As of Saturday night, Benedict Cumberbatch was still in LA, doing some appearances on behalf of The Imitation Game. I’m assuming Harvey Weinstein is just flat-out telling Bendy where to go, who to meet and how to campaign. Bendy is this year’s Jennifer Lawrence! I’m including photos of Benedict outside of the Chateau Marmont on Saturday night, plus some photos of Benedict with Keira Knightley at the Governors Awards on the same night. According to THR, Benedict and Keira had to attend a post-screening Q&A session after the Governors Awards, so Harvey Weinstein gave them a lift.
What else is there to say about Benedict and She Who Shall Not Be Ottered? I’m kind of out of stuff to say about her. I was done after I watched her music video for “Epitaph”. I have expected James Franco and Seth Rogen to pop up at some point and do some kind of meta-spoof within a spoof. But no, it was for real. And I’m judging The Otter Fiancée.
Meanwhile, Benedict did some interviews at some point and some quotes are making the rounds. You can go here to see a short video clip here of an interview he did with the BBC (his home away from home). Benedict talks about how famous he is and how he deals with that fame by trying to “normalise things as much as you can.” He also confesses to sketching and drawing to comfort his ragged otter-nerves when his fame becomes too crushing. The BBC guy suggested that Benedict might paint in his spare time, but Benny says no, he just sketches. Do you think Sophie Hunter ever says “Draw me like one of your French girls”??? Benedict also talked about tea (?) recently (??).
THERE may be trouble brewing for Benedict Cumberbatch’s new fiancée after the star admitted he is horribly fussy about his tea.
“Never ever, ever push a tea bag with a spoon. You’re out the front door if you do that,” revealed the actor when asked about his favourite beverage.
Thankfully, theatre director Sophie Hunter, 36, can always turn to her future father-in-law for tips. In a Twitter interview the 38-year-old star added: “My dad makes the best tea.
“It’s two parts Earl Grey, one part Lapsang Souchong, which is a richer tea that balances out the lighter notes of the Earl Grey.”
The Harrow-educated actor did admit: “Every once in a while I like a milky builder’s tea with a couple of sugars. It’s disgusting but on a cold night there’s nothing quite like it.”
Lord, British people are sure obsessed with their tea. They like to have long, drawn-out conversations about tea. They like to have nerdy little flame-wars about the best tea or how to best prepare tea or what tea-preparation rules should be. It’s not that serious, y’all. *sips Diet Lipton citrus green tea with extra ice*
Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News and Getty.
I run up and down stairs to relieve the stress of the Cumberbatch onslaught.
Also, this is not all on Harvey Weinstein. If BC didn’t want to campaign and be constantly in everyone’s face, he wouldn’t be.
Lilac! How could you question Crumplesack Cankersore’s motives?!? Why I otter…
http://33.media.tumblr.com/38bc17cc7c17d43da34dcc3e6780452b/tumblr_mzpxa7nSm11ql5yr7o1_500.gif
I know, how dare I, right? I’m just here to help and be sure all the ladies get what they need but he has been stretching our resources. The kitchen staff is ready to go on strike. Colin is worn to a frazzle. The liquor store is nearly barren. And Mark Strong has been out doing target practice in the back yard. We’re stressed, BC needs to stop the constant barrage. The humanity!
Well, I’m starting to even out. I think I’ll just have a spot of tea this morning, and then let Colin rest his weary head on my lap while I run my fingers through his hair and whisper affirmations on a job well done. He deserves a break.
I write songs while heavily sedated and then I chop the heads off of fish and toss them and a bucket of bait about the room, while awkwardly dancing naked in a Gaga wig. It’s so peaceful and calming.
@kiddo, fish heads, fish heads, roly-poly fish heads.
ha! I posted the video to that song yesterday. This guy I knew used to sing it and I didn’t believe that it was actually a ‘thing’ until I searched it. It’s so catchy and bizarre, I just love it.
LIlac, you win for that reference.
And damn you, that’s stuck in my head now!!!
*shakes fist*
@kiddo, my sister and I sang it in the back of the church before walking up the aisle for her wedding. It’s one of her all-time favorites.
OMG, Lilacflowers, that’s fantastic. I hate weddings, but your sister’s actually sounded fun. Did she have white ceramic fish-heads as a centerpiece?
I bake lots of tiny otter-shaped oat biscuits and then eat them non-stop with tea to which I add lots of sugar and milk to relieve the stress of the Cumberbatch onslaught.
We all have to do what we can.
@Lilac, IKR? By the way, re: it’s his choice to campaign and not Weinstein’s. I do not really hold it against him if he simply misjudged his own ability to go out of his way to campaign. Things happen. Maybe he thought he’d be fine, but as it progressed, he realised he really can’t do it the way Weinstein insists on? If after this current campaign is over he says “Sod ya’ll!!” and refuses to campaign ever again – fine by me. However, I do think that it’d be more professional of him to reign in whatever grievances he has right now and try and be graceful and good-spirited until THIS campaign is over.
I have started an Otter quilt with -otter in the lamplight ,otter on a podium,otter boarding the plane , Otter holding up signs , otter fighting the infidels ,otter covering his face coquettishly, otter with his not so secret girlfriend, otter polishing the engagement ring, otter drawing ,otter sniffing Oscar statuettes, otter calling of his engagement and finally otter declaring his undying love for Tiger Tom. I shall them present it to them as a wedding present.
If that fails I shall call Stephen ,Harry and Bill Nighy to go otter hunting.More nuisance than beavers is what I say
@icerose, the quilt sounds like an artistic triumph, particularly the otter and infidels patch, but the idea of the zygoma polishing seemed to sicken Thomas. Doubtful he would consent to a wedding and there will be no taking of Tiger Tom by force. I will not share my husband with that otter! Not even in a needlework image. The mere thought drives me to making sticky toffee pudding for our boy.
@Lilacflowers I was Iust trying to break it to you gently that these show biz marriages just do not last .I personally think he would be a fool to leave you but otters can be very persuasive and tiggers are not known for their ability to stay still. Add in that recent knowledge has come to light that suggests Sophie’s family has a black sheep and Benny may feel he needs our tigger and his joie de vivre to se him through into his old age,
Drawing as stress buster does have its limits/.
@icerose, what the otter thinks he may need and what he is going to get are very different and otters can’t persuade tiggers if they cannot find them and have been blocked from their iphones.
Colin has had tea, coffee, juice, and hot chocolate, oatmeal, fruit, and yogurt placed on the sideboard. No alcohol. It’s Monday and many of us must return to work, no matter what the Cumberotter does. Colin will take you up on that offer of a scalp massage, Sigh((s)). He is taking the rest of the day off. Mark is having a bit of a temper tantrum so it is best to leave him alone. Tommy is filming again, all restored and refreshed with extra security to protect him from those who “still have Tommy” even though they made it clear they hated him in the past. Sean is out of the boot and prepared to provide driving services in Mark’s stead, but careful, he does tend to die frequently
Oh, our tea is loose-leafed, steeped to perfection. Colin doesn’t mess around.
Tommy needs to be careful I have heard Benny’s fans have leaving leaving his fan pages.
Haha, Icerose. Somehow I don’t think he’d mind if certain, let’s call them *dedicated* fans went away.
Out of curiosity, where are they going? To Tommy? Has another actor’s popularity suddenly spiked over there on tumblr or wherever?
@Tara Just a bit of Sherlocky deduction,There have been frequent posts circulating saying at least we still have Tom added to comments that some fans have been leaving fan pages and we have an internet trickle that will soon become a torrent
Tommy has already been traumatised but we few, we happy few, we band of brothers have been doing our best to raise his morale and offer him further protection.
@Tara, there was a steady cry of “We still have Tommy” on Twitter and Tumblr over the past week, mostly from people who always derided Tom for not being somebody else in the past but now feel somehow betrayed by that person, simply because he got engaged.
@kiddo, alas! No ceramics in sight. She had enough other things going on that her mother-in-law deemed “irreverent and inappropriate”, although everyone else, including the priest, thought were fine. We also sang the theme from the old Batman TV show at one point, with our own lyrics
He needs to draw more then!!
Never seen him look so unhappy and miserable.
His face looks like he’s ready for a fight or could kill.
Makes you wonder whose idea getting engaged really was.
Something tells me it was her idea and it was a way of forcing his hand in the situation. Poor guy. Maybe he’ll get lucky and have that “Oscar curse” and this whole thing will be called off.
V.L.719, if you plug Sophie’s details into that astro site you linked to the other day, it shows that she and BC are an excellent match. So, what do you think?
@V.L.719
I read your post the other day on the other Cumby thread about him meeting someone else possibly… does your friend actually see this relationship ending?
What’s her asto info? I’ll take a look at it.
@V.L.719
Her b-day is March 16, 1978. I think she’s a Pisces.
Hey V.L.719. I think wiki says she was born March 16, 1978 in London. Of course, I don’t have the time though.
GeeMoney, wouldn’t it be something if Jessica Chastain played Ophelia and they hit it off? She’s with some Italian count or something. But she did retweet one of BC’s photos with the comment, “Lovely!”
I think BC and Sophie will marry and ride off into the sunset though. We won’t see him much after 2016. I guess everything happens for a reason. But I just feel like Olivia deserved this Eureka moment, not this posho Basic.
@Me
I’m thinking a breakup is going to occur. He can’t possibly marry someone who’s making him that unhappy.
Chastain doesn’t date actors, though. I’d really like to see him with someone like Lupita. She at least put a smile on his face. I remember the pic of them dancing together after the Oscars. Really cute.
I hope he meets someone new. I really do.
I suppose I’m happy of those Hamlet tix after all – may be my last chance to see him
Blegh. She’s giving us Pisceans a snooty name. Though I have to say, Cancer and Pisces are generally a great match.
I hope he does too, GeeMoney. A WOC would be cool, but just anyone cool, really. Lupita is my girl crush.
@Me and @GeeMoney
That’s what my friend’s think. Not so much that this was a PR stunt relationship as it is probably general romantic entrapment by little Ms. NotQuiteRight. They’re convinced that he could be truly attracted to women like Lupita, but he got railroaded into this relationship for one reason or another. My other friend who did his chart checked out his Libra and Aries forecasts (his ascending and moon sign respectively) and not much is going to come of this crazy situation. Especially with how Ben’s transits are looking for the next few weeks. But yeah, everyone is more or less confirming the astrology play-by-play in these comment threads with how they see and read his side of things. And what my friend found out about SH’s Venus sign is also worth an eyebrow raise.
Ben is destined for that “great love affair”, but he should have had more faith and waited for that exotic type of woman who would have him smiling for days on end. If someone like Lupita can have that effect on him on a friend/acquaintance/co-star level, it makes you wonder…
Keira Knightley looks beautiful.
My husband’s best friend was in Harrow at the same time as Benedict Cumberbatch (saw a few school pictures of them together). Apparently he has always been a likeable and popular guy. Sounds like he isn’t letting fame go to his head.
Yes, Brits and their tea! Hee hee.
He looks cute in the Chateau pics even though he’s a little “ugh you again”
Drawing & tea bagging? Meh… His PR game is too soft.
He should have gotten engaged to Karon, his publicist. In interviews he could hint that there’s a secret “Karon” tattoo (in Edwardian letters) on his inner thigh, but he won’t show it cause they’re so diskreet & klassy couple.
After that, all mature ladies with cougar fantasies would flood the movie theaters to see TIG. Also, they would force their Oscar voting hubbies (aren’t they mostly older men?) to choose Cumberbatch & TIG. Now that, imo, would have been a true PR game changer…
Hey, I’m a mature lady with (sometimes) cougar fantasies and I’ll go to see TIG anyway. No need to tempt me with a secret tattoo, especially if it says “Karon”. However, if I could twist the “voting hubbies” collective arm to give him the fucking Oscar already, I would. It’s a looooong way to go with the campaign…
Dang! That first photo…if looks could kill
I think Keira Knightly is pregnant! Who is with me? If she is, that baby is lucky, because I think she will be a great parent.
Milk and sugar for me, please, which apparently is “disgusting” lol. Yes, i am a plebe. It’s probably because I drink cheap tea, so the only way that tastes good is with milk and sugar. A few times I’ve had fancy tea, and I was surprised at how good it was without milk and sugar. But, ugh, too much effort.
Maybe. She does look ever so slightly less angular in the face. She’s absolutely gorgeous here. Love her.
Love that dress. Her fashion game will be fun to watch through awards season.
I thought she’d talked about being child free by choice? That she didn’t want kids?
Oh, really? Oops, I’m a bad fan! Ok, maybe I’m reaching here, but as sigh((s)) says, she looks rounder in the face and arms, and is wearing a dress with no waist definition. The rounder and softer part is what caught my eye, though. She is a person who is naturally skinny, and that body type doesn’t usually just put on weight for no reason.
I thought I saw baby bump myself in those pics with him in that horrible wine colored jacket thingy. No confirmation so who knows?
I might be mixing her up with another actress, ngl. But I thought she’d talked about it. Being less angular might be down to styling right now (at least in the body). I’d say her face looks rounder due to make up contouring but it really does look like she’s filled out a bit. still looks lovely though.
@MissMary, sometimes pregnancies just happen despite efforts to prevent them and some women will take measures to prevent a pregnancy but not to end one. I got that she was really happy with her life as it is and was in no hurry to change it but hadn’t ruled out anything for the future
I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, but I do take sugar with my tea.
#SorryNotSorry
*loudly slups mug of milky Yorkshire tea and stirs with a spoon*
Right? Gotta have milk and sugar. What’s the point if not?
I take a dash of milk no sugar. Mr Lindy’s is very milky with spoon and a half of sugar.
I’m now divorcing him citing “tea” as the reason.
robust assam with milk and sugar. DISGUSTING it is. Had I known this 2 years ago i would have never watched sherlock 😛
sorry, wrong spot for my reply!
She def is preggo.
I was gonna argue about it but I looked at the pics of Keira from the weekend where she had on the blue dress and IDK if it’s the way the dress is cut (it’s much closer fitting than her black dress) or the texture of it or she’s really filled out a bit but she does look a but like she may have a small bump.
Man oh man, Harvey sure has some influence! One of his stars gets engaged, the other gets pregnant. Now, folks, that’s how you campaign for the Oscars. 😀
LOL Tara! The difference is, if Keira IS pregnant, she’s not talking about it and seems to be hiding it as best she can. Actually being *private*. NOT using it to steer PR in her/the movie’s favor. If she’s not pregnant and is just trying something new with her styling, then she’ll either hear the prego rumors soon and change it up, or address ’em and say “no, I just felt like a looser dress this go ’round”.
