Before a chorus of “K, keep it in your pants about this Cumberbloke” rants from the anti-Cumber people, I would just like to point out that some Cumberbitch sent me this interview. Like, the Cumberpeople actively WANT more stories about our Batch. And so I oblige. Happily. Cumby sat down with The Telegraph for a nice, somewhat intensive interview at TIFF. You can read the whole thing here. There are lots of little gems and asides in here, like the fact that Cumby had an on-call hair person (a dude) on hand in Toronto to maintain his sleek otter look. Here are some highlights:

Walking the carpet for The Fifth Estate: “The red carpet was incredible. It was a very long press line after I’d had no sleep and was feeling jet-lagged so it was quite extreme. But I’m thrilled and it’s an embarrassment of riches. I’ve never been here before as a punter let alone to be participating in three films, so I’m very thrilled.”

On Julian Assange: “He reached out to me and said he didn’t want me to do it and couldn’t condone it because he said the book and source materials we’ve based the movie on were poisonous and hazardous to his situation. I wrote back trying to justify why I thought it was important to bring this version of events to the world and how it wasn’t as negative as he feared it would be.”

Soul-searching: “At first I panicked about how on earth I was going to do this because there was so much to take on – vocally, physically and just confronting the full import of the story. I did a lot of soul-searching. Reading the source material books was exciting but because Julian despised the people who wrote them I went to other material, including interviews he had given. It was important to me to try and humanise him and paint as three dimensional a portrait as possible. I didn’t want to portray him either as a villain or a hero. He is incredibly well informed and has great integrity. Whatever you think of him, for him to devote his life to a cause he believes in is pretty phenomenal.”

His suit is too big: “The suit’s a bit long in the arms and legs,” he says half-apologetically. “I feel like I’m wearing a train.”

The attention he gets from Cumberbitches: “It’s interesting and it’s something I’m processing,” he says of the attention. “It’s new to me and I’m sure I’ll get used to it and find a way of dealing with it. I’m not uncomfortable with the way I look and I find it kind of amusing. I’m very flattered by it but it’s, you know… amusing. But I was a little disturbed when I heard about the Cumberbitches because I think they set feminism back a few years.”

His private life: Unattached after splitting with girlfriend Anna Jones following a 12-year relationship with Olivia Poulet, he likes to keep his private life closed to outsiders and avoids talking about girlfriends. “I draw the line about answering questions like that,” he says with a polite smile. “I’m not a commitment-phobe and I was in a relationship for 12 years. But am I in a relationship now? Not right at the moment.”

His parents: “They worked incredibly hard and I was very spoilt,” he says matter-of-factly. “I had a good education and they sent me to Harrow, although they weren’t particularly moneyed. Mum did a lot of commercial theatre and farces in the Eighties and Nineties to make sure the school bills were paid.”

Signing on for The Lost City of Z: “It’s a brilliant script and Percy Fawcett was an incredible man – a pioneer and adventurer. The idea of portraying him excites and intrigues me.”

The Star Wars rumors: “Of course I’d love to do Star Wars and work with JJ Abrams again because we had such a good time on Star Trek. But nobody has been cast and there are no offers out to anyone apart from the regulars who are returning. So that’s that rumour quashed.” Then he adds with a grin: “We’ll have to wait and see.”

The trappings of celebrity: “My family, my close friends and people I have known for a long time keep me grounded. They see me as I was then as well as what’s happening to me now. Because they knew me before all this -” he gestures around him – “they can see the insanity of it all. And I try to keep it balanced.”

[From The Telegraph]

“I’m not a commitment-phobe and I was in a relationship for 12 years. But am I in a relationship now? Not right at the moment.” What about Katia, eh? What about those other ladies… I forget. Did we even know their names? Well, I guess he didn’t make any of them his girlfriend, but I doubt he’s been living like a monk for the past year or so. I would like to see him in at least one high-profile coupling, just because I think that would be fun/funny. I would love to see the Cumberbitches have a Cumber Collective-meltdown if he started up with someone like… God, I don’t know? Who would offend the Cumberbitches? I would be offended if he started dating some dumb starlet/model type. Like, I would freak out if he started up with Cara Delevingne. Cumbermeltdown.

Photos courtesy of WENN.