie appear a lot more interesting than she really was/is, in terms of her career/work.
But yea. I think they’ve made a pretty good go at it so far, and that’s good.
I’m with you. Them as a couple is pretty boring, but the fans and the weird build up attempts around her are funny to follow. So are all the people claiming they’re insiders. Always a good time!
@InvaderTak
Lol, I can’t talk too much trash–I’m a hardcore Brangeloonie stan……but it is interesting to me. I remember when people freaked out about that Russian model, and were all “he’s not the guy I thought he was!”…and I’m like….really? Do you guys really vet all of your one night stands/casual relationships to the nth degree? I mean, how is it his fault that someone he may or may not have had sex with once or twice start a fake scandal, that ended with her going “I have a boyfriend” like she didn’t start anything……..like it wasn’t like he was dating her, etc.
Why would anyone be offended by their relationship? It’s not like they owned him — or did they think they did
I only vaguely remember the Russian model. I don’t remember the “scandal” part of the at all. But yeah, nothing was ever going to be right for some people. That being said, these two have some zero to help themselves. David Tennant made it out OK when he got married, so did the Supernatural bros. Seems like BC and gosling currently have it the worst and that’s because an oops pregnancy is involved. Difference being, gosling and mendas have stuck to their guns with regards to privacy and what the public knows about their kid. It can be done and I don’t under stand what BC isn’t getting about the whole thing. His behavior and statements about things are really pretty weird.
Is it british cold or american cold?
They are together now, married with a kid; who cares what happened before? Who knows what their relationship is but them?? No one.
As for his behaviour in public, it is that of a vain man pretending not to seek attention but in fact lapping it all up.
To be honest, I pity her. She looks like an adult married to a spoilt kid.
^^100% this^^
I think I he was just complimenting his wife…
This. People are always looking for something to be offended by.
Well he never really says anything about her. I’ve never heard him compliment her work or go to any of her projects. She’s always at his things though like going to Hamlet every night for the last 2 weeks. It’s kinda one-sided :/
Actually he has been to all of her projects, but her work isn’t very high profile since it’s in the more experimental non-commercial side, and of course she doesn’t work much now she’s got a baby.
I can’t think of any he has been to except Enron. He went to that with Olivia, haha. He wasn’t at either of her recent operas.
She didn’t work much before she had the baby so this is not surprising.
He was definitely at that thing she directed that was based on Turn of the Screw. I’m working on an adaptation of Turn of the Screw currently and some of my co-workers talked to him there.
I’m not familiar with her CV, but I tend to side-eye that type of comment. I know one of the most common claims the Tumblr nuts throw against her is her lack of career, and God knows anything they say is probably false. someone posted an image showing all her work by year and there wasn’t a year that didn’t have multiple jobs in it.
Sooooooo, he traveled 3 hours and back when he had Hamlet those nights? Legit.
There are photos of him on Tumblr in Alderburgh during the time she did her opera there.
People who pretend to know a celebritys whereabouts 24/7 creep me out so much.
@Meg D: I thought everything on tumblr is crap and wrong and yet you speak of photos on their that back the rumor (because no actually there is no proof that Cumberbatch ever showed up to any of ophie’s stuff).
Not sure what you mean. There are photos of him arriving at the village her opera was on in. They were all over the blogs because the sceptics had meltdowns trying to excuse it.
I really have no idea why you or your five or six fake names are so desperately invested in proving that Ben does not support his wife, to the point of telling such bizarre lies like this, when anyone can look at the photos themselves.
Almost every time he mentions her or their baby (an actual human baby), the world seems to fall down on her. Some sceptics would rather he attend every event alone, just so they won’t be forced into the reality that he’s MARRIED. See some of the comments here as proof.
They dont like her so every compliment from him must be parsed and sneeringly dismissed. Same goes for every witch who dare catch the eye of the imaginary boyfriend.
Was just making an observation 🙂
It honestly wasnt directed at you or any other specific person. It was just an observation that any woman he or any of the other internet boyfriends date or marry get treated horribly wherever groups of woman converge on the net. I think thats self evident.
Yup. This times one million.
He truly can’t say anything about her without people trying to read something unflattering into it, can he? If anything, I read that comment as self-deprecating.
That’s how I read it, too.
I agree with Kaiser- don’t call the POTUS by his first name only. I have never heard Hilary Clinton call him Barack when speaking to the press so it is terribly disrespectful. Secondly, he may be complimenting his wife, and that is all well and good, but dang, she is bland looking. She looks like a perfectly quiet, mousey British girl which is fine but I doubt the press was that interested in getting her photo.
Yeah, it read as an awkward self-deprecating joke, IMO.
I think he is complimenting her. She is quite beautiful.
He’s almost as bad as Normal Bill for involuntary twattish commentary, isn’t he? Actually, probably worse cos I do think he is at least TRYING to sound like a good guy. I think he should talk more often because he is such fertile ground for privilege-mockery. Keep going, Benny, keep going!
Yep. History is just like the 7 basic plots thing, isn’t it? You’d think we’d learn from it but we never do. Ho hum.
Mr Sixer has bouts of doing genealogy research. He’s got my family back to the thirteenth century and there’s just one solitary titled person in the whole shebang. And then it was just a lord of the manor sort. No royalty in my lineage!