Oh, but MissMary, she’s not scheduled to talk about it yet. This is how it’s going as per Harvey: Ben’s engagement was slated for November. Keira’s pregnancy will be announced in December. Ben’s wedding will take place in January, and Keira’s grand reveal that it’s triplets will lead us right into the awards in February. That should keep them suitably in the news until then.
(I hope you know I’m just teasing) 😛
Is Britney Spears going to let slip the news about the triplets or are we letting Lady Gaga spill the beans this time?
Tara-I know you are teasing but for those that follow how the Oscars works you are spot on.
About 92% certain (always been one to hedge my bets, lol) that she’s preggers, too. It looked more definitive in photos from Mario Testino’s birthday party at Chiltern Firehouse a few weeks back. She’s glowing! Love her.
show the photos. i’m sure it would have been dissected by the fandom. also, LFF was a few weeks ago and i don’t think that picked up steam. i hope i’m not proven wrong but this is your first post here: i call troll. hi sophie.
@Claire
Um, excuse me? I’m talking about Keira being pregnant, not Sophie Hunter…
& actually no, this isn’t my first post here. So there’s that.
I’m a bit disappointed the Cumby Curls have been tamed. I blame Harvey Weinstein for this.
BC hates the curls so he’s no doubt fully supportive of that move.
I think his hair looks great this way, a little longer than lately.
For Time Magazine, they’re some sort of Royalty – “The Real Reason We’re Devastated about Benedict Cumberbatch’s Engagement” http://time.com/3558561/benedict-cumberbatch-engaged-sophie-hunter-george-clooney/
Talk about glorifying Sophie – “Sophie Hunter: The Real Persona of Elegance and Talent” http://www.poklat.com/sophie-hunter-the-real-persona-of-elegance-and-talent/ (Warning: This one is vomitive)
White-washing in full force. If SH was the image of perfection then why all these articles and fawning? Someone compared her to Kate Middleton – who happened to date a Prince and future Monarch for a whole decade before marrying him and everyone knew who she was and what she did (not do) for a living. SH becomes engaged to an actor and suddenly everyone considers her to be the second coming. It’s too artificial and shallow.
Her PR is behind it. I wonder if she’s paranoid about fans berating her or something.
@Felice – What would his fans do or say about her to truly hurt her, personally and/or professionally? I would expect paranoia from an inexpercienced young woman, not someone her age and in her trade. At this point, SH is a blank page. There’s nothing there.
where does this woman get money to hire PR? And why aren’t they doing Benedict’s PR too because frankly they seem to be doing a better job than Karon
@gg: Probably not a PR firm but her own calling around, or her family’s. Or a PR firm willing to “get in on the ground floor” in case this does last. Or maybe Karon has an assistant who needs practice so they turned her lose on Sophie.
I don’t get the need to big her up? Is this coming from either of their camps or are journos just *that* interested in her because she’s engaged to him?
Who said she has to be anything to be with him? He’s not a future monarch or made of fat free chocolate, he’s an actor ffs.
Honestly, it seems like a lot of the journos are just lazy and taking it from her Wikipedia page, which I believe a BC fan has been editing.
@Lindy79 I completely agree. Hence the comparison to Kate Middleton being so laughable. And don’t even compare her to Amal*, regardless of what anyone might think about her marriage to Clooney.
* And by this I mean the comparison the press has made, not you LOL
@Lindy79 My thoughts exactly. I think this is coming from her camp just like her family went to talk to the tabloids, Hello magazine, etc right after the announcement was published. All this sudden and exaggerated Sophie praise in the media is really weird.
yes, this!
It reads like Mary Sue fan fiction. You know the kind–where it’s written by someone who puts their fantasy version of themselves into the story as a love interest for the dashing hero?
I almost giggled at the part about her acting being a “sparkly diamond.”
But, honestly, I don’t think this is BC’s or her PR. I think there’s three types of story lines here: evil succubus, fairy tale princess or psychoanalytical profile of the Crazy Cumberbish.
Every outlet is just taking their pick.
WOW. Where do they get this stuff. Why continue to compare SH to Amal? Then the lies about SH accomplishments. And the romance – I guess they haven’t really done their homework. I wonder who is really behind this, weinstein. And for what purpose?
If Weinstein has any say in it, even peripherally, maybe it’s to make his leading man look good. Make him look like an upstanding, romantic, old fashioned H’wood leading man type.
Another Time writeup? Geez Louise, Time, your fangirl is showing :p
I was picking up some takeout food yesterday and there was a recent Time on the counter so I flipped through it. I was specifically looking to see if there was BC things, b/c I know how they love him, and got through the whole magazine with there only being one mention (it was an article on Eddie Redmayne, so of course thaey had to bring up BC’s Hawking, and Oscar chances, and his school, etc)
But then on the last page there was a little blurb about his Graham Norton appearance and the Beyoncé walk. Haha, they certainly do love him.
I blame Harvey Weinstein for many things….the curls are the least of it!
Yeah, I’m not sure how many people here understand just how powerful Weinstein is. I would not want to be in a business relationship with him, unless I wanted something so badly that I was willing to do anything to get it.
This ^
It’s easy to dismiss Weinstein and a few others as not that “powerful” b/c most of us aren’t in the “game” trying to make a career of acting/be a movie star. He’s one of the major major power players and is sketch as all Hell.
Maybe….just maybe its not Sophie that is causing the bad mood but his realisation that he’s pretty much sold his soul to the devil and is stuck now having lost a HUGE amount of control over his life and career.
(still…he could manage a smile when he’s congratulated, wouldn’t kill him)
“is sketch as all Hell” Yuuuuup
Isn’t weinstein one of the ones rumored to still use the ‘casting couch’ approach or am I confusing him with someone else?
yeah but the deal with the devil aka Weinstein only lasts for a few more months, until he is done with his obligations for TIG. Surely he can see the light at the end of that tunnel especially is there is an Oscar (or even a nomination) involved?
Yup, it’s going to be a looooong three months for him, but he can do it! 🙂
Does anyone know what project he’s working on after he films the Sherlock special in Jan? I imagine he’s taking February ‘off’ to do awards/LA stuff, but after that? Is LCoZ a go? Or is that time frame open for something else *cough Dr. Strange cough*
Well, that’s exactly it.
If that’s what it is, then he just needs to suck it up and deal for a few months. And it’s not like there’s something shit at the end of the tunnel.
Say what you like about Hiddles, he always does it with a smile on his face and a song in his heart.
Yes at everyone, pretty much. Having Weinstein buy the rights to this was incredibly unfortunate luck for someone with an already-full September to February calender plus a huge play coming up. I would not have hair.
*unless* she is pregnant, and he is already worried about what this means for Hamlet. It won’t be easy to juggle a new wife and baby along with the rigors of rehearsing and performing that play for three months. He knows how much pressure is on him for that role
Lindy79–Oh, it’s very possible something else is going on in his life we’re not onto, making it worse.
I just personally can’t recall another actor trying to do all this-Shakespeare play prep, Shakespeare mini-series, TV show and Oscar campaign-at the same time. He’s done filming one thing while promoting others just fine before, but this is that times three.
Would have been fine had TIG stayed indie or gotten a less aggressive distributor, I feel.
Think hes trying but yeah i got no one to compare to either. i mean all these projects are prob pulling him in diff directions. i follow a lot of actors but none tried to pull all this off..many dont film even during heavy campaign jags he’s crazy imo
The thing is…he WANTS the big career and I believe the oscar, or he’d have told Harvey where to shove it. He’d have ample reason given his schedule. There are a lot of actors who get great work but have a lower profile because they don’t play this game…McAvoy springs to mind.
If he is/was still considering Dr. Strange he may want to have a very long think about it if he hates over the top promo this much.
Dr Strange will be fairly new to the majority of the audience (anyone not into Marvel comics) so whoever gets the role will be expected to work overtime to promote the hell out of it, it’s not like the Avengers where there are others to carry the PR load.
I still maintain he could look happier, he just got engaged. No amount of Weinstein crap should take away from that.
It just seems a little odd give that this was the bloke who flew to Oz to do basically a Q&A with fans, the Sherlock convention and then did the sports awards and many other non project related things seems to be now so against it. I can’t actually imagine him with this demeanor now doing the meet and greets with fans.
@Lindy79; personally I think that’s the main issue with him. He can’t back out from any project he has, he can’t back out from campaigning (not when TIG is Weinstein’s pet project this year and last year was a bit disappointing to him), he has to juggle both his carreer commitments and his private life. I think it’s possible Weinstein’s PR gurus might have “gently” nudged him to be more public about his private life — you know, to sell the image of a possible romantic leading man … all in all Ben doesn’t look impressed with this thing — of course, if by March he’ll have a few golden statues on his mantle, he might chill and we might be seeing him truly show some happiness. I mantain that to me the love of Ben’s life is his work.
I think he’s just simply bitten off more than he can chew. Probably agreed to all the promos and now is realizing just how demanding it is for him to be traveling, shilling and filming and planning for Hamlet at the same time. He may be well on his way to adrenal fatigue, which is no laughing matter. That can put him out of the game for months.
I know how difficult it is to fake *happy* when I’m worn slap out but otherwise healthy; if he’s using fags, dope and alcohol to cope with the insanity of it all, he’s really in a deteriorated state biologically speaking. It would be extremely difficult to act happy if chemically or hormonally he’s imbalanced due to the stress of it all. I’m giving him a pass on his grumpiness and expecting things to change when awards season is over.
I imagine the fatigue here is like how my betrothed friends are tired. Months of work for one day to say, “I do.”
I very much doubt wedding planning is an issue for him yet. Hardly likely to be an excuse for tiredness.
Weinstein is pouring money into this film, I have never seen so may adverts on UK television for a film. It is positively obscene
Yes, Harvey is very powerful man. Very.
I remember Jennifer Lawrence’s thank you speech at Golden Globes when she said “Harvey, Thank you for killing whoever you had to kill to get me up here today”. It got the biggest laugh of the night, because it’s sort of rings true. 😀
From 1:28
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHzeCnt4eB4
Dude, tea with milk & sugar is the best, not “disgusting”. It’s over between us, you stuck-up tw*t.
@Boudicca,
I agree. Time to find a nice British boyfriend who likes milk and sugar in his tea.
Uh, no. Never ever ever ever. But Earl Grey AND lapsang suchong? That’s a weird combination, Timothy.
Builder’s tea + toast and marmite = hangover cure. It’s the law.
Benny the Affianced appropriated my Lapsang. (That goes with cinnamon toast. It’s also the law.) No fair!
We have cinnamon toast on the sideboard for you.
I think mixing a deep smokey tea like Lapsang with a scented flowery tea like Early Grey is sacrilege.
I reject sugar in tea, but love a splash of milk is certain teas. Assam is just not the same without it.
Also I was always told that tea bags are less than. And Bendy reuses his! Loose tea in a warmed pot, and agitate that tea pot.
He…reuses ….. tea bags?
Lindy, he once asked a reporter, during an interview, “Shall we share a teabag?”
I am still laughing about this, months later. Cumby, splurge, live a little! Have your own teabag and knock yourself out!
Hmm, I think he wanted to share because the tea is too strong if you have just a cup; many bags are made for 2 cups – no idea why. But yes, he could live a little, I’m all for it, and use loose leafs in a teapot.
Sorry, somebody who reuses tea bags just really should not be lecturing about how others handle their tea.
I had a friend who made a t bag last two days.
I think we should probably talk about KETTLES.
Teapot or bust.
How dare you Sixer!
Yes, but these pesky Americans don’t have kettles. They use MICROWAVES. I mean, it’s enough to make the fabric of society crumble around us.
The SHAME! !
Lol, I microwaved my tea this morning. Only takes 2 minutes 😀
Ben would think I’m positively a Neanderthal. (So, I’m okay with him getting married, b/c it would never work between us. Truly) :p
I have a kettle thank you very much.
I do NOT own a microwave. I don’t believe in them. I have a nice whistle kettle.
what no kettles-hyperventilates
No! Not all Americans are so clueless! I will not drink microwaved tea or tea made from the hot water faucet of a water cooler or from the hot water stored in a coffee urn (the worst!). I keep a kettle and teapot, strainer, and loose tea at work
I have a kettle, tea pot AND a tea cosy i knitted myself.
So there.
Kettle: Electric
Tea: Earl Grey or Assam
Steeped: 6 min
Push bag: Yes, a little
Add: milk and sugar
Cup: Bone china with saucer
That’s my American way of drinking tea. Hmmph.
kettle on gas stove, tea pot, infuser, insulated tea cozy. Tea bags only when out and about and loose tea not on offer.
He needs to stop. I look at him and the word “BORING” is written all over him. Boring, pissy and sour. Talking about tea like it’s chemistry, sketching to get away from fame (??) and barely smiling to people engaging him in a conversation. He looks ready to explode.
Agreed, this whole thing is making him unlikeable.
They should let his goofy side come out, that would have been a much better selling point.
Maybe his goofy side has taken a vacation. I know we don’t know HIM, but this facet/side of his personality is offputting. I hate it when people say things like “act happy, smile, etc.” because we never know what people are truly going through, but this is ridiculous. He looks like he’s going through a bitter divorce/breakup rather than a spanking new engagement to the woman he loves.
Agreed, if this is the side that Sophie brings out in him – and Sophie is to be a permanent fixture – then I am done
whats wrong with talking about Tea? We Brits all bloody talk about it – and weather – its a cultural thing – the Japanese have elevated it beyond the vague science and debate we have to an utter art form – don’t see anyone sneering at them…
Well you know, I am a little picky about my tea making too. I love me some sweet ice tea.
I use one of those big ole family size Tetley tea bags… with one small Celestial Seasonings peach flavor tea bags. Toss them in that Tupperware 4 cuper mixing cup. Fill 2/3 with water. Zap it in the microwave for 3.5 minutes. Then I let it steep for 3 minutes.
I have that 2 quart pitcher… also from Tupperware. That I place a cup of sugar in… pour that hot tea over. And stir to melt the sugar, before topping off with cool water.
If Benedict plays his cards right… I just might invite him over for a glass!
That sounds amazing. Do you fill the 2 quart pitcher up to the top at the end? I might cut the sugar in half, though. Sorry, but I’m a northerner, so I am not strong enough for true sweet tea, lol
Oh, you must have a full cup. It just isn’t sweet tea if you don’t. I suppose you could ease into it. Gradually increase the amount. It’s like crack though. Once you get to full concentration you’ll never go back.