He always seems really out of touch.
Agreed.
Me too sixer, despite being as proudly common as muck my family goes back to the tenth century – Normans – but that was the only brush with the bunny teethed chinless one’s we had and definitely no Royalty – which considering the Windsor genes is a bit of a relief…
Disgusting remark. So, the whole point of his wife is to be his arm candy, an object to be viewed.
Sometimes these people unknowingly reveal a part of themselves and their opinions.
Oh my god, I find Benedict Cumberbatch and his wife so painfully boring and have never remotely understood the fascination and rabid obsession with them on here, but my god that is a reach. “Disgusting remark”?? I guess when people REALLY want to see something…
+1000000000000
Disgusting remark??? Holy cow. He’s basically saying his wife is beautiful so she makes him look better. I wouldn’t mind if my husband said that to the press. 2016 is the year of overreaction.
I second and third that comment. It’s quite a reach to say “disgusting remark” when he puts himself down and praises his wife. Gee, what a douche.
They were awkward in the beginning, but got more comfortable after a few months of publicing together. Now that they’re settled into family life, they’re boring (i.e. scandal-free). But, the haters hang on. I hope for everyone’s sake that Ben & Sophie stay together for a loooong time, it makes so many of the naysayers sound ridiculous for reading more into things than they should.
I want to hear Bendy say silly things so we can laugh here ’cause he knows how to stick his foot in his mouth, bless his heart. After 9 months of Hiddleston carefully-crafted responses that reveal little to nothing, I admit I miss Cumbers and his verbal gaffes. Crossing my fingers that Elle UK gets him snockered again for another unintentionally hilarious interview.
@Nutty, if we get more of drunk Cumby rambling on about “violin-fingers” because of your wish, I’m not sure we can still be friends. Yes, that interview was unintentionally hilarious in spots – but a few passages also triggered my gag-reflex. Yuck. But you’re right, it would be much more entertaining than Hiddleston saying 10,000 words but never actually revealing anything. He may as well just read the dictionary in interviews…we’d still get to hear his lovely voice and might actually learn something new in the process. I quite enjoyed the math equation interlude for BBC Radio. Who knew “hypotenuse” could sound quite so erotic?
@Dara, yes, more explanations of geometry, please!
And no to a return of discussions of “violin-fingers.” Which revealed a man who thinks he knows everything and has no interest in listening to his partner’s wishes.
Ehh… I thought the way DUC went off in a inebriated fantasy about his talents in the sack were hilarrible, even if cringeworthy. His eye-rolling comments are entertaining to me.
Funny thing is now that a year or so has passed, he elicits neither a hot nor cold response from me, just a shrug. So his up-his-own-assery doesn’t rile me and I just find his blathering amusing.
I too enjoy The PuddleTom’s lovely voice, whatever he might be saying…even when I find he’s just skirting on the surface of things and not saying much of substance. Nine months of playing it safe with his words gets a bit boring to me, I realized, a few weeks ago. I have a preference for those who put it all out there, even if they end up pissing people off sometimes. Just one of the reasons I like our Devonshire pal on these threads.
Was he forced to go to this highly public event? Was it a requirement? I have no problem with complaints about being papped or people taking sneaky cellphone shots of him but seriously, you go to an event like that and you will be photographed so either stay at home or suck it up. And yes him referring to President Obama as Barack is odd and kind of rude/arrogant, had he ever even met him before this?
I used to like him but his attitude, he’s just become such a joyless insufferable bore.
I thought “Barack” was a bit weird. “Obama” wouldn’t be because we don’t tend to refer to politicians with any honorifics in Britland. Cameron is Cameron, not Prime Minister Cameron. MPs are referred to by their surnames, not Senator Doo-dah or whatever as seems common stateside. We rarely even say Mr Doo-dah if we’re talking about a politician. But “Barack” looks like fake matey-ness, doesn’t it?
Obama would have been fine if you ask me, everyone kind of refers him as Obama, like you said, Bush, Cameron, Clinton, surnames are a more accepted form of reference. Barack just sounds way too familiar, and like you said “my mate Barack..me old pal Barack…did you know I know Barack?”
It’s a bit Fishsticks… “My friend ANTony..”
Saying “Obama” would have been fine. Saying “Barack” indicates a level of familiarity that just is not there. I don’t expect Cumberbatch will be getting an invitation to golf on the Vineyard in August. So, it comes off as pretentious and phony as does his whining about being photographed. He isn’t photographed or papped all that often but he does complain about it frequently.
My guess would be that he might have been somehow aware that the way Brits refer to their politicians – surnames only or abusive nicknames pretty much sums us up! – comes off as rude if you’re talking about someone else’s leader, so he went with a first name. Totally missing that using a first name makes him look as though he’s positing an intimacy that doesn’t exist.
My impression of him is that he tries really hard to come off as a good guy but is so totally bubbled-up and out of touch that he gets it wrong every single time. Remember the “coloured” comment? Same thing. Or at least, coming from the same place. I see it as the product of a very narrow experience of life.
It’s a common debate online about whether he (or she) calls the paps since there are certain situations where paps don’t hang out where they have been spotted. The janguar pics in CA is an example. The fact that he complains about them makes him seem a little disingenuous (if he does in fact call paps)
@Sixer, yes, I remember that. And several other incidents of misspeaking. As we’ve both said, he comes off as out of touch and that would be based upon a very narrow life experience. When he was here filming Black Mass, the cast spent a lot of time attending events and concerts together. Depp even played guitar during an entire Willie Nelson concert. But he kept himself separate from them. He did attend one Red Sox game while the others attended several. And he did a tour of some museums with Joel Edgerton but for most of the time he was here, he spent by himself sitting at a bar watching World Cup and not mingling with the other patrons watching – which is very difficult to do. Watching any sporting event in Boston at a bar is a communal experience.
Haha. I remember that.yeah, because paps just happen to hang out on the PCH and wait for celebs to pull off the side of the road and pose next to their Jaguar. Lol. But he doesn’t call the paps, no….never…..
That’s how I see it too, Sixer, and he is a self-conscious motormouth so he utters 3 awkward sentences for every one thought. Rubs salt in the wound.
Well lilacflowers, perhaps he is an introvert, and prefers his own company. I know I cherish alone time, and the last thing I would want to do of an evening is participate in an event with lots of casual acquaintances. It would be hell for me, so I don’t fault him for keeping to himself, and no one should be shamed for being an introvert even though being ‘social’ is considered the gold standard. It shouldn’t be.
It’s not just being out of touch, although that’s certainly part of it.
He’s got the hallmarks of a communication disorder. Could be undiagnosed or just undisclosed.
No he wasn’t. He missed a rehearsal for an event because of it.
Oh really?
I’m not saying he should be a hermit but when choosing to attend something like this, and it’s not work related, where the worlds press were going to be, even if he thinks “well they wont be interested in me with all the other attendees”, he should stop the moaning about being photographed at events such as this especially when he’s attended fashion shows and embassy parties etc. You will be photographed at these things, if you don’t like it, then don’t go.
That’s actually not entirely accurate. The RSC skit, because it had all a large number of super famous people with complicated availabilities, always organised the rehearsal schedule around then. Cumberbatch was never scheduled to attend that particular rehearsal, just like some of the other cast missed oned he did attend. That’s pretty normal for one short comedy skit.
All of which was blown out of proportion by the Tumblr crazies based on one single tweet from someone who doesn’t even work there (motto: if ten people tweet about seeing Cumberbatch and his wife they are ALL lying or PR plants, if one person tweets something negative, it’s Gospel), even going so far as inventing an entire conspiracy theory about the script being re-written to intentionally diss him as revenge for him missing one rehearsal, even though the script was finalised weeks ago.
Receipts Spiderpig? How do you know he wasn’t scheduled? Everyone else made it and the rest are working actors, comedians etc. And to be fair what you’re saying could be just as much fanfic as the Tumblr crowd’s.
I worked for the RSC for for years, and for the Birthplace Trust for two. I didn’t have anything to do with the Special (the last time I worked there was the David Tennant RII), but I still know a lot of people there, and of course David who I just finished working with on another project was in the skit too. I know there was a rehearsal that all the cast except David attended, because he was in NY. And I saw the script weeks ago.
Yeah I’m curious too about how you know this. There are blogs on tumblr who will protect your identity and redact things if needed. You’re saying so many things and being so defensive of her that I’m now intrigued.
It’s pretty amazing that she’s seemingly worked at all the same places as cumberbatch or knows people who’ve talked to him at events and is doing the same obscure play that beloved Sophie did! That’s some crazy coincidences right there….
“I didn’t have anything to do with the Special” ….
“And I saw the script weeks ago.”
Sure Jan.
So you’re not involved, but you stumbled on a script somewhere that they just let you peruse as an uninvolved person? Did David (I’m assuming you mean Tennant) show you his? That sounds unprofessional of him if that’s what you’re saying happened. Or did it leak or something?
Isn’t it just? I wonder if they know the guy she went to the NT with who wasn’t BC.
I’ve been a regular poster here for ages, and have commented on plenty of other articles. I’ve often mentioned the fact I work in London theatre in other threads. And I’ve been pretty critical of Cumberbatch.
Felice, I know you are one of those Tumblr sceptics (or at least part of that group, even if you don’t have a blog yourself) and I’m sorry, but I think that’s disgusting. You do not know any of these people from Adam and you know zero about their lives. One of my dearest friends is married to a famous actor and gets so much shit and insane fanfic written about her by his fans. I’ve personally made it a project to defend any woman I see being attached solely because of her romantic attachments to a man with jealous fans, even if it’s someone I don’t know at all (I’ve defended the girl who had one of One Direction’s baby and God knows I couldn’t pick any of them out of a line up). Maybe it’s weird but that’s my personal bugbear or hill to die on or whatever. I just really, really hate obsessed fans. They’ve been the bane of my life for years. I don’t pretend to be unbiased in this.
PS the theatre industry here is seriously tiny and everyone knows everyone. (Scripts are not secret, it’s seriously easy to get your hands on almost any script.) And EVERYONE is gossiping about the Cumberbatch crazies, believe me. That and Sheridan have been the biggest source of rehearsal room gossip lately. Incidentally Turn of the Screw is not a play, it’s a book. I’m working on a screenplay adaptation of the original novella. If any of you cared I’m sure my real name would be easy to find, I don’t hide.