I boil my water on the stove. The sugar melts so fast.
I add water nearly to the pour spout.
Tetley is a strong tea. I like the peach flavor tea to help balance out the taste.
I have always used a cup of sugar (or a cup of Splendra) for 2 quarts.
I use the Splendra for my daily pitcher. Yes, I make ice tea daily. But I use real sugar when I have company.
And if you can let it sit for at least 30 minutes… before drinking… it gets down right amazing.
Thanks, Hautie! It’s the addition of the peach tea that sounds so good to me, but getting the ratio right is tricky, because I don’t actually like peach tea, if you know what I mean? I would want just a hint of it to make the black tea sparkle. Your recipe sounds really easy and foolproof.
Hmm, well, a cup of sugar works out to 2 Tb of sugar per cup, which is about what a soda has in it, so I guess it’s not that bad.
Anyway, I’m definitely trying it.
I’ve never managed to make decent Ice Tea. Everytime I visit the US I go crazy, buying different brands and trying different flavours. I will try your recipe!
I don’t even know what he’s talking about. I don’t know what “pushing the tea bag with a spoon” is, or why it’s a dealbreaker. But I’m American, and we don’t really care about tea unless we’re hella pretentious. I like English Breakfast with milk and sugar. I do know that if my date criticized my tea preference and got all snotty with me about it, I’d be like “bye bitch.” I wonder if he criticizes music collections too. “Oh you don’t have the 7-inch B-side EP limited edition fapfapfap”
I think I may have just gotten mad at him for the first time
“I do know that if my date criticized my tea preference and got all snotty with me about it, I’d be like “bye bitch.” I wonder if he criticizes music collections too. “Oh you don’t have the 7-inch B-side EP limited edition fapfapfap”
ROFLMAO
Oh please. People should stop asking him stupid questions. “What cheese do you like best?” “Would Sherlock fancy me?” “Can I taste your deliciousness?” – WTF?! At least “would you marry me?” may stop. For now.
He looks like such a miserable grumpy pain in the arse and has done for months.
He lost me on the tea thing.. why drink builders tea if you find it “disgusting” ?? Just because it’s cold?
He could also “normalise things as much as you can” by living your life and not acting like a cranky prissy twonk.
Maybe he and Sophie are like the streams from the Ghostbusters Proton Packs? If they cross it would mean all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.
(I genuinely lolled at this face in that picture. It makes me want to sing Cheer up Charlie/Cumby from Willy Wonka right into his face)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCyLNfnHst8
*sips milky tea made in my office and stirred with a wooden sticky thing*
I know he’s so unlikeable right now. I wonder if the silence from his friends and family is like some kind of intervention or something.
I don’t like milky tea, or tea with sugar, but I don’t b*tch about it. Tea is tea. Lovely in every way. And yeah, his attitude is really shining through, no?
Exactly, even if he was internally eye rolling at the question why not say “well here’s how I like it, but suppose it’s like everything, each to their own” or even make a joke about how it’s a personality thing, how someone takes their tea, don’t say they’d be out the door for doing something or it’s disgusting…was he trying to be funny?
I’d stir my teabag furiously in front of him just to annoy him.
haha I would purposely berate him for drinking tea that comes in a BAG instead of using an infusor! Dear Ben, if you’re going to be the Tea Police, learn how to properly drink it*
*Yes, I am being sarcastic.
*puts on tea hat*
You shouldn’t press the bag with the spoon unless you want bitter tea. Builders’ tea is usually ‘put hair on your chest’ strong. He probably has to add a lot of milk and sugar to be able to drink it. I admit, I do strong coffee like that sometimes when I need a jolt like that even though it’s yucky.
He’s going to crack before this is all over. Bet he’s fighting with Harvey now.
@Sandi He’s going to crack before this is all over
Yep, that’s what I think too. He looks exhausted now…since we speculate about his happiness, I’m speculating that he had a killer headache and was jet lagged as hell this week end.
I read “disgusting” differently. More like “something ridiculously indulgent that I don’t normally like, but occasionally get a weird craving for”. I don’t like tea at all, but I can think of several indulgent foods that I’ll only eat in very specific moods: deep-fried mars bars, trifle, green-tea ice cream. And 99% of the time I’d prefer water or soda, but about once a year I go on some kind -of frappuccino-bender and drink 2 or 3 a day for a full week.
It could well be that when in context of video/audio he meant it that way.
I thought it might be similar to the Hamlet thing in Elle, he went on a rant for 11 minutes because the journo said she thought it was dull (he knew he’d gone a bit OTT as he rang afterwards to explain). Great that he’s passionate about it, as he should be but it’s perfectly ok for someone to say they don’t like Hamlet. The entire Elle article was problematic for me so I’m biased.
Nothing puts me off something more than when someone tries to tell you why your opinion is wrong and theirs right.
The tea quote is from this interview.
http://vimeo.com/111271562
Thanks Ingrid! Lucrezia is right, he meant it in a “it sounds disgusting but it works” way.
He can still feck off with the don’t push the bag around or you’re out the door talk, some of us like strong tea and don’t have time for it to stew for ages.
Does he seem a bit snarky about not only being remembered for Sherlock (which I would definitely say was his turning point (which is what the question was, not what will you be remembered for) outside theatre and internationally but hey…
Oh dear, did he really say those things, word for word?
I mean at this point everyone’s making fun of him and his fiancee, but really, I don’t think I’ve ever heard something so posh and so up-your-a** as this tea monologue…
He looks like he’d like to lie down and take a nap.
He looks so miserable. It breaks my heart.
Hopefully Keira is keeping his spirits up. Part of me thinks she’s offering him some good, friendly support at this stressful point in time in his life.
Well, Amanda Abbington and Simon Pegg are discussing the engagement on Twitter, sort of. Pegg brings it up in a jokey way, Amanda kinda runs with it but things go to private text pretty quickly. I get the feeling they both wanted to find out if either one knew WTF is going on.
https://twitter.com/CHIMPSINSOCKS/status/531795314181959680
Wooooooooooooooow. That reads…weird.
It does, doesn’t it? Like, we’re confused as *uck about what’s going on, but we don’t want to completely shade him, btw, do you have any idea what’s going on? Let’s text. Ha!
@sigh((s)) I can’t decide if they’re taking the piss out of him a bit or if they went to text because they’re seriously burning him and think this is dumb as f*ck… LOL we’ll never know bu I can theorize.
They have never had a problem taking the piss out of Benedict on Twitter, and quite graphically too. They are not shy! Which is why it was weird that they clammed up when the engagement came up:
http://sebastianstan123.tumblr.com/post/100835211688/simon-pegg-and-amanda-abbington-you-absolute-babes
Haha, that was a really funny read. Just friendly teasing. No doubt they went to text to talk about him and the engagement privately. Which is exactly what they should have done 🙂
ugh…I really don’t like their tweets. For a lot of reasons.
I don’t like the tweets either. Backslappy, celebby in jokes..yuck. I’ve got issues with Amanda’s twitterquette anyway. She’s way too chumsy with fans and then argues with them too. I mean..you’re like ..a forty year old married woman.
AA strikes me as acting like a jealous gf sometimes and others like a snot. I used to like her but now I have to avoid her twitter if I want to keep watching movies and shows she takes part in.
That’s quite funny
If he is this upset now, marriage will only be worse.
Sounds like his friends didn’t even know about it until after the fact, pretty strange behavior.
You know at this point he has to marry her as there is no backing out after all this. Isn’t it odd that all the hiding they did before has brought them here? Maybe he didn’t expect this but what was the point?
@Moodgirl
Why would he have to marry her? No one is putting a gun to his head. Engagements are called off all of the time, and if this craptastic relationship actually ends prior to them walking down the aisle, it’s probably for the best.
After a fancy-pants announcement in the Times? And especially if she is pregnant? Yes, I know we don’t live in the 19th century but this is a man who has repeatedly expressed a desire for children, he is almost 40 and his work schedule for the next few years is packed full.
@Moodgirl and gg: What GeeMoney said… very long engagements that fade off to nothing, break ups after engagements are announced… happens both “In Real Life” and H’wood/celeb-world… He might get some side eye and some PR crap if he breaks it off but it wouldn’t end his career. Might even boost hers, giving her some talking points for interviews. He’s also repeatedly said he’s in no rush for kids like he used to be due to his work schedule, etc.
@missmary u still believe in a word of what he says?U have some strong faith in human nature..
Given he made those statements before the weirdness began, I’m more prone to believe ’em.
I don’t at all, he’s there of his own doing and he clearly thought at LFF he was being very clever when he made some comment about being good at keeping secrets and smug smiling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWyldzl3cQs
Well..not really love. She was in plain sight and everyone knew you were together. You were fooling no one, unless the secret was that he was normal, in which case yep I was fooled.
In what month was the LFF?
October 8-19 of this year.
Just a month ago they could not be seen on the red carpet together, now they are announcing their engagement in the Times of London?
Kiara looks pregnant.
Benedict looks like someone just stole his lunch money on the way to school.
He certainly seems v stressed at the mo. I can sympathise – i’ve been a mega bitch the past few weeks due to stress and tiredness (lots of family and work related issues) and for everyone else’s safety my boss has put me in the ‘cranky b!tch’ corner. Just because he’s not walking around being all nice and full of sunshine doesn’t mean he isn’t happy about his engagement.
Although i do think the PR whitewashing of her career is suspect. My PR friends all say that it’s probably either to soften another shock announcement/story or to cover something up. They’re basically creating an image for her BEFORE they’ve even appearing in public together – all very very bizarre.
And if he wants an Oscar nom – the b!tchface and crankiness has to go. Ole Harvey is not someone you want to p!ss off.
I’d bet very good money she is pregnant. If so the timing is absolutely dreadful for him, with Hamlet coming up next year it means he will have a newborn baby at home while going through grueling rehearsals and performances.
Or – dear god – since the focus has been on her career they are going to announce that she is going to be involved in Hamlet! That would honestly shock me more.
I’m still pretty sure that, if she was pregnant, it’d have been announced already mainly because I don’t think she or her family can stfu when it comes to promoting.
Re the whitewashing her career/soften another shock announcement: IMO and that’s all this is, to me it sounds like it’s PR to either promote his career/boost an image, or to make some gossip/rumor coming down the pike look unlikely (“what do you mean he did x? He can’t–he’s an engaged man!” type mentality), or it’s to build this image and later, if there’s a split (planned one), it makes it a sad love story about a man who works so hard he doesn’t have time for love.
Well…they (either her side or his) might think if they announce it straightaway it will look as though he’s marrying her solely for that reason.
Which paints them both in a weird light so I could see why they would hold off on it.
I don’t think she is.
@missmary
Do you think that they would admit to being pregnant and negate the grand romance? And the whitewashing would indicate intent on their part, in other words not just fell in love and want to be together but a goal they have in mind.
@Moodgirl: I absolutely think they’d announce it. Pregnancy doesn’t mean no romance, if that’s the narrative they’re going for. But how he’s acting now? And the not being seen together/avoiding contact (even in pics where they didn’t know they were being snapped, appearing as cordial at best), then the glossing up of her resume to a ridiculous degree/the fawning Time articles? that does zero to engage the idea this is a grand romance. It absolutely makes it look, to some folks anyway, as if this is all staged and stage-managed, like someone wants a certain narrative to happen. If they’d said “hey, we’re getting married and we’re happy to announce we’re also having a baby!” there’d be some eye rolling but not nearly as much. It’d come of as much more “Aw, how sweet! He’s finally getting what he wanted years ago!” Even without a baby in the picture, if they had said “yes, we’re getting married, we’re so excited but we’d like to keep this private so thank you for respecting our wishes”–again, less weird, more of a romance angle. As it is, this sketch behavior, the pissed-in-his-Cheerios-expressions, her attitude in public (not new), and his friends/family’s lack of comment? All not screaming grand romance.
From all the articles and comments from people who attended the events this week end, Ben managed to charm SAG members and journalists alike. TIG and *he* got a standing ovation from a very tough crowd. Whatever his issue is, he’s a professional and Weinstein would kill him in his sleep if he didn’t campaign like a boss. 😉
Go take a look at AwardsWatch forum, TIG thread.
Which suggests that this is personal and not work-related.
Thanks for confirming that.
I have seen the same reports from the US, as well, Aly.
Here is a wonderful account from the SAG screening, it is an excellent read.
http://www.macbird.com/imitation-game-benedict-cumberbatchs-genius-playing-genius/
He has been working hard and that top picture, on this thread, is just a glimpse as he is walking to a car after a long day and night. Do we always have smiles plastered over our faces 27/7?
I don’t get or haven’t seen the grumpy Benedict that so many of you claim to see.
The “tea” comments were taken from an interview and are rather humorous and even sweet when he describes his Dad making tea. It is all in the context and the body language and facial expressions. There is nothing pretentious about it and he was asked the question. The video is posted up-thread.
@ Madly
How did Aly confirm that something was personal and not work related?
Because I think that even if he doesn’t like paps, if his night at SAG was so good, there should still be some energy there since his movie did well but clearly something is on his mind.
He’s not new at this–he does know how to play the game, even if it’s not up to Harvey’s level of intensity. I don’t think he’s had to deal with something like the Weinstein machine before and isn’t prepared for it, but he HAS done the pap thing before, and done Q&As, screenings, etc. He knows how to make nice with those people. He knows how to give face to paps and photographers when it’s part of a promo (like coming out of a screening, standing with co-stars, etc) and how to shut them down when it’s not a good time (coming out of a cafe with Tom Hiddleston, waking to his car, etc. He usually gives a look and then just keeps walking/not engaging). He knows he’s being snapped, esp now more than usual, and the paps in this case aren’t subtle. So either he’s blissfully unaware of how he’s coming across, or he has no fucks to give when he’s being snapped. At least he’s playing nice for the promo end of things and charming SAG and the others.
What Felice says, he doesn’t look like someone on a high from either work or personal stuff.
I don’t expect him to skip jauntily to the car but a f*cking smile wouldn’t kill him.
He may be tired, and I see why but this is a profile and career high point for him. He may decide the HW machine isn’t for him after this, and fair enough but deal with it for the few months and then take the DDL route….bet he wont though. I have a feeling as much as he hates this, the ambition is too strong in this one.