That wasn’t Sophie at the NT, it was a couple named Matt and Samantha Reece, who were not happy at being stalked and having their photos used to spread lies. There are photos of the real couple on his FB and it’s obviously them in the NT pics. And he posted screencaps of conversations he had with Tumblr trying to get the photos removed. The sceptics harassed him so badly and made fake reports against him to FB to try to get his account deleted. They claimed he was fake or PR plant even though his FB has posts going back years and years and has his city and workplace listed (and googling him with the info on his FB brings up his work record and phone number).
That’s sweet of you to say.
Sadly for you, it’s more about me not appreciating being told I should like someone simply because they are married to someone famous. Do you remember 2014? There were hundreds of articles trying to build her up so she could be “equal” to him. Doesn’t that bother you? She had to be seen as worthy?
I just want to know the real her. Sadly, the real her doesn’t seem to be what the media wants me to believe.
But anyway, who was she with at NT? You “seem” to know the circle so well.
You really, really hate obsessed fans and you’re seemingly a very busy little bee but you obviously have time to read what I’m guessing is multiple cumberbatch tumblrs? And while the theatre community is somewhat small, scripts don’t just roam around like candy in a parade.
And while, yes, Turn of the Screw is a book, it has also been turned into plays and movies. Hence you writing a screenplay.
Why are the bane of your existence though? That sounds obsessive, just in the reverse. I am not a part of any entertainment industry (in a real capacity anyway) so from what I’ve always heard scripts were hard to get hold of and guarded pretty heavily, hence the doubtfulness there.
I didn’t know about the existence of “sceptics” until last year. I follow one blog, which monitors the sceptics and post screencaps daily. Plus one doing the same thing for “Larries.” I very rarely visit the sceptic blogs themselves. I look at Tumblr on my phone on the train, it takes less than 5 mins a day to catch up with everything.
I have a personal reason/bias for doing it and I freely admit that. I don’t pretend otherwise and I’m not pretending it’s not at least a bit obsessive.
Film and TV scripts are kept very secret, watermarked, etc. I don’t know why but that tends not to be the case in theatre. I guess because it’s such a collaborative and creative medium, and I’ve never shared a script or content from a script (nor would I).
Funnily enough I did email one of the sceptic blogs giving my real RSC email, saying the missed rehearsal thing was not accurate. They completely ignored it.
Fresh pitcher of Comet Sophies. Let’s raise a toast – “f the politicians!”
Spider, does your best friend’s famous husband have the same initials? Because if so I know who you are and imo his small fanbase have mostly been really nice to her?
i thought it was odd to have multiple rehearsals for like the one line he had, because he definitely did attend a rehearsal for the rsc, there were pics
Thank you, lilac. I’m parched.
@Meg D: This is where the internet really does need better policing. There’s no reason for a private, uninvolved citizen to have to put up with that. I hope they get Tumblr off it’s arse and their pictures taken down. How did skeptics get their names anyway? And now I’m curious, who is this friend of Spidey’s? Any hints?
I HAVE CAKE!
I must have missed several episodes of the Benny soap opera, because I do not understand this conversation.
@Sixer: The same day of the Prez Obama’s townhall thing there was a rehearsal for the televised Royal Shakespearean Company’s celebration of Shakespeare’s 400th birthday. I looked as though BC ditched the rehearsal to go to the townhall where he was yes, photographed. There was also an embargo on the pictures of him at the TH event until after the RSC’s event, which got tumblr buzzing with conspiracy theories. On it’s surface it did look pretty bad, considering that all the other participants made it except BC and he wasn’t working instead. But if it was scheduled that way, that’s that. I was trying to read legit news about BO’s speech (I thought it was embarrassing) and I got search results for BC instead. I also am kinda side-eyeing because of his “ef politicians” thing.
Hurrah! Sixer has cake! I need some French fries (chips), really crisp with hints of sea salt and rosemary. I always need fries when I drink a lot and this thread is making me very thirsty. Another round of Comet Sophies! F the politicians!
Invader – OHHHHHHH. The to be or not to be sketch? That all worked out for the show though, didn’t it? I thought it was cute.
Lilac – also, chilli-flavoured chocolate, if you’re interested. I am roundly mocked by Mr Sixer for paying three quid for a bar of hipster chocolate, so I could do with someone to share it with!
@Invader Tak I’m guessing either Colin Firth’s wife or James McAvoy. We all know Hiddleston and Fassbender aren’t married (yet), so trying to figure out married British theater/movie actors.
Since I never go to Tumblr, I get all my Cumberbatch gossip here, his fans really know what he does like 24/7 (scary).
Pass that chilli-flavoured chocolate this way! I need all the goodies I can get with all the WA threads and the craziness on this one.
I don’t do Tumblr either but the townhall one got in the legit Brit press that he was there and I was just following links. What really got my attention about it was the embargo on the pictures. I didn’t know you could do that (I don’t think in the USA you can). I got the rest from comments under the stories.. There was some comments on the RSC coverage about it as well. I don’t even want to know how far Tumblr took it. Whenever he’s mentioned in the legit press there are also sarcastic comments about how many refugees he’s taken in (not just the DM). His internet image is not doing so well anymore; there’s no escaping the snark and I don’t think it’s the overly obsessed fans doing it all. It seems like casual followers aren’t too thrilled with him now either. The whole fan response thing is like a car crash; I just can’t look away sometimes.
If Spider is who I think she is then it’s not someone famous outside of Britain and British TV and theatre, and not an household name even in Britain. If I’m right, which I think I am.
Sixer, here in the Southwest, we have “Mexican Mochas” which are made with cayenne pepper — hot chocolates are spiced up that way too. So good! It’s the only way I like drinkable chocolate now.
Nuts – YESSSS! I love spicy hot chocolate too. This side of the Pond it’s all seen as a bit hipsterish, which I usually avoid. But y’know. CHOCOLATE. It matters.
BTW – TV for you: Cunk on Shakespeare (iPlayer, spoof documentary, very funny); Grayson Perry: All Man (Channel 4 catch up, lovely Grayson investigating masculinity and making art).
@Nutballs, we have similar beverages here in the Northeast too. Taza, which is from Somerville, whips up spicy hot chocolate and spicy iced hot chocolate at its shops. Yummy!
Sixer, I watched a bit of comedy last night — the first two episodes of Flowers and Chewing Gum. Michaela Coel was great and I like seeing Coleman in a that type of role. Saw the blurb for Cunk and thought it looked interesting and have seen the adverts for the Perry show coming up. Will make note.
Marcella and Spiral continue to be my current favorites though. Glad I stuck with the latter (S. 3 currently) as I’m totally engaged with Berthaud, Roban & Gilou’s storylines.
I still haven’t watched HC yet. I hope to tonight. How does it compare to the last series?
Lilac, my favorite coffee in Cambridge/Somerville was the Vietnamese Coffee I got at 1369 Coffee House in Central Sq, which inspired me to try Vietnamese food at Pho Pasteur in Harvard Sq and became a favorite spot over the years. Pho had the added benefit of being a street away from Finale. 🙂
What the hell just happened? This went from Cumberbatch not being at a rehearsal to someone being BFF with a non-famous person to talking about Mexican Hot Chocolate (which is the best) vs hipster chocolate.
Sorry, MAF! Lilac and I share cake on most posts we find ourselves on together. Nuts and I share TV recommendations likewise. We are naughty but the cake and TV are good.
(Nuts – if you have any clue as to what’s going on in Marcella, you’re doing better than me. I am loving it but am always useless with multiple plot strands!)
Back to topic: don’t care about Bendy’s rehearse or not to rehearse shenanigans. The sketch came out ok so all was well. Don’t understand the rest of it, which seems to be a fan rabbit hole – but all fans should feel free to carry on with it and ignore the TV, cake and chocolate interlude!
@Nuts, and Finale is Heaven.
@MAF, Several of us have a habit of going off on tangents about yummy food and beverages and how to make a proper pot of tea and what to watch, sidestepping all the to and fro about Tumblr identities
@Sixer, I will be waiting until PBS gets around to broadcasting this version of The Hollow Crown sometime next fall. These Henrys aren’t on my list of favorite plays and RIII’s trailers look like Bendy is trying to chew all the scenery. I also somehow remember or hallucinated Mendes claiming the first version was a one-off to go with the Cultural Olympiad. This second version just strikes me as “Oh, we missed a few people. Let’s make another one and give them jobs so they won’t be annoyed with us for leaving them out.” Now, I must go impress upon the powers that be that they must hire Eamon Walker for a recurring role in the Black Panther series because he simply must be there.
M.A.F. – we can’t help it! I mean cake (which sadly I can’t have) and Euro TV (which I indulge in)! I have no opinion on BennyAnnE’s rehearsal no-show.
Sixer – I have to read the Guardian’s recaps of Marcella. I echo what they wrote last week, “It’s chaotic, convoluted and increasingly hard to follow, but I do have a sneaking admiration for the show for chucking everything at the wall and seeing what sticks.” It too a pretty dark turn this week and I’m still thinking about it.
ETA: Mexican chocolate/mocha isn’t hipster here since you’re only asking for ONE change.
THIS is hipster coffee:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR7StSaaDKM
I’d like to put in a plug for the Aztec Mocha at Flying Goat Coffee in Santa Rosa and Healdsburg. Holy cr@pola, is that stuff good.
Can’t even follow the rest of this thread, but I have potato chips and french onion dip to trade someone for an explanation….or meh, maybe I’ll just eat it myself and not bother about getting too involved in Otterolitics, or Otterotica, or whatever.
This guy just grates on my nerves. He’s becoming insufferable.
He really is.
He wasn’t always this way but from 2014 onwards he has sadly become this way.
Which unsurprisingly coincides with his getting a girlfriend. Funny how that works. LOL
Foot, meet mouth!
Never change, Benedict.
Benny – you went from Otter hot to annoying snob in seconds. Oh, and it’s President Obama, thank you very much.
And if he said either “Obama” or “the President” it would have been okay. Sigh.
Um, no. It’s President Obama. Sigh.
PunkyMomma – like I said above, as a Brit you really wouldn’t say “President Obama” because every single one of your Brit listeners would see you as coming off as an arse-licking wankpot. What sounds proper to a US audience isn’t the same thing as what sounds proper to a Brit audience.