In the press line video when someone shouts congratulations to him, his facial expression doesn’t change, it’s bizarre, even if he hates the person shouting it
Also….yowzah to that bronzer! He looks jaundiced.
http://38.media.tumblr.com/16c8ba6fba4777f4d77afe2d05b51691/tumblr_neteyy2ZpS1rnwoh4o4_250.jpg
“… there should still be some energy there since his movie did well but clearly something is on his mind.”
Yeah, sleep! lol. 🙂
@Maggie …I loved that article, it’s a nice insight on how he builds a character, it also answers some questions I had about his method. Damn…he’s really good at what he does….
@ Lindy79
“Also….yowzah to that bronzer! He looks jaundiced.”
Oh for goodness sake it is the lighting. None of the other pictures at this event look like that.
Sorry I just thought his face looked a bit weird it’s a different shade to his hands, Mark Zuckerberg’s is fine.
A lot of male actors wear something to even their skin tone at events, it’s designed for flash photography so it can appear darker in other lights.
(I have a make up background so just giving my opinion)
Hiddles has had the pee taken out of him on here for the same, it’s not Cumberbatch specific.
I’ve come to believe that he’s looking stressed because he reads every single word on here and EB and/or that he’s finally gotten around to viewing Sophie’s outstanding video repertoire, lol.
Ugh. He’s got a face like a cucumber and squinty little eyes. He’s about as hot as an ice floe. I don’t get his appeal at all. Is it just me?
No.
Yes.
*buys several dozen reams of paper and boxes of pencils*
Here, Benedict, draw more until you get that sour look off your face. How dare you drink bagged tea, you podge! Loose leaf is where it’s at!
*goes back to drinking moroccan mint tea, extra hot, extra sweet*
Lordy, either someone pissed in his cereal or his otter half pushed the teabag with the spoon, because he looks stabby in some of those photos.
I don’t get the hot factor with this guy. He reminds of the bully with braces in Christmas Story. And creme earl grey with lavender is bomb shit.
I can see him being a fussy person about more things than tea, tbh.
And I give him a pass for not looking so happy in any of these pictures, he must be exhausted. 11 hour plane ride on Friday, immediately go to the BAFTA event. Saturday press, interviews, Governor’s Awards, then a Q&A? That’s a lot. And yes, he agreed to do it, but it has to take a lot out of a person.
I hope he has more time in the states this week when he does the TIG premiere so he can rest a bit. And look rested.
I can buy that Keira is pregnant. If so, yay for her 🙂
I think he’s supposed to be at Gloucester Cathedral today for filming so I don’t think he’s lingering stateside at all. And sidebar re Keira: her pics with him for these promos? THEY look more like a couple lol. Even my SO and their bff, who aren’t fans of either of them, looked at the screen and SO said “Oh, that’s his fiancee? Okay.” and “Wow, okay, I don’t know what you’re talking about but they look happy!” I had to break to ’em that no, that’s just his friend and co-star, lol and the chick from Pirates of the Caribbean, not his fiancee.
No he is staying in the US which makes it bizarre that SH wasn’t with him, tbh. Maybe she is already in NY? Who knows. I still think the SGF may turn into the Invisible Fiancee.
I think he is trying to move into the upper classes. I watched BC on Katie Couric’s talk show and he said that he sent Mick Jagger an acknowledgement for Mick’s birthday. I got the impression that he was a bit of a butt kisser. Maybe he tried to break into the ranks with Kinvara B and it didn’t worked so he fingered SH. Pun intended.
Oh sucks to be him. It’s his job, he should be used to it by now. And nobody made him participate in the campaign circus. My mum gets regularly vomited and sh-t on in A&E as an nurse and gets paid practically nothing for the pleasure. He’s doing ok.
Exactly!
he is only upset because the daily mail has been printing not so nice things about his fiancées family
@Icerose He’s had this sourpuss thing going for a while now, before the DM started taking the piss.
@icerose – What is being said? I think we already know they are blabbermouths.
just a tid but in the mail that I have to admit is really scratching the bootom of the barreal
“Her uncle is Sir Malcolm Ross, the Queen’s equerry, who organised both Princess Diana’s and the Queen Mother’s funerals, while her grandfather, General Sir Michael Gow, commanded the British Army of the Rhine.
But in 2012 Sir Michael’s uncle, Cambridge classics professor Andrew Gow,who was fingered as being the ‘fifth man’ in the Cambridge Five spy ring by art critic Brian Sewell, who described him as ‘the coldest man I had ever encountered’. ”
–
We’ve moved into the overreact to everything he says phase, I see.
Looking forward to the Imitation Game! Keira looks lovely, and I like his suit.
Keira did look beautiful and I loved her dress and Benedict looked very handsome.
I think many people are overreacting to everything he says and overreacting to pap pictures as indicators of how he is feeling. Goodness if people analysed candid’s of me they would consider me a right grumpy cow.
Any interviews I have seen, recently, have been fine. He is his usual self, talking passionately about TIG and answering questions in his usual waffley way. The “Tea” interview was great and I can get that he doesn’t want to be totally defined by Sherlock, as so may journalists and reviewers constantly compare his roles to Sherlock.
People are way over-analysing.
He looks as grumpy as f£&k. You’re delusional if you can’t see that. Or do you think it would lose you your devoted fan card to admit it?
@Guinea Pig uhm, not really. Of course you’re free to express your opinion, just like those who don’t see him as particularly grumpy can, neither camp is delusional, IMO. I really don’t like it when the default answer to a different opinion is calling someone delusional. It is not necessary.
If I want to see it like that then that’s how I’ll call it. To me, it’s denial to see he’s not exactly zippy right now. People don’t have to like that but I’m not going to alter my words. I’m not being nasty, I’m not swearing at anyone. But yeah, I stand by it. It might not be necessary but then there are a lot of things on here that aren’t necessary. Doesn’t make them unacceptable.
@Guinea Pig : is it necessary to call people delusional for viewing things differently? Can we not?
You can ‘not’ if you like. By I’ll continue to say what I want thanks. I’m not swearing or ranting, but I stand by what I say that it’s delusional to think he doesn’t look like a grump. Some people just seem incapable of accepting the vaguest criticism about him.
Guinea Pig: it is actually quite cordial here, you should try Facebook! Oh my goodness, they will jump on you there. “What if it gets back to him that you are saying he looks upset? It will make him more upset!” All while denying that he looks upset to begin with…..
“What if it gets back to him that you are saying he looks upset? It will make him more upset!”
Looooooooool
They think he actually cares what they think don’t they? It’s almost sweet. But mostly funny..
Hmmm, lots of instruction from The Batch. It seems to me he is feeling one of Weinstein’s giant tentacles crawling up his nethers. “Campaign” is the perfect word, as ina military campaign. BC works constantly-always has. I think he is exhausted, and is sounding and looking tired and bitchy. As for SH, and why she isn’t there, I can understand not wanting to be dragged all over the world on press tours. If she wanted the ‘publicity” she could easily have it by going everywhere with him. I am dying to see his drawings.
He seems like he could really use a vacation (at least a week’s worth) right now.
Random thoughts before I have enough caffeine this morning, lol: If he is feeling pressure from Weinstein, if this is in any way PR related, I don’t think he was prepared in any way for this intense of a PR game. Karon may have had an inkling, she may be along for the ride, who knows. But I don’t think anything BC’s experienced in the past has prepared him for a Weinstein promo campaign and all of the machinations involved.
So you think his odd behavior these past few months is all weinstein related?
No, but I think that I wouldn’t be surprised if we found out some of his sourpuss and attitude in public was due to Weinstein’s influence. I’m sure there’s other things going on esp as he’s been like this since before the promo season started.
I can agree with this. I don’t think he realized the extent of “doing press” is for this movie, and now he can’t exactly back out.
Except he is in it for the long run for his career as his job is his one true love. Plus he was sucking up to Harvey. I don’t think he likes all the press work, but I think he is a team player and the film means a lot to him. This pissy demeanor is personal.
Madly: Word. I think part if it may be down to Harvey but he’s definitely been looking pissy and giving snarky, almost rude interviews for longer than this promo tour’s been going on.
Cumberbatch will be filming Sherlock in January so he won’t be able to campaign at a critical time. Redmayne will be able to win the battle easily.
all ben wants is a nomination. he really doesn’t stand a chance of a win and knows this. the win will go to either carrell or keaton. so he will secure the nom, with weinstein’s help, and then start on sherlock.
Can we please stop portraying Eddie Redmayne as the evil enemy? Why does there always have to be somebody viewed as a threat to Benedict Cumberbatch?
What Lilacflowers says. No one owes BC an Oscar. There more deserving actors than there are statues.
Word. I know there was a lot of “OMG it’s in the bag” early on and it’d be awesome if he did win it, but there’s so many great performances (*cough* Keaton *cough*) that I think BC may, if he’s lucky, just get nominated but not actually win.
I’ve seen The Theory of Everything, but not The Imitation Game. Eddie Redmayne is AMAZING in that role. He at least deserves a nomination.
Eddie Redmayne deserves an Oscar for squeezing his butt into every possible television in America. It is like he has taken up residence in my tv and every time I turn it on there he is. He is going to beg for his award like a shelter dog. Poltergeist.
@Moodgirl, that’s fascinating because I haven’t seen him on television at all. I’ve seen him in several magazines, but fewer than several other actors.
@lilacflowers – Between the early evening entertainment shows, early morning talk shows and commercials I can’t get away from him. Same with Felicity Jones.
At least Redmayne looks happy.
Granted he’s not filming at the same time.
Caught Redmayne on Live with Kelly & Michael as he was congratulated on his engagement. He was charming, smiled and seemed very happy. He did have to spend part of his interview time talking about Cumby though.
I swear if Hiddles become this boring next year I will personally sack-him off. Benny is deliberately trying to bore us all – ”errr, I like my tea weak, and don’t squeeze the tea-bag…and I like to draw to escape the fame”
snnnooooooze
Bring back Richard Burton and Oliver Reed, God where has the hell-raising actor cred gone?
@’p’enny, Well, we did say the other day that deceased actors could be revived for our little desires so prime of their lives, Richard Burton and Oliver Reed are coming to you through the time machine. Do you want Peter O’Toole and Richard Harris too?
And Tommy could never be boring. Serious and snarky depending on the circumstances, but never boring.
Richard Harris made a really sinister Oliver Cromwell, Oliver Reed was great in Three Muskateers. But, Richard Burton and Peter o’ Toole and Donald Sutherland are really intense, attractive bad boys.
How about Tony Curtis? He was so beautiful in Spartacus …
yes to Tony Curtis and I would not mind including Tyrone Power -now he was hot.
I would prefer Hiddles to be hell raising too then in this kind of situation. And once he’s turned on for PR he’s far from boring. I apologize upfront for thread bombing Cumberfans.
it’s really sad they are both seemingly being forced into some kind clean-cut british boys-act, which they both not, they are not crazy but they are not princes either. Benedict smokes dope, a lot of it, and that is how he unwinds. Tom, goes on clubbing weekends and probably doesn’t see daylight for three days. Both of them, together, admitted during WarHorse horse training, the guys spent the summer being totally drunk and passing out in a field till dawn somewhere. They are just two normal [geeky] – guys, with money, living in the most exciting city in Europe and Benedict is come out with, I draw to unwind and Tom is coming out with quoting Shakespeare to ducks.
STOP IT!!! I don’t want either to turn into the Jude Law’s of the world but, the squeakiness is going to fall apart faster than chocolate fireguard.
Hiddles is the opposite. He actually enjoys promoting his work. And the sheer number of Ben’s posts indicates to me that comment posts count has no effect on pages getting locked.
@jammypants, thats true Hiddles does enjoy the hoopla but, he seems to have his limits, he lost his smile by the time the remaining premier in LA came along. He was looking strained. I could tell he wanted to get back to some acting.
Can i just say, back in january somewhere in these comments threads i made a point that Benedict looked like he was putting on a false happy show and it wouldn’t last. [ And, i got shouted down LOL] The muppets stuff, the interview in the trunks, the silly photo-bombing, endless sporting trips, and impression stuff was coming across ‘out of character.’ i said Benedict is naturally moody, with a serious side and this being smiley-funny or words to that effect can’t last. i think by the time he got to SDCC comic-con i think he was struggling with it all, he looked like a pingwing out of water.
He slayed it at the Oz comic-con and Hay on Wye where he and a great chance to let his personality shine. But, the chelsea flower show and opening of a shoe store??? Benedict is serious actor, and i think this is breaking him, not his personal life, but the carousal of PR he has been put on. And, i wonder if he could say no if he wanted too. But, if he thinks this is bad, Dr Strange promotion will be 100x worse.
Yes, and considering what he’s been saying very recently about not wanting to work so much, I hope he thinks long and hard about signing with Marvel as a main character.
@’p’enny, I don’t remember which interview it was but somebody asked Tom about ‘the dancing bear routine” and he replied that he is easily bored with being asked the same questions so he agreed that he would do TDW’s main promotion in Asia but when it came back to Europe and the States, he would prefer to do the more off-beat stuff hence juggling in a car in Germany’s Stars in Cars, pushing kids off chairs on the cartoon network, dancing on Chatty Man, slumber parties on MTV, while Chemboy, Natalie Portman, and Anthony Hopkins did the more traditional stuff like Leno, Letterman, and Kimmel.
As for Dr. Strange, I really feel that he has been the one trying to convince Marvel to hire him and not the other way around and, I’m sorry, but I don’t think he fits the part. So far, Marvel’s casting people have done an incredible job matching actors to roles, they may be due for a misstep and I think BC as Strange would be a big one.
And can I put this bit about working so much into perspective? I have met surgeons who perform 8 or 12 hour operations on people’s hearts or backs; correction officers who face inmates who plot daily to kill them for escape purposes, police officers who risk their lives daily; see construction workers move heavy equipment and climb unfinished towers (somebody fell off the tower near my office and died a few months ago); fisherman; mine workers; my cousin is a forest ranger and has encountered bears and been tracked by mountain lions; all those thousands of people in the military who risk their lives for us. My father was a firefighter who climbed ladders into the windows of burning buildings to save people’s lives and on his off days, worked a second job – he suffered serious cardiac damage and serious lung damage – as most firefighters do – and a rare form of cancer as a result. Sorry this is so long, but BC is an actor. Not to demean the work and physical demands of that but the labor required, the stress involved, and the risk to his own person are minimal compared to what others do every single day. It bothers me that people are fretting over how overworked or stressed he is. The guy didn’t work for the first six months of this year.