As WATP says, either “Obama” or “the President” would have been a) non-irritating to Brits and b) inoffensive to Americans. He got caught between the two, something he seems to do very often. He is not an adept communicator and I do think it’s down to his very narrow, very posh Brit, experience. He’s tone deaf to to so much that the rest of us just take for granted.
I’m American, and we can say Obama in regular-folks conversation. President Obama for the press, formal remarks, and others in government.
It’s interesting, the difference. Here, even the press – or regular folks in formal situations – would not say Prime Minister Cameron. Or MP Smith for a legislator. It would be “David Cameron” or “the Prime Minister” or “Mr Smith, MP for Sixertown”. No honorifics ever used for politicians. I wonder if it’s anything to do with the fact that we retain anachronistic aristocratic titles?
He’s not president Obama to him. He’s not his president. Never mind the fact that if an American actor referred to the British prime minister as “Dave”, we’d have commenters foaming at the mouth about how disrespectful, ignorant and arrogant said actor was.
But he’s still President Obama, that’s his job title. I’m American but I could say Prime Minister Cameron (or Cameron, or “that posh boy who diddled with a dead pig.”).
Does anyone want to wager that most American actors don’t even know the British Prime Minister’s first name, let alone would have occasion to use it in a press interview? I’m also offering favorable odds on if they are asked, someone in the polling sample would answer “Margaret Thatcher” or “Tony Blair”.
Wrong. He’s President Obama no matter what your nationality. His title doesn’t disappear because you’re not an American.
I don’t think his career happened independent of his looks. He does have a very specific lizardy or whatever look and the roles pretty much fit it.
He probably means he is not a hunk or a traditional pretty face, but still, in spite of his talent he was still cast exclusively in roles that fit the posh, smart look he has.
If he had been cast in Magic Mike, them the conversation would have been different.
At least he didn’t refer to Obama as a ‘colored’ man. Wasn’t that his gaffe on a talk show here in the US last year?
He says that and yet it seems that they had chairs pulled in so they could sit RIGHT where the camera was. Also in the video, he completely ignores her.
Um they’re cuddling and holding hands and whispering together in the video.
Would love to see that video because the one on tumblr shows him talking to everyone around him except her.
Ok, maybe you aren’t meaning to, but you are coming off as severely unhinged, spider.
Does your husband pay attention to you 100000% of the time you’re out with other people around?? I’m married 4 years and my husband and I aren’t attached at the hip or making constant eye contact when we’re among other people.
Sorry but Felice is coming across as massively unhinged. Spider as very overinvested. Felice is the one making up lies and is obviously obsessed with Sophie Hunter and her marriage.
Tad hurtful but whatever. I am being more on the snarky side this morning but I’ll tone it down if it’s really bothering you.
Errr…wow. Felice is coming off mildly snarky, but obsessive and SPREADING LIES? Good lord have mercy. You and spider should get a tumblr, err, I mean room together.
I agree with the no Barack sentiment, but I think he recognizes that they will be photographed incessantly and he’s just saying that Sophie’s prettier than he is in a self deprecating way, not equating her with arm candy.
I do agree with the self deprecating thing, but he *was* whinging about being photographed, he does that a lot even though he’s not actually, very often and he really shouldn’t when attending events like this and non-work things, by choice.
You’re on fire today 😽
I think the heat is getting to me, I’m Irish I’m not built for this even when not nearly 8 months pregnant! haha!
I have no issue with the guy complaining about being papped or photographed out with his family or whatever, it must be annoying, I would hate it and he has a right to his privacy but when at events like this that are in no way shape or form related to his acting work or promotion, I just can’t with anyone complaining about being photographed, yes he tried to make a joke about Sophie drawing attention but he’s still definitely complaining about it.
(I wonder did he shout F*ck the politicians at “Barack” or does he only direct that at British MPs? Do America not have to do anything about the refugee crisis?)
Congratulations 🎉(I didn’t know we could use emojis)
Why thank you x
Lindy, you just made me laugh out loud. I’m going to find at least one opportunity today to shout, “F*ck the politicians. Take that from a know-nothing Britisher, Barack!” today, even if it is only to an audience of Mr Sixer and the Sixlets.
Oh my gosh, people, he’s just saying his wife is pretty and of course photogs should prefer her to him as a photo subject.
I love Cumberbatch but wow that was very disrespectful to refer to the US president by his first name. There’s no way he’d ever refer to the queen in such a personal manner
Really? I thought he and Beth were tight!
Does he call her Liz or Betty?
Now, now, he calls the Queen “baby doll.” It is known.
😀👶🏻
Or Aul Doll if he’s feeling a bit saucy
Everyone knows he and Brenda are good chums, and in private he calls her Betty.
Cumberbatch seems a little spectrum-ish to me. We often say things badly or don’t know why something we have said is offensive.
Well, that is one outcome of Trump’s stated policies; among other things he’s called for curtailing press freedoms. A free press (at its finest, which it isn’t these days) represents the people. And if Trump goes into a rage and condones violence when people disagree with him while running in an open contest, what’ll he do when handed executive power? Fascist in this sense is shorthand for “authoritarian.”
Felice is obviously Gator or Annashipper, under a new name. I remember there used to be a regular longterm CB poster who was obviously part of the Tumblr sceptic insiders because she told us details about private photos posted to the locked IGs of some of Sophie’s friends, something only a small group of the most hardcore sceptics (who stalked everyone Sophie knew and hacked their social media) had access to.