@Lilac, THANK YOU!! I have been thinking how to go about writing exactly what you’ve written. I am also absolutely sure there are people of this board whose workload and whose duties as caregivers in their respective families are MUCH more demanding than what Cumberbatch has to face and who, on top, have to deal with the simple fact that, if they do not work, they will not have money to pay for their food or electricity or their children’s education.
Hiddles is to much of a Tigger to ever let this happen. He and Tilda would drag him off for dancing as soon as the networking is over.
@Penny At least Tom runs and dances to stress bust and does what he can to put some fun into his interviews.
@Lilacflowers I agree I watch nurses working on some of the most difficult wards, I have work with people who have to live with medical conditions like depression , dementia and strokes knowing they have no choice but to get with it and many who do it with a smile and a joke through the tears ,And let’s not forget their family and care givers who often give up so much for so little in return That is really what stress is about not having to give interviews to sell a film and win an Oscar,
@Intro Outro, so true. I realize it is a gossip site and we do indulge in a great deal of fun but all the fretting over the stress and workload of a man who earns far more for a single project that most of us earn in several years while we still manage to find the time to tend our homes, care for family members, including newborns and frail elders, often while sick ourselves, and work our jobs, while some risk so much at those very jobs, just got to me. There are several posts about what if he had to deal with a newborn crying at night while performing Hamlet and that just struck me. My dad would work a 12 hour night shift, come home, work his second job, go back and work another 12 hour night shift, work his second job again and then be home with us at night. When I was five, he fell down an elevator shaft in a burning building and was missing for hours. My sister was born three weeks later. I don’t think he ever complained once about being awakened by a crying baby. I just think people have lost some perspective.
I get what you all are saying and kind of agree, but would like to note different people have different pressures and respond to those pressures in different ways. This is too close to ‘so and so can’t ever have serious problems because’ line of thinking for me.
We don’t know all the details of his personal life or mental health, so I wouldn’t go too far on this type of a comparative line with it.
(Plus he’s not peeing on paps or screaming on red carpets or anything, just not always 100% ‘on’, but that’s another matter).
@icerose, curious that you typed about Tilda around the same time I was watching “Matilda Swinton” in “Caprice”, the film school project of Joanna Hogg. Tilda, or Matilda, was very young and gorgeous and looked like a cross between Audrey Hepburn and Rita Hayworth, with long, dark red hair. And of all of Hogg’s films, it is clearly a student film, and artsy for artsy sake, but it was probably her most enjoyable.
@An, i do get your point about personal health and family issues but people aren’t talking about those. People are going on and on about how horrible it would be for a trained actor to go home to a baby during a production of Hamlet, which you must admit is not the same as a nursegoing home to a baby after dealing with patients suffering psychotic episodes in an emergency room.
I agree Lilac, no matter how hard they work, they are in a position of privilege if they got into Weinstein’s good books and selling out a large theatre venue. All his complaining just pisses me off. If he feels overworked, he can simply take half a year off. I don’t care if people say his parents worked their asses off to put him into a good school. HE was privileged. He didn’t have to work. He got to pursue his dreams on the backs of others, in this case, his family. So he needs to STFU because all his complaining just sounds like whining to me. I know people really like him here and think he’s different from the rest, but is he really? I really don’t think so. He’s just a charming, talented actor. Take that away, he really is just like all of us, except with more money and exposure. I really used to like him but I’m liking him less and less the more I read about him here.
*Lilac*
Thanks for that perspective. It does seem as though his professional stress is somewhat self-inflicted and for the sake of entertainment (or ego) and not to be compared with those who work long hours out of real necessity in meeting basic needs for themselves and other. While I enjoy watching the “drama” from afar, I also snort at how utterly silly it is to run oneself ragged over a silly statue. I find the whole celebrity scene ridiculous, in the unimportant things that they crave (fame, wealth, beauty, beauty).
At the same time, in echoing An, every person’s pain or stress is nonetheless real and burdensome in ways we may not understand. One person can bear up under pressures that would cause another person to breakdown, due to their particular makeup so I would caution in not taking those comparisons too far. I recall my own mother telling me to “get over it” when I was dealing with a painful breakup years ago. In her mind, it was silly because losing a bf wasn’t like losing a husband. But for me, the pain – in my frame of mind at the time – was just about as intense. For her to poo poo my pain felt disrespectful and callous to me.
I don’t know what it’s like to be BC; I can only imagine what it’s like based on outside observation. He seems to be under a lot of stress (mostly self-inflicted imo, since he agrees to the amount of work he’s doing) and saying that helps to give me a logical explanation as to why he seems so grumpy the past few months. I’m not excusing his behavior, as he should be mature and professional enough to rise above it. But like I said on another thread, if his adrenal system is fatigued, it will be difficult to overcome hormonal imbalances that will affect his mood. Others seem to manage crazy-busy better or avoid it altogether. We’re all different.
@Lilacflowers, yes, sorry, I missed that part of your post, but a lot of people are also wondering if he’s got something else going on, and that’s the side I’m leaning toward based on, well, a lot of things, unfortunately. I don’t think the PR is the root of the problem.
I know I am risking grief for saying this, but IMO he can’t just walk away now without really damaging 10+years worth of work. He’s not doing super terribly considering his ridiculous schedule right now either.
@MountainRunner: thank you for saying it way better than I could.
@MountainRunner, I am always very careful about people’s reference points. My issue here is that others, without any evidence to support them, are not only running with suppositions and conjectures but losing perspective totally and really distorting what is or isn’t in front of us. Reading through this thread gives the notion that acting is a tremendous sacrifice, far more so than other jobs; only the idle rich should procreate because nobody else could deal with the trauma of coming home to a crying baby; and Sophie Hunter and Harvey Weinstein have conspired to take control of BC and wear him into the ground so he can get an Oscar posthumously. But the evil Eddie Redmayne is making every dastardly effort to steal the prize, no doubt because his evil Eton theater mate encouraged him to do so. I wish the guy and his fiancee well. I haven’t seen TIG yet so I reserve judgment on that film and several others (TTOE, Foxcatcher, Unbroken, Inherent Vice, AmericanSniper, etc.) The personality traits that have so many here fretting were always visible to me. He has chosen to do this and he can tone it down anytime he chooses. Harvey Weinstein is not the only person producing movies; he has competition.
@Lilac, An and MountainRunner: I agree with all of you, ladies. I think the key word here is perspective, which should be applied to all POVs expressed above and is really the only way to be able to judge something fairly.
@Lilac, your Dad sounds like an amazing man!
@Lilac, I hear ya and see what you’re pointing out. I think we’re on the same page and like Intro Outro said, we’re each highlighting different facets of a complicated situation. The comments are what I like most about this site; I always find thoughtful perspectives that people like you and others here bring, along with some fab humor to help keep perspective on all the Hollyweirdness.
And I agree with I-O, your dad sounds awesome.
*claps for Lilacflowers!*
On a purely superficial level. He had a jolly 6 months and now is busy. Weinstein bought IG the first week in Feb and that’s when the Oscar stuff started, so pretty much from that time, his team should have known this was going to happen..My thinking is did he sign on to projects after the fact and if he did he’s either a fool who didn’t listen to advice or his team are incompetent.
Also, yes flights to LA are tough but trust me, it’s a lot easier when you’re in business/first class and are ferried from point A to point B which I’m sure he was.
Same goes for the engagement. He chose to make it public knowledge. She’s not seen out much and never with him so chances of her ring being spotted are miniscule. He did it because he wanted to, so he can’t complain about his private life being made public when he has contributed to that.
and when he travels it is first class with chauffeur driven cars to where ever he needs to go, First clas hotels and people telling him how wonderful he not to mention that Harvey is right by his side to insure nobody says the wrong thing to him .It ‘s a hard life
Thanks, MountainRunner and Intro Outro. He was also an Air Force pilot, which I point out because today is Veteran’s Day. I miss him every second of every day.
I think my favorite bit was when he says being around A-List actors is how it should be as he munches on his filet mignon. I mean, I just can’t take him seriously.
@Lilac, he sounds like an amazing man. *hugs*
Lilac, I’m sorry to hear he’s no longer with you. Peace to you and your family today.
@Lilac, I hope you read it – your father simply RULES! I am so sorry he’s not with you anymore but the fact that you can speak about him with such pride and love is worth so so much.
I don’t think his angry otter face is work-related. He would be doing the sell a lot better.
Is Keira pregnant?
I believe so.
He’s on a career-high and just got engaged and yet, he looks miserable. Something isn’t right with him. But, he did this all to himself. He got engaged in the midst of all this so I’m not feeling too much pity for him.
Should be interesting when he is on Michael and Kelly next week because you *know* they are going to ask about it and he had better have his best smiley face on.
I wonder if he is to be coached on it or if they are just reading the responses from the sycophants on IMDb.
Their show is PURE fluff from what I can see so he should expect not serious questions and a lot of joking which could go either way with him. Will be interesting.
I have a feeling this will be their “serious interview” they do about once a week or so, with their serious faces and a lot of misquotes about Turing which he’ll then correct, sound a bit snarky, but still smile in that pained way.
Sorry, I just dn’t like that show, lol, and always snark on it.
There was a time I’d have loved to see him do one of the Lip Sync battles on the Tonight Show. I’m not sure he’d be up for it anymore, which gives me the sads.
Maybe he can’t really handle being famous and he is letting that show? Maybe next week will be different. Do you all think he’ll show up with SH or do you think the hiding will continue? Just asking because I still find it all so odd.
Lindy, I could totally see him doing that on JF but not anymore. 🙁
She will probably be at the TIG NYC premiere, but may not walk the carpet with him. But I bet she will be there.
Well, The Big Issue interview is online and although there aren’t any big bombshells dropped the conversation did take an interesting turn and I think they are probably reading it correctly that he was hinting at things to come:
http://magicinbakerstreet.tumblr.com/post/102284751582/cumberbatchlives-benedict-cumberbatchs
The most interesting line?
“Whenever I get the rare chance to be impulsive, I grab it with both hands which is why I do stupid things sometimes.”
Oh, Benedict…….
@gg
You mean, no actual mention of Sophie?
Ah, so he’s giving up motorcycle riding. I was hoping it’d be cigarettes. Oh well.
no mention of Sophie directly but he talks about reaching the point in his life when he realizes that other people need things from him, he wants to be able to go away on weekends (which it sounds like he was already doing with Sophie) and the whole “I’ll stop riding my motorbike when I become a dad” thing. The Big Issue pointed out this whole section of the interview and basically said “this was weeks before the announcement but it looks like he was trying to tell us something.”
Out of Elle, Flaunt and Out i think the big issue is my favourite interview. He sounds more relaxed and not try hard.
Oh he’s never going to give up smoking. I’d be more shocked if he gave up smoking than over his engagement. And before the baby train stops in the comments, he said “if and when”. Yes, I’m being pedantic and picky lol.
This was a good interview, I liked it. I didn’t like the Elle one at all. And I think he was definitely alluding to being in a relationship with that bit near the end. Shirky scoundrel indeed!
Now I’m real curious if he’ll do Dr. Strange, b/c that would be a huge commitment and take up a lot of time.
Why would he so obviously allude to being in a relationship when he’s so private and what’s to hide his personal life, though?
Seriously, with all the toe curling articles on that woman through the media and these little conveniently hinted articles, it’s just weird and embarrassing.
It’s only obvious now, after the relationship has been revealed. You can look back, like the author did, and say “ahh, there were hints…” At the time of the interview, it wouldn’t look completely out of place for him to be saying that theoretically he wanted to be able to go away for the weekend or think about what others need from him. Now you can make an argument he was talking about her.
It’ll be interesting to see how they handle it from here, though. Will they still do the ‘private’ thing and not be seen together? Or just embrace it like any other newly engaged couple and bee together? Lol.
MissMary-unfortunately I think you’re right about the smoking. He even mentioned smoking as a teen in the article. haha.
I also noticed his real quote said ‘if and when’, but the pull quote just said ‘when I’m a dad’. Oh, journalists… 🙂
Haha!! He needs to make up his mind.
Wants a long career/work until he is in his 70’s. But wants to work less?
“But he’s more wary now when it comes to talking about his private life because “It always comes back to haunt me in strange ways. I’ve been judged for my relationships or not being a Father in the weirdest ways.”
So he wants his private life private. He does things that only draws more attention to his private life. (Cloak and dagger stuff with SH. Going to Celeb/Pap hot spots) Announces his engagement in an International Publication. Some Interviews he alluded to being single, others he alluded to being in a relationship.
He doesn’t straight up say that he will give up riding a motorcycle.
“I don’t know how long I’ll ride a moterbike for. I’m sure “IF and WHEN” I become a Dad I won’t want to do that anymore.”
^I find that comment a bit strange. Because he skydives, snowboards, scuba dives and does other extreme stuff. He also smokes and drinks.. Yet, he might give up riding a motorcycle? Alrighty then!
Nobody will ever be able to come up with a valid reason for why he chose to announce an engagement in such a public way at all, let alone two days before embarking on a press blitz.
There is nothing that fits with his ideal of privacy. If there was, nobody would ever have known about it. Ever. He chose to abandon the privacy so he’s now given up the right to be pissed off when people ask him about his private life.
Guinea Pig-I agree with you there. If he didn’t want it out, the news wouldn’t be out. I get that the Times announcement is a tradition in his family, but his situation is sliiiiightly different than his parents’. Lol. They should understand if he didn’t want to announce it and wanted it private. So he was okay with it getting out.
And why would that be? He’s been super secretive about this relationship all along. Now he makes it public? And, he didn’t just show up somewhere with her holding hands or something to out the relationship, he put an engagement announcement in a national newspaper. Lol! Yes, I think it has to do with his upcoming press/Oscar run. I absolutely believe the relationship is real, but the engagement probably got moved up a few months (years?) to stir up publicity/make him look good.
Or it was just one of those impulsive things he says he does 🙂
@Tara
This is exactly my feelings. A month ago they wouldn’t walk a red carpet together then its an engagement in the Times. Yes its more classy and understated than People or Hello but it wasn’t a requirement. There was no need for it at all. All it did was pull focus squarely onto his private life which is the opposite of what he’s said he wants. Im sure either set of parents wouldn’t have done it without checking and getting their blessing. They woefully underestimated it and if his PR didn’t advise him this would happen then he needs new ones.
I’d wager like you said, they were on that track and may have moved it forward for whatever reason.
Id say the Times could have been impulsive.
There’s no way he wouldn’t realise that a newspaper announcement, especially right now would cause a big media interest. He’d have to be a total moron.
Tradition, maybe. I think his parents did it too. Normalcy.
Before you laugh, I’m presuming she wants to start showing up to stuff. Just showing up on his arm at a public event would have yielded the same type of attention but for a longer period of time because there would be a hotbed for speculation, and he draws page-views.
‘Are they serious?’ ‘Is she a beard?’, etc. This was like ripping the band-aid off faster, it’s already fallen off the front of Google News. Yes, I’ve thought about this too much.
I’m sorry but the whole thing is so forced, it’s just ridiculous.
Why would he need weekends for going away anyway? It’s not as if Sophie works mon-fri, or seemingly not very much not at all here and there.
And the little aside at the end from the magazine, a’la Elle. The whole thing is just..ugh.
^^ All of this!
Am I the only one who reads: “Whenever I get the rare chance to be impulsive, I grab it with both hands which is why I do stupid things sometimes” and thinks “yeah like proposing after five months you big idiot!”
Lol
No you’re not the only one. I think SH was the convenient recipient of one of his impulses. Sorry but this whole thing is too off for me to feel differently right now.
Maybe, but I don’t think he’d impulsively propose to her unless he really loved her. So that’s something, eh? It may not work out and he may come to regret the entire thing, but I just can’t see him proposing to someone without love. And that’s what we all want for him, right?
If the engagement was a planned/PR thing, I still can’t see him going along with it if he didn’t love the woman. I have to think he’s better than that.
Tara, he may believe he’s in love. Doesn’t make him a bad guy, just, erm, a bit too ‘impulsive’ indeed. But it happens, I had a friend who was a master in convincing herself she was in love with men. She had herself moving and having kids with one after dating for a month. (This was btw also a guy she’d known for years) We were roommates and I started looking for another flat, but fast forward a few months later and she confessed she’d never been truly in love and only wanted to be. She even fooled me. And I knew her very well. So it’s sometimes really, really, really hard to tell. I guess we’ll find out if it’s the real deal some way or the other with Benedict and Sophie. Something does feel/seem off, but we’ll see…People are strange sometimes, Benedict Cumberbatches (not a spelling mistake) included, lol.
I totally agree. It could feel exactly perfect right now, and they think they’ll be in it forever, but after a year of living together they think, ‘wtf was I thinking?’ Haha. I just think that the relationship is real and there are genuine feelings involved, or else he wouldn’t be engaged to her. However weird and sketchy they acted/act/will continue to act doesn’t really matter as long as they are happy.
Only time will tell, though 🙂
@gg – I wonder if he did a oops on the whole relationship and it got away from him.
Word. My SO is even a bigger conspiracy theorist than I am about this, lol (and they’re not even really fans of BC, just sucked into the drama, it seems) and their theory is it was always an intention to have an “awards season relationship” esp as he’s banged on about having trouble finding love, etc, so set up the image that he’s found it, he’s not a serial dater or “modelizer” and it not only lends an Old Hollywood Leading Man thing to his image, but also does no harm to PR since now people will ask about this instead of “WOW so Cumberbitches huh? Crazy fandom! Are you delicious?”. Drop some hints in interviews, find a willing “good friend” who won’t mind being cut loose in a few months with a bump to her career… But that’s SO’s theory, lol.
@missmary
All right, all right, all right. This weekend I discussed BC with a few friends – men and women. Heck, even my mom threw in her two cents. So, after a long conversation over beers they had the following reactions:
1. The men were shocked the way that BC went out of his way to “hide” or avoid acknowledging his relationship with SH. We only see pictures however, “real”people see them behaving like children. Even high school couples acknowledge each other. No man should disrespect his lady that way.
2. I understand that we may have two situations at play – personal and professional. SH and marketing for the movie. However, the movie did not make BC leave SH in a car and walk into a restaurant. From what we see they treat each other coldly and if they cared for each other they wouldn’t be able to do that. His words don’t match his actions. Or he sucks as a boyfriend. I don’t believe all that hiding and game playing – red carpet at LFF – was hiding love simply because love can’t really be hidden. Especially since he is supposed to be so much of a gentleman. Things don’t add up for the dreamy BC that we all know of and the cold man who didn’t walk the red carpet with the love of his life because he was trying to keep things quiet. Someone had to orchestrate that and it was probably him or his people. Just grow up and own it.
3. He was doing other things while his great romance was going on. Like other people. At least a big game of being seen with other people. Does anyone feel that this whole summer has been one big game? Including Rebecca Eaton proclaiming BC had a girl?
Too much effort.
4. Why on earth is SH being likened to the Virgin Mary? That is not normal under any circumstances. Someone is really working overtime to turn a nobody into a saint. I’m lost on that.
5. Who would benefit from this five months of crap? Why submit an engagement announcement two days before coming to the states? Especially since they had not set a date. I am Catholic and know he didn’t have to do this. He did have a reason, which he can’t deny. It was well timed. He could have submitted his announcement a little before the ceremony and certainly not in a huge paper. That is the smoking gun. It proves that there is a method to this madness.
6. You will have a hard time convincing me that this is a love match. I think his interviews are well scripted as he offered hints to each one. Again, so deliberate and purposely done. Marketing.
I have a theory about the LFF thing.
She was at the hotel they were getting ready and wore (if I remember correctly) Erdem dress. Very expensive and most likely a loan for the night aka PR/Weinstein arranged it. If we are going with the PR stunt narrative, I think they hoped that tabloids would notice her and make a big fuss. But, quite embarrassingly, no one did and she was even at first mixed with some other actress.
So stronger methods were needed…
@Moodgirl and Ingrid: I am on board! I’m serious–this matches everything I’ve been thinking… And if we’re wrong, we’re wrong, no skin off our backs, ya know? But it’s all just so wonky and weird. Hell, even Andy Dick had more “normalized” relationships with SOs in public than this is going down.
“She barely has a face! You couldn’t pick her out in a lineup of one!” — Maeby Funke
@ Me – “No touching!” (I love that show )
Oh my god. she is such a big celebrity. She works her ass off with her pet octopus and gets off on weekend.
I do wonder how his PR is going to handle the general mockery of SH’s sudden media blitz (well, such as it is) and being presented as a glossed up “perf” “delicate and noble beauty”… I’m seeing a lot of “Wtf” and general mockery of the articles floating around.
MissMary, why does she need PR and why did she have to be glossed up? I don’t really understand that. Also I didn’t read this latest article but I’m wondering if his engagement is just one of “impulses.” If it is, I do feel sorry for him.
That’s what I’m wondering–why give her this ridiculously Mary Sue’d run of articles and gushing. Even with Amal (whom she is NOTHING like outside of hair color and gender assigned at birth), they didn’t gush this effusively and she has legit accomplishments and is awesome both on and off paper. At least IMO lol. And apparently George Clooney’s, lol. There’s a distinct smell of PR attempt on all these sudden “OMG Sophie is so amazing” articles… if she were so amazing, why are the majority of people just now hearing about her? Her career isn’t attention-grabbing outside a few niche corners of avant garde and experimental theatre, she’s not famous, her acting is widely panned… but suddenly she’s the second coming of Audrey Hepburn, Princess Di, and a dash of Waity Katie and Amal to boot.
@Renee: because her fiancè is on the cusp of being an A lister, he’s hot property right now.
What i don’t like about that idea is that someone feels she has to big her up to be worthy of him or something.
What if she was just a regular joe working for a company? Or is it just because shes in the industry they feel it has to be padded out.
whatever you think about what shes done career wise, she’s done them up to now independent of him and association with him.
The comparison of SH to Amal makes me want to throw up. Actually all the articles suddenly gushing over with praise for SH are cringeworthy. And unnecessary, IMO.
Are the media actually comparing her to Clooney’s mrs? Is that an actual thing that’s happened?
Guinea Pig: Yes. And I’m personally offended by the comparison.
No, she’s not like Amal. Very few are.
: o
I love amal’s hair. Its black @missmary. Octopussy has a pale dirty brown color. If Amal did not wash her hair for 1month she might have gotten this color.
I’m just hoping he soon realizes the stupidity of his “impulsiveness.”
What luck SH had–to be the one available when he decided to get impulsive. Apologies…I am still in “bitch mode” over this. I understand his sour-ass look in the pics.
It’s all wrong. All wrong. Nobody can convince me otherwise.
With his sour puss otter face and the ham handedness of her family, he maybe feeling that already.
With you Encumbered, definitely not right at all, I just hope she’s not preggers so he has time to realize the error of his ways….
@lindy79: in that case the narrative would be different; more like a fairytale — in this case, they’re going with the “accomplished/kick ass/independent/artsy type”
She’s a working gal, so that we don’t have to be surprised if she doesn’t follow him everywhere
or if they break off the engagement due to hectic work schedule\conspiracy theoristGood point.
They’re overdoing it a bit. It’s coming across a bit forced and false. Like when you can read someones CV and know they’re bullshitting.
It also in my mind inadvertently lessens her experience. Like its not enough to stand on its own so we have to make it look better.
Which again, even if you dont like what shes done, it does her a disservice.
@missmary – I have no doubt that Harvey Weinstein is behind the pr blitz for SH. No doubt about it. Can’t be anyone else and her pr aligns wiith the onslaught of commercials that someone up thread said are now on British television. Who else would have the power to put that out. Certainly not BC nor SH or their people.
I was half joking with my tin hat stuff earlier but the more I read and see, and the more I think about Weinstein, the more I think maybe those of us side eyeing and waiting for the “oh, we’re so sad it didn’t work out” aren’t too far off. I mean, maybe we are, but there’s too many weird things going on. And by that I mean “I’ve never in my life, either with people I actually know or people whose performing I admire and will read about online/in mags, have seen such weird behavior about an engagement unless it was in a bad romance novel and somene was being forced under threat of blackmail or ruination to do it.”
Just read the Big Issue article. Definitely feel like Benedict is a man in love. “When it’s right, it’s right.” 🙂 I hear ya Ben.
Well that’s what Elle magazine wanted you think too, so…..
God, I hope that this is a sarcastic comment…
GeeMoney, that was not a sarcastic comment. After reading that article, I do believe that he is in love. The strange behavior these past couple of months no longer appears to be strange. It appears Ben was attempting to protect her from scrutiny and “normalize” his relationship. Would I have done that? Heck no, but to each his own.
Why protect her? At least like this? He’s dated plenty of women over the years and never acted like they had the plague. She’s hardly shy (just look at her cv and what she’s willing to put on film/promote) and she’s not a delicate hothouse flower from a VIctorian novel.
How can the strange behaviour no longer seem strange? Surely it’s even more strange? Firstly, I don’t think she needs protecting. She hardly seems like a shrinking violet. Secondly how is seeing her out the door of the corinithian into the photographers or giving her her own car so she can conspicuously emerge from it onto the red carpet keeping her from scrutiny? And now the public announcement instead of just getting on with his life like every other actor who doesn’t seek the limelight?
That’s not normalizing. That’s weirdalzing.
I find it telling that in all the articles about this that say “they have been quietly seeing each other since the spring” I have yet to see one that mentioned “actually she did attend his London premiere of his latest film, was driven in her own SUV and walked down the red carpet alone.”
Word, he isn’t looking like a man in love, not then, and certainly not now*just after* proposing to someone.
@gg: What gets me is that while the articles say he’s been quietly seeing her since the spring, they leave out him quietly seeing the other women he was spotted with during that time, too.
@gg @Jay
I have a feeling that you two are going to be eating some serious crow sooner or later…
@Geemoney, I think many of these posters will be eating crow when he marries and stays with until old age. Similar to those posters who swore up and down that they weren’t dating based on their lack of chemistry.
How can you possibly guess whether he’d be with her until old age? Who could possibly know anything like that? Christ, people don’t even know that in their OWN relationships.
And whether he’s dating, engaged whatever.. That doesn’t change how people feel about the whole situation. So it’s far from silenced anyone’s misgivings.
@Jay
Oh Jay… let’s get back to each other when the dust on this bad relationship settles…
Put me on the crow eating team with Jay, lol. I think it’s real and they are going to give it a real go. Whether it works or not, of course no one can say, but I don’t think he’d get engaged unless he saw a future with the woman. And I don’t think he’d see a future with the woman if he didn’t love her.
I just hope his parents are okay. All these quotes about realizing life beyond himself and figuring out that you can say no to stuff…. Falling in love can help you do that. Or losing someone you love…. From where I sit, far far away, if Olivia couldn’t help him see that you can say no to stuff after 10 years, it’s hard to think Sophie would be able to help him see that in a couple of months. Maybe seeing that your parents are running out of time….
Is he worried about his parents? Remember a while back he said he had gone through a spell where someone very close to him was sick but was doing better at that moment?
Ugh. I have older parents who I adore too. I hope his family is doing well.
He’s been making a lot of contradictory statements. Maybe that’s his personality. Maybe that’s why Olivia wouldn’t say yes for so many years. In that case, Sophie has no idea what’s coming. I don’t doubt they’ve been acquainted for several years. But I don’t buy that they were actually friends.
Don’t know about the being in love bit, but I do wish I’d placed bets on the thing he’d give up when he’d become a dad. I totally knew he was going for the motor bike! Did anyone else guess that too? It’d be wiser to give up smoking really, but I think he’d find that too hard. He’s one of those ‘in it for life’ smokers. Even if it’s just one a day.
I’d thought he was going to say skydiving, tbh! Seems a lot riskier than the motorbike LOL
🙂
Well, he probably rides the motorbike almost every day and sky dives only rarely.
Any parent i know that rides and loves it, its part of their blood. They never give it up entirely, they do it a lot less but never completely.
He’d be better off giving up the ciggs if he cares that much.
I guessed cigarettes. Motorcycle didn’t even cross my mind.
When it happens, he’ll have to upgrade to the Jaguar Mini-van 😉
LOL, get on that Jaguar! Your spokesperson needs one soon(ish)…
Jay.
I read the Bug Issue.. And I didn’t get ‘he’s in love’ from it.
I got that he wanted to be in love and felt that he’d be able to recognise when he was.
The feeling he had with Olivia I’d guess
THAT’S it! The vibe he *wants* this to happen and will *make* it happen, not that it’s an organic thing. I still smell PR on it though, even with that vibe.
MissMary
I think people are looking too hard at his interviews.
They’re putting a twist on everything he says in them.Looking for hints and clues that he was planning this.And I honestly don’t think it was his intention.
What sang out to me was the impulse.Feels like that’s what the engagement was.An impulse.
He’s in love with an idea of love.Not sure he’s actually found it with SH.