That poster vanished once people started to point out how insanely stalkerish that was, and then “Felice” appeared, with her hatred for Sophie Hunter, detailed knowledge of their relationship, and insistence on selling the same debunked lies sceptics have been pushing for years.
No no. You can look through the archives. I’ve been here since 2013 and I comment on other articles. Just added a pic to my name 😊
And if you read above, I stated I disliked being sold a woman who had to be built up to seem “equal” to B. I have no issues with her work. I just don’t get why they had to try to make her more than she is to the public.
Then why the obsessive agenda to prove that her husband doesn’t love her, never pays attention to her, never touches her despite plenty of photographic evidence to the contrary, never supports any of her work despite photographic evidence to the contrary?
You’re obviously obsessed with proving that Ben does not love his wife, which really has nothing to do with the claims you’ve made to defend your behaviour, and it’s very hard to lay at anything other than old fashioned fan jealousy.
Omg. She’s barely said anything. Why are you so defensive? Sophie?
Where did I say he didn’t love her? What lies? I saw on video he wasn’t paying much attention to her and there isn’t much to show that he supports her work so I’m just commenting on observations. I don’t know them so I can’t say anything is certain. He may very well have been at her shows. A 30 second video may not show everything. I was just making observations. You don’t have to insult me.
would that make you one of the crazy nannies from IMDb then? And the nanny lies are here too, like the dating secretly for a year thing. LOL.
Looking at the photograph on the magazine cover, is there a scene in Richard III when the character eats dirt? Because I can’t think of any other explanation for that particular application of dirt makeup
Maybe he ate a mudpie?
That’s my guess
Dried blood and a bad camera filter?
Richard III, Vampire King?
That might be more interesting than what we’re going to get lol
Perhaps he fell face first off the horse (as in “my kingdom for”) into a puddle of muck.
So help me, if he screws up Richard III I will go from ambivalence to downright hostility toward the Lizard King.
I think he plays RIII like a hobbling pirate or something.
I think he plays RIII like an emotional repressed, posh boy who reaches his breaking point and has a temper tantrum.
Ugh – I’m trying to summon up some enthusiasm here, and you two are not helping!
Part I got great reviews, the rest appears to be embargoed atm, but both the Radio Times and Telegraph did general reviews after a press screening and Cumberbatch actually got a lot of praise in those. RT is questionable sometimes imo but the Telegraph is legit.
@AnjnaA, praise him they may well have done. He excels at playing emotionally repressed posh boys who reach their breaking points and have a temper tantrum.
Gee, I thought this guy obsessives moved on to some other bland Brit or got some therapy, but I guess they had just gone underground. Like termites. Not sure if the simile is appropriate, because I don’t know much about termites.
yeah, it’s just weird. This much devotion to the love life of some random lizard-looking stranger just because he does movies and gets his picture taken, is not healthy. And this ‘sceptic’ nonsense is even worse. So what if he does or doesn’t love her, that’s their business.
“thank God Sophie was there, so that kind of drew the eye of the photographs, as it always should…” I get that he’s trying to be self-deprecating, but he makes Sophie sound like she’s there to be the eye-candy.
….
Well, I think he just wanted to express that he thinks his wife is sooooo beautiful that whatever she does or wears she will draw the eyes of the photographers.
Just didn’t translate into print.
Partly it doesn’t “translate” well because he used the wrong noun. Photographs don’t have eyes… not to see with, anyway. PhotographERs do.
Okay, now that the pedantry quota for the thread has been filled, I’m ready for mimosas and lemon pound cake. Anyone else in?
We have cake, chili-chocolate, rosemary French fries, and pitchers of Comet Sophies. Help yourself. And I agree with your point of his misuse of the word. But Vampire kings from the lizard planet do that frequently
It always makes me laugh to think Benedict fans are burnt about Mrs Cumberbatch. They aren’t the Chyna and Rob K lol. You don’t see them at a club or her constantly looking for attention. Very boggling that she gets hate. I don’t know much about her but I think that’s the point unless you’re a opera fan. Compare Robert Pattinson, his fans act like he needed his misses to be a “cumberbatch wife type” – conservative, quiet, demure, not much of a talker. Or Eddie Redmayne’s very smart and intelligent wife – who we don’t hear from ever.
These very strong independent in their own right – wives that get hate for doing what – nothing but existing kills me. lol
FKA Twigs is a performer but she’s suppose to bow to Rob according to twihards. Theres a ridiculous woman named Joni (twihard) if you see her tweets she’s upset Rob will hold the door for twigs or carry her luggage. This is the kind of ridiculous comments come from these fans. Same regards to Sophie. As for Benedict… I think he was trying to throw Sophie a compliment but it just didn’t land and honestly, Sophie also doesn’t look like she’s begging for limelight so the statement is also off-putting.
Anyone consider he might be related to Obama? Close cousins? He’s related to his wife so who knows. He related to the queen and Obama is related to the queen. We’re all related. So he was all “Yo Cuz’ ‘wuz up!”
LMAO comment winner of the thread!
3rd cousins, 18 times removed.