Word. It’s easy to look back on interviews and say OH he mentioned x so that means he’s been planning this since whenever!” when this is smacking so heavily of impulse and PR spin that I am having a hard time believing interviews he gave in August have anything to do with SH and are all more to do with cultivating a new image as a serious, settled guy who wants to do serious work and be recognized by more than just other actors and a small fan base, culling out his goofy and fun-snarky image for the new “serious actor” one.
Damn his own narrative makes him sound deperate. I would hate to be the woman who would say yes when’s guy pops the question just to fulfill a personal goal.
I’m gonna miss Silly Benny so much.
@Felice – By the time SH is finished with him Silly Benny is going to miss Silly Benny. LOL!
@Madly – Hasn’t he always sounded desperate about finding love. At least he has since I discovered him.
To me he’s always sounded more interested in having kids than finding love, tbh. There is this quote, which many found swoonworthy but I just found creepy. (The mother of your children….how romantic! Not)
On who he would want to meet in the world dead & alive & what he would say to them:
“Hitler. I’d tell him his paintings were great and to stay off the politics and get laid. Alive… The mother of my children and I’d ask them to take a deep breath and if they fancied a drink”.
He said last year that he had personal goals he wanted to fulfill. He was desperate then. Maybe marriage was one of them. He looked around until he found someone who fit the bill, which is why he did it in less than five months because, let’s face it, this whole sordid mess took place in less than five months.
Funny thing, I admitted to my bf this morning that I want to get married but my current man isn’t cutting it. Nice but whatever. So, now I have a few personal goals to fulfill. LOL.
FFS, Kaz…I don’t know if that was a typo or you intended to write “Bug” issue, but I am damn near peeing myself laughing!! Many different interpretations there!
On another note, for those who venture to the EB site, there is a photo of B & S backstage at Hay.
Madly- maybe this is one of her personal goals, too (to be married to someone like him, or just married at all), so it could work out fine if they’re both on the same page going into it.
And to play Devil’s Advocate- Both sides can look back at articles and pick out quotations that fit their beliefs. It’s not so different to say the “when it’s right, it’s right’ or ‘I want to take more weekend trips’ is about his relationship with SH than it is to say his ‘when I get the chance to be impulsive…I do stupid things’ is about him proposing. Both are examples of taking things he’s said and making them about his relationship, which they may have nothing to do with at all.
The first thing I thought of when he said I do impulsive/stupid things was the U2 photobomb. 🙂
Um, that was a good interview. But if we’re reading into it, he’s a bit all over the place.
First, he’s got this nut-tastic theory that Turing offed himself because he couldn’t have children. Then, all of a sudden, “when it’s right, it’s right.” Then, out of nowhere, after the love of his life fought and kicked and screamed and scratched and gave the cold shoulder and everything else – we’re supposed to believe this basic chick helped him see the light about saying “no” to stuff in a few months? And they’ve been such close friends all these years; they just rarely saw each other?
I was not on the preggo train, but after the comment about not riding his bike, when he becomes a dad? The thing he said right before that was, “I don’t know how much longer I’ll ride a motorbike.”
So, either he already knew Sophie was pregnant or he already knew he wanted to put a ring on it. If it’s the latter, the jacked up way she attended the premiere was… jacked up and nonsensical, which means it was probably his idea. IMHO, a mature woman knows that a man who is that concerned with the press, as opposed to living like a normal couple, is not ready to marry. Yikes. WTF is wrong with people?
I’ll continue to watch his stuff, but who’s up next for hottest, sexiest, internet lovah of the year?
http://londonphile.tumblr.com/post/102321788041/et-interview-benedict-talks-about-his-engagement
he talks about the announcement but not her
A lot of “I” but not a lot of “We”. And like I said below, I’ve seen people look more excited talking about getting an ingrown toenail fixed than he looks talking about being engaged.
He could honestly just say “Yes it’s traditional and I would do it if I weren’t famous all that matters is it’s me and the woman I love” but I guess that’s too much *privacy*
You’re right, Mary. I I I. It’s almost like he’s talking about something removed from himself.
He really did seem very detached. And yes, it’s all “I” and no “we.” But to be honest, I always thought that he came off as very self-absorbed and narcissistic.
@Me: If we’re going to find a new internet loverboy, can we make Richard Armitage a thing again?
Miss Mary, Richard sometimes seems a bit too brooding and snarky for my taste. But he looks sweet with Lee Pace. Mmmnnnnn – Lee Pace <3
His restrained response to the journo makes me feel bad for Sophie.
He is so skinny! He looks like he lost a lot of weight recently, and it doesn´t look healthy. He has been famous for about 4 years now, but in all that time I never saw him look like this. It´s a pity.
Well, he’s getting ready to film a Sherlock special soon, and he always gets super thin for Sherlock, so it’s likely more down to that than anything else.
I don’t think he has time to eat with a schedule like his.
Hell, I don’t even know how he had time to propose or ring shop. Or build a meaningful relationship with this woman.
@ingrid – Bingo. I wouldn’t pull my pants down before four months. I am slow to get to know people. So, considering the traveling and other women that he was seen with, the odd cold nature in which they interacted I don’t see how they did it.
“I wouldn’t pull my pants down before four months.”:-) Well I wouldn’t either.
But these two, well we have all seen it, they can’t take their hands of each other. 🙂
I just hope she is not pregnant (or she doesn’t become). I know it is a horrible thing to say, but for the sake of the potential child, hopefully she isn’t. There is no love and respect in this relationship, and it is a horrible thing to be a child in that kind of relationship because one of the most valuable thing parents can give to their children is to love each other.
And also … what kind of woman says yes after 5 months (and it has not been 5 months it was prob less).
@lola – Kaley Cuoco from “The Big Bang Theory” admitted on national television that she slept with her now husband on their first date. People do what they want to do obviously but I would have kept that to myself. She said “I hope I don’t sound slutty.” Yeah.
Lola, lots of women do say yes to a proposal quickly. But BC and Sophie have special circumstances to consider I would think. I wouldn’t think it weird if they declared to each other that they felt on the marriage track at 5 months. But the actual engagement is weird.
It’s kind of nice to know that I’m not the only girl who’s slow to get into bed these days. It feels like everyone else jumps in right away – like it’s more important to know if you’re sexually compatible than it is to know other basis stuff! Sheesh…
I heard it’s not weird for Brits to bang on the first date. And by date, I mean group outing to a pub. Is this incorrect?
On Sunday night he was in Silicon Valley presenting at the Breakthrough Awards with Eddie Redmayne, among others.
Good, I’m glad he didn’t have to fly back to England on Sunday to work for a few days before the NYC TIG premiere. That would’ve been nuts.
Yep. He was slated to be in Gloucester today for filming but didn’t show on set (I’m sure they knew in advance and he didn’t just rail and say deuce). They’re still filming parts of Richard III and he’s still due to take part but it looks like he’s rearranged something with the Beeb to fit his TIG schedule.
He went back to England. He left at 6:30pm.
“Would a bachelor party follow the formal red carpet festivities, we wondered? “He’s filming Richard III tomorrow,” said Goode. “He’s getting on a plane so we won’t have much time. We’ll do it in New York maybe, at my place.” The Imitation Game’s Allen Leech, who just wrapped the Christmas episode of Downton Abbey, wants in. “If I get invited and I’m there, I would be very, very happy,” he laughed. Us to, sir. Us too.”
That’s nuts.
Interesting. You’d think, if there was a bachelor party (which wouldn’t be this early anyway), it’d be his BFF that hosted. *eyes Adam* His very silent about the engagement BFF.
Maybe they are getting married within few days.
I got stuck on this bit “when I get the chance to be impulsive I grab it with both hands, which is why I do stupid things sometimes”. Because I think he just did that, rushing into marriage, big time….Ruh Roh…..
@ohHey – This group is hilarious.
@ohHey – Yeah I think that line is going to come back to haunt him, big time
I don’t think its a sham engagement. He’d never do that to is parents. he adores them. However I do think he’s caved into pressure and will probably live to regret it.
I agree, Betsy. I don’t think he would do that to them but I don’t think they necessarily knew it was coming either – at least not so soon. Why haven’t we heard anything from them? I get the feeling he popped the question on impulse and then he and/or he and Sophie called in that notice themselves.
That would be a real silly thing for them to do if they’re going to continue with the ‘lets not be seen together’ thing. Hopefully, they can act like a normal couple now. Nothing to hide anymore 🙂
I think the PR had to know about the announcement. Firstly, Times wouldn’t release it without checking it’s real from his reps. I mean *anyone* could have called it in. And secondly, it’s not the standard way celebs announce engagements, some thought went to it.
@gg – If he called in his own engagement and his parents have even a whiff of inappropriate behavior I bet they are disappointed. They seem to be very protective of him. I hope that SH didn’t put the pressure on him but considering how her mother is behaving and the leaks in the paper that probably came from her mother or brother I wouldn’t be surprised. Maybe this is why the silence from his side is deafening
Someone pointed out that in such announcements it is usually the bride’s name that goes first. Surely Wanda would know that, but Benedict would not. That’s why I think he called it in. And as far as checking – don’t you think his voice would be enough? And if he told them to keep it quiet because he wanted it to be a surprise? Even the Guardian pointed out that the notice had to be called in by 3:30 on Monday but the Times did not run the story until Wednesday, along with everyone else.
I’d like to think he wouldn’t but at the same time, I think he wants to be in the big leagues *bad* and may figure his parents are old enough to handle a broken engagement for their son if it means he gets a PR boost and some new notice and meatier, awards-baity roles his way. But as always, I’m super cynical.
@MissMary I’m super cynical too (and I kind of love your SO’s theory)
I think you can trace some of his bad moods to losing roles. He was this down around the time JJ Abrams changed the Star Wars script. I;m beginning to wonder if he and Marvel didnt come to an agreement after all.
Perhaps he and Sam Mendes have gone their separate ways and wont be producing a series based on the Patrick Melrose books. Mendes is selling his production company.
Oh gosh, I don’t think his parents give a crap about PR, they want him to be married so he can have kids and they can have granchildren. I don’t think it’s a PR stunt, I think it’s impulsive, sounded like a good idea at the time, and better than nothing at this point, which is beyond sad. She is so not his soulmate, if anything she’s going to make me more pretentious which he has struggled not to be with all the adulation. He keeps trying to be his normal, goofy self. Bye bye, Normal Goofy Ben.
I *hope* it’s PR thing for his sake. It’s the best bad option.
Never push the teabag with the spoon??? You’re out the door??? Wow, tea obsessed crazy…
Are all BRitish like this?
I love tea, but God, I don’t kick anyone out of the house because of how they drink / make the tea…
*eyerolling.. when one doesn’t know what to say, just keep it shut..*
i only drink coffee, i can’t stand tea and i am english all the way. I hate the smell, taste and everything.
I should have said I like herbal teas… you know, camomile, etc… no Earl Grey or whatever… Oh, some herbal teas with a spoon of honey… yummi…..
@solanaceae, Nighty, dear, it has been forever! The sideboard is well stocked with tea of all sorts, including camomile and some mint tea. Do help yourself, please.
@’P’enny, did Colin prepare the coffee to your liking?
sort of Lilacflowers, but Colin asked his servants to make it, it was sort of beneath him and the smell wasn’t enough to tempt him. But, still the thought that counts. I told him Mr Whickham aka Matthew Goode made a much better coffee, and that got him in a huff. Still, can’t please them all. In the meantime, Mr Bingley aka Hiddles in a fedora is bringing me some special beans from Louisiana.
I’m feel sorry for Benedict today, I felt I was a bit mean to him yesterday due to a bad case of PMT so I am inviting him round for coffee and a zygoma massage, but no tea. He needs to up his caffeine levels a bit and get a smile, so I am going to lace it with Hiddles-fun powder.
Hi nighty! *waves*
I think if I’d gotten engaged to someone I loved, and the world reacted with doubt, disbelief, mockery and conspiracy theories, I’d be at least a little bit pissed off too. Add that to a crazy schedule and I would have permanent bitchface on in public.
But the thing is… he already looked miserable before that.
And all the disbelief merely exists because of how ridiculously they handled all this.
Oh please.. “The world” lmao. A couple of gossipy Internet sites and a group of fans are not ‘the world’, my dear. ‘The world’ doesn’t give a shit. And more to the point, as if he’s going to let the said fans affect his mood. As if he’d give a shit what a few gossipy strangers are speculating about tot the point where it would affect him to that extent. Seriously, it’s sad that some fans genuinely think they’re significant in his life.
As for his crazy scehdule..well, that’s what he signed up for. It’s his job and travelling around filming and promoting a film isn’t anything to look like thunder about it. In fact many actors would kill for it.
Who does give a shit though, other than a group of fans and sites? Academy voters and Weinstein. the voters are still old white dudes by and large, and conservative more than not. Pardon me, my tinfoil hat is slipping, lol.
Perhaps he suffers from depression.
@Erm, if I were engaged, with a career like his, I wouldn’t give a damn about what a bunch of people on the internet said about me. I would be too busy living my life:)
If he’s stressed/unhappy it’s not for what people say here or on Tumblr or on DL. I think that he’s just feeling like he’s whoring himself out for the Oscars and it’s overwhelming him. And I don’t know how much of a choice he really has about it.
I read somewhere today that while Jennifer Lawrence was shooting one of the hunger games movies, in 2012, Weinstein made her do events even though she had pneumonia and a ruptured ear; Weinstein’s campaigns are war machines, I think Ben he’s realizing that it’s going to be some long months, and he has been working non stop since…I think 2010? He has to do PR for three movies …hell, it’s exhausting.
Weinstein’s PR machine is notoriously brutal, and actors who want to be in the big time bad enough won’t run their mouth about it, at least not until they’re very well established and willing not to work for/with Harvey again, or can afford to piss him off a little.
I could *almost* buy that he misses her, and would rather be with his new fiancee than caught up in the Weinstein PR machine. But then where is she? I’m sure she could have come along. Hell, I’m sure Weinstein would prefer her to be as visible as possible. We will see how visible she is in coming weeks.
@gg: careful what you wish for…;)
BC has been looking unhappy for a lot longer than this promo tour.
What Elsa said. This sourpuss thing has been going on for way longer than the “SGF” and fiancee things.
And yet, knowing that he was going to be doing promo, that he was going to be out of the country, he still proposed. Maybe she will join him in NY. Will be v.interesting to see.
gg- she’ll be rolled out shortly. Then we can see them interacting and whatnot. And finally get a picture of them together that’s not from the tennis match. Lol.