HAHAHAHAHHA
Browser did something weird. sorry
Aren’t we all descended from Genghis Khan or something?!
Or Adam and Eve or Confucius or someone. Maybe Batman.
Rodney, you plonker!
We are all descendants of Noah.
Brownie points for Rodney!
I have no idea why people are talking about the possibility of BC being a fraction black. If he’s distantly related to Obama, it would be through OBAMA’S WHITE MOTHER, wouldn’t it? Not Obama’s Kenyan father.
That would be far too logical for these people<—found on Sogo. Seriously. I guess Jokes need not apply, eh Tumblr? (It's Saturday and I am really bored, don't judge. )
He seems to pontificate in the abstract on current affairs, similar to George Clooney. Meh.
I’m just commenting because I can get a free historical map from this magazine! Who even cares what Benny and his female doppelganger are on about?
I would be willing to bet that Obama told him to call him Barack during the meet and greet. That’s the way Michelle Obama referred to him in all of my e-mails. BTW-Rory Kinnear was MIA during rehearsals. Think the whole controversy thing is BS.
The form of address when talking TO someone is not the same as when talking ABOUT someone who holds a title such as Queen, President, or Prime Minister when you aren’t the person’s spouse or close friend. Cumberbatch’s use of “Barack” in the context used was overly familiar at best. Ted Kennedy never referred to him as “Barack” when speaking with the press and they were very close friends. Biden doesn’t do it either.
Barack? How rude.
He’s not very attractive at all, yet he’s pretty full of himself, isn’t he.
The only thing interesting about them as a couple is the Tumblr stuff that keeps casting them as being part of some monstrous personal conspiracy. He seems childish and defensive, and prone to brain farting, and her clothes are awful. I can’t think why anyone pays attention to them beyond that.
I’ve always had a partiality for the last Plantagenet King of England – he wasn’t hideously deformed, he was a decent military leader who fought bravely, established the College of Arms, and there is no proof whatsoever that he did away with his elder brother’s two little boys. He was much respected in the north of England when it came under his control, and he endowed both Kings and Queens Colleges at Cambridge University. I wish Cumbers had brought this up.
I think the Bard has given Richard III a bum rap to please the Tudors who I think were on the throne already.
In fact, I think I rather prefer Richard to Cumberbatch . . .
That makes two of us.
@seesittellsit “He seems childish and defensive, and prone to brain farting, and her clothes are awful.” is a beautiful line, and all that needs to be said about any of this (there is ONE other thing I might add, but I don’t want pillows thrown at me).
Which isn’t to say I wasn’t wishing for popcorn the entire thread (and I read it all).
I think you might like The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey, if you’re as sceptical as me of the idea that Richard III killed His nephews.
I love that story! I was a Ricardian as a child just because of it.
Not Ricardian now, though. I like Alison Weir’s laying out of the it woz Richard wot dunnit case.
I’ll have Richard any day over Bendy!!
Yes, RIII has no reason to kill those boys (they had already been declared illegitimate by the Duke of Gloucester). If anything it was Margaret Beaufort, who was most def ruthless enough to do it and the most to gain, her son’s claim was very tenuous. The War of the Roses is one of my favourite periods in English history – even Hollywood couldn’t have made it up. LOL
Sophie looks so much like a really lovely friend of mine, so I like her by that association. I think she’s very pretty.
BC probably just isn’t as clever as he thinks he is. Neither am I, but at least my social gaffes aren’t recorded and splayed across the interwebs.
He really is rather up his own arse – he’s a tad unbearable with the CBE and now being related to Richard III (and this is not the first time he’s said he’s related to a character he played – Turing anyone). He tries so so hard to come across as some sort of highly intelligent actor which he isn’t, he’s not the most articulate verbal communicator. I’m not either but i own it.
to be fair researchers in both cases released the relation info to the press in because they always do that with celeb connections to gain more press for their projects. then it’s only natural interviewers ask about it tbhq, he’s not the person bringing it up i don’t think
He totally is though. He even used that hook so that he could read at King Richard’s burial. He could just laugh it off, instead of saying stuff like “I may be his cousin 16 times removed, but this puts me ahead of most people”. He should take some pointers from his friend Tom Hiddleston, who IS articulate (as opposed to a brain-farter). But then again Hiddleston is fast replacing him in the estimation of many fans. And yes, Cumberbatch is not half as clever as he thinks he is.
yeah i don’t think he beat his way into that event, hermia. actor robert lindsay (he played RIII to great acclaim in the 80s) was there too; i have zero doubts they were asked to be there and i certainly would have gone to such a historic event.
yeah he could laugh it off, i agree, but it’s also nice hook for now. as i said, there’s no way the press isn’t the one bringing it up in interviews, it’s a ‘perfect’ question
i don’t know why i should care about tom hiddleston here lol. i mean he seems nice and i’m glad he’s got a great career but i’m not sure internet fandoms are like the lifeblood of any actor over the age of 22. if anything, i hope the guy gets to a broader audience (don’t mind me, i think fandoms are often just niche pools of over self-importance and entitlement and not relevant to success)
never thought bc was a rocket scientist tbh
For someone who has a lot to say, he does waffle on.
He’s not American and therefore not obliged to refer to Barack Obama as Mr President – don;t see anything wrong with Barack. I think you need to get over it.