She’s already been “rolled out”–and it’s not taking.
I wonder how she will react to fans sucking up to her.
MissMary..the Cumbercollective seems thrilled. Maybe it is working.
@aly, completely agreed about Weinstein’s PR machine. I just want to add that I don’t believe there’s ANY actor in the world who doesn’t know what Weinstein demands of those who he takes on board of his Oscar-mongering ship. There’s no way Cumberbatch didn’t know what awaited him; I think that if anything, he miscalculated his ability to play Weinstein’s games. Also, Cumberbatch has had most of 2014 off (he’s done only a couple of weeks of Black Mass shooting in summer iirc and has spent most of the year playing the PR game) and it’s only the last month or so that has been truly intense, so I think that it’s more of a psychological issue.
Not all of ’em, Renee. the “Big Name Fans” who are the nannies and their “followers” to but many are going “wait, what?” The ones who seem to be “OMG HOW ROMANTIC AND PERFECT!” are the ones who said that about the Kinvara rumors, Lydia, Anna, etc. WHen he pops up with someone else down the road, it’ll be the same thing.
Oh, ok MissMary. I try not to follow too much from the “nannies.” Bit too synchophantic for me. on another note, a reporter on ET asked BC about his engagement announcement. He said he was old-fashioned and he would’ve done it that way even if he wasn’t famous.
PR planning would have started in Feb, when Weinstein bought the rights.
And yes, Weinstein is trash. He’s not above blackmailing, smear campaigns, lawsuit threats, etc., mainly when it comes to lead actors. He’s just a disgusting person.
February when the KB rumors started, you mean? Right before he was spotted several places with her, looking as “loved up” as he does with SH? February before KB vanished and SH showed up with him two months later at the FO? Hmmm. Tinfoil hat firmly in place, I’m wondering if KB said hell no to a long game for PR and he moved on.
Really silly question, but where is Sophie’s input in this whole engagement thing? Isn’t it the bride who normally controls the announcement? Is Ben going to pick her wedding dress too? Honestly, Sophie has my sympathy. Trying to imagine the emotional energy she will have to put into Molly coddling him. Do actors ever come to terms with their insecurities and grow up? Sorry for the rant. The man is not a bad person (I suspect) and is clearly talented. Just hope he is happier around her. Perhaps he will buy that cottage by the sea and she can serve him calamari.
-MissMary: Could be wrong, but I’d think Weinstein had something preliminary in place late Feb/early March. But Balfour was around well before that, and she really wasn’t around that much this year. That was fueled by a lot of wrong information speculation.
KB was with him for the Grand Prix and around just before FO and was legit spotted with him at some events (same thing as SH–not touchy lovey but at the event with him/same time as him)… then after FO time, nada. Got me wondering. Weinstein bought the rights to TIG in February, iirc, and with my tin hat firmly in place, I can see how a PR machination a la Weinstein’s shady PR machine would start around then. *adjusts tin foil*
Honestly, I don’t know much about this guy beyond that he plays Sherlock (I don’t watch it) and was Khan in the Star Trek movie. I click on these threads just cause the sheer number of comments usually means something interesting is going on.. And also Kaiser is hilarious. But I don’t know, I’d be cranky if my fans turned on me just because I got engaged (as is my impression from a non-fan perspective as I really don’t know enough about his life or fans to know otherwise). But we’re all different people, maybe he’s more like those of you who wouldn’t give a damn. I figured it was just the simplest expansion for the crankiness (aside from lack of sleep) , but we’re all free to think what we want of the situation. *shrugs* Yes, and the publicity schedule sounds gruelling so that is also a likely explanation.
I can only speak for myself but I’m not turning on him and certainly not because he got engaged.
I’m judging his behaviour lately as it makes him look a bit hypocritcal and odd.
-Is a bit judgey about sex in Sherlock fan fiction in one interview then in another graphically describes Sherlock having sex
-Wants to be private but she walks out of his hotel to waiting photographers and then marches up the red carpet on her own, not with his friends or family where she could have blended in.
-Goes to dinner with her, they go in separate cars and he goes in ahead of her, leaving her sitting in a car.
-Personal life is private but then announces his engagement out of nowhere in the Times newspaper. Posh, yes but private, no.
-Acts a bit surly (refers to I not We) and fails to crack a smile when it’s mentioned to him. He makes no reference to his fiance at all, just the announcement and why HE did it. He was more animated describing his dad’s tea.
-A lot of his interviews lately have had various elements of snark and it comes across badly. He seems increasingly over his fans and the whole fame thing is “nonsense”. This from a man who spent the first half of 2014 enjoying and attending everything that his fame has afforded him, non of which related to acting at all. Recently he went to a pap heavy restaurant and then the opening of a shoe shop.
-Yes a small amount of his fans are a bit nuts but he seems unable to separate them…and was more than happy to take their money and pose with them and the Oz comic con earlier in the year.
Sorry for the long response, it just annoys me that if you question this, you’re labelled some sort of jealous fangirl who is crying into her Sherlock dvds.
This is the only place I talk about him, outside of the internet I don’t give a rats bum.
@Lindy: I wish this were Tumblr and we could post animated gifs because I would give you a standing ovation one right now. You said everything I would have said, and better. And yes, for that matter if he is so exhausted, why did he go to the opening of a shoe shop??
he was miserable before the engagement was announced, so so much for your theory.
The pr rollout and planning are done months in advance.
After coming back from the imitation game, I do have to say: Benedict looks just as miserable engaged as Alan Turing did…
Did you like the movie? And ouch…:(
I loved it.
I thought Bens performance was really remarkable, def worth a nomination. Knightley and Goode could be in the game as well.
It was surprisingly funny (but always tasteful), devastating at the end (I knew about it, and yet I was weeping) and generally really beautifully done.
I think IF you are searching for problems, it might be the script but even that was close to perfect.
I think it really depends if you like movies that play in that period as well. But yeah.. I loved it.
@Pinky; I love those kind of movies, I would have seen TIG regardless of Ben – and I have to wait until January to see it, because that’s when it comes out in my country…:(
I am so glad I moved to London^^
If I was still living in Austria, I would have to wait until January as well 😛
That’s strong… 🙂 Probably he is just tired… I mean, he’s supposed to be happy, getting married and having kids, right??
* sounding a little bit too cynical, right now…*
Seriously.. There was a scene in the movie *careful spoilers* right after they get engaged, and he has that same sort of empty, sad, miserable half assed smile there. I was literally struck there in the cinema.
Absolutely. I definitely see how much he’s beaming recently *sarcasm out*
@Pinky lucky you;) I’m stuck in my home country for the foreseeable future…
Yep…here he is talking about his engagement announcement and didn’t crack a smile the whole time. Yeah, he’s over the moon…..
http://instagram.com/p/vPYriaIZVu/
I’m so buying it. *nods, munches popcorn* Grand romance here. Look at that loving, excited expression on his… Oh. Wait, I’m looking at every other man on earth talking about his fiance, not BC.
Every other person who just got engaged would be over the moon. Not normal. Can I have some popcorn, MissMary??
I brought plenty–I think we’ll need it all before this thing ends one way or another, lol.
I can totally get being low key, not being Tom Cruise about it, but not so…bland and bored.
I have a nice Cabernet to go with the popcorn. That video of him talking about the engagement. Eesh, if that is the happiest he has ever been, I don’t think I want to see what he looks like depressed….
LOL @missmary!!
Not just bland and bored, borderline sullen if not just plain angry. Sheesh. I’ve been happier about having a root canal.
I was happier when my tomatoes didn’t grow in my plant
@missmary – I want BC to do Tom Cruise!!!!!!!!!
Odd. No other word for it.
I wonder does he think he’s being clever in showing no emotion to the press when in fact it just makes him look cold. I mean..you announced it they didn’t so you’re allowed to smile and look excited.
Odd.
Benedict commenting on the announcement
http://londonphile.tumblr.com/post/102321788041/et-interview-benedict-talks-about-his-engagement
Few observations:
1. isn’t he just “beaming”?
-Please, darling Ben, you could show at least the same level of enthusiasm while talking about the engagement as you did when talking about your dad’s tea
2. Karon smiles more
3. “I” not “we”
WOW. I’ve seen people–even very private people–look more thrilled announcing they’d gotten an ingrown toenail fixed than he looks there. Maybe that’s just his “resting bitch face” at work but wow.
I thought it was just me, but the woman asking the question was more enthusiastic. I always thought if BC found love he’d be so happy. WTAF is this person? When I got engaged, I was freaking ecstatic. I don’t get it.
Karon has to smile. Nobody else is. Someone has to look excited about the news. Oh, and the interviewer. She looked excited.
I know, right? Grinning all over the place about his dad’s blend of tea and for the love of his life he can’t even must a half smile. FFS, what is wrong with this picture…
And *that* is why some folks are wondering wtf is up with this engagement–he looked far happier about his dad’s tea than about the woman he just apparently asked to marry him. Karon was smiling in that pageant mom way. “SMILE DEAR LIKE THIS SMILE DAMN IT” and I did snorf a bit when I saw that.
This all begins to look a lot like Sherlock’s “engagement” to Janine.
At least with Janine, Sherlock faked it beautifully, acted happy and sweet and drove John nearly mad for it (Freeman gives the best face ever). Ben’s not even trying, he looks practically broken and just enduring it. Hell….who is she, Satan?
(Aside: If this goes to shit with SH like I and others think it will, I hope he dates Yasmine Akram, who played Janine, even if it’s just a fling. She’s funny and beautiful and just seems super fun to hang out with).
I’m calling it. Dad is sick 🙁 He must be….
He’s not doing well and BC is going out of his mind. I hope I’m wrong. As much as I pictured BC with someone else, it would be better if this were true love than watching BC lose his father.
IDK… Timothy was seeming pretty well at LFF. BC does have an uncle who has a motor neurone type disease and he was rumored to be doing poorly this past year so I think that’s who he was referring to when he spoke of someone close to him being unwell.
I hope it’s not his parents, despite Wanda being a fierce mama bear I think they’re lovely, and that would devastate him, and might explain why he’s so unhappy. Please not that…. This is not true love, IYAM I think she’s pregnant and he’s doing the gentlemanly thing. I’d rather see him with Jennifer Lawrence, she at least has a sense of humor.
Maybe, it’s uncle then. Tim is such a cutie pie. I’d like him to stick around a bit longer.
BC has said he would be fiercely protective of those he loves but does that extend to being tense about even mentioning the person or smiling when their name comes up? Something is, indeed, rotten in the State of Cumberbatch.
All this resume polishing, too. I think they’re trying to get out in front of the fact that she is posh by trying to make her sound like an accomplished posh type. “So, it’s okay” kind of things. No one looked down on Matt Damon for marrying a bartender. Or Nick Cage marrying a waitress he had only dated for 6 months. (They’re still together too!) It almost would have been better if they tried to down play her, instead of trying to match her up next to Amal.
I don’t know what’s up with Cumby. I’m going to miss him. I think this is the new Benedict.
I don’t think she’s pregnant (like I said before–I’m sure her family would’ve blabbed that bit) but I think they’re trying to really present him as Old Hollywood Leading Man material, and shake off some of his more, ah, ardent fanbase. Lose the young women and the ones who camp out for days to see him, keep the ones who are more into his work or who would gossip but not go apeshit about it by harassing his friends on twitter, etc. Build this new Benedict image rather than “hey, it’s Cumby!” and in a few months, people will just see “this guy” and he can either slowly bring back the goofy (tempered with seriousness) or this is what we got. SH is out of the picture in one scenario, because she served her purpose and the whole “oh, work/time/wanted different things” excuse can be trotted out. In the other, she sticks around and they’re bland and miserable-looking. Those are just theories though. Who knows what’ll go down.
@ MissMary: about Yasmine: yes! hell, even I would date her and I’m straight <3
So weird. It’s all “I”. Like he’s speaking about something that he’s obligated to. Like she isn’t even a part of the equation. Something throwaway.
Karon looked pretty good for, well, Karon. Really.
Has anyone given thought that the reason they stayed under cover is because he didn’t want to piss off Olivia? Didn’t they all travel in the same social group? I know I would be upset if my former SO dated one of my associates, no matter how long it had been. Its in the rules, you know. Otherwise, I’m stuck. Makes no sense.
Olivia is dating someone else and has been for a while. They’ve been openly cordial (Olivia and BC) and she’s even gone to his events and he’s attended hers, no problem. They’ve been split for almost five years now. And iirc, she’s the one who broke it off with him…
i’m side-eyeing anyone who claims they don’t see the change in him from congenial dork, to miserable grump. they are either in denial, or were never very attentive fans to begin with.
I’m a new-ish fan and I can see something isn’t right. I don’t know what is going on but something is definitely off. If I’m wrong and this is some grand romance I guess I’ll have to eat crow.
Hell, even my SO and their BFF, who aren’t into his work beyond Sherlock and even then, only in passing, see pics of him and ask wtf is he so grouchy about.
Newish fan here and even I can see the difference between pre-SH and post-SH
And yes, Yasmine, she’s hilarious, she’d make a lovely girlfriend (or tryst , as he says, if she’s into that sort of thing). Anyone but Miss Pretentious Twat. My gut is infallible, I didn’t like her from the first photos ,and I like her even less now with all the shenanigans.
A part of me can’t bring myself to watch those videos. I am getting to the point where I can’t watch the misery much longer.
I am not buying that someone near him is unwell and that is why he looks this way. If so, he could have mustered up a grin still at that part. Nope. It’s like those actresses who say they lost all that weight from stress, please.
An article from USA Today:
http://entertainthis.usatoday.com/2014/11/10/benedict-cumberbatch-explains-that-old-school-engagement-announcement/
” “It’s what I would have done if I wasn’t famous. It’s a normal thing to do in my country,” he told USA TODAY. “It was a way of telling our friends who we hadn’t been able to tell before (they saw) some grainy shot of a ring on her finger.”
His pal and co-star Matthew Goode agreed it was very “old school” of Cumberbatch to list his announcement in the Times. “I like that,” he said. Goode flew in from the set of The Good Wife to celebrate the film – and Cumberbatch. “We’ve both found Sophies!” grinned Cumberbatch, grabbing Goode in a hug on the press line. (Goode is married to Sophie Dymoke.)
Would a bachelor party follow the formal red carpet festivities, we wondered? “He’s filming Richard III tomorrow,” said Goode. “He’s getting on a plane so we won’t have much time. We’ll do it in New York maybe, at my place.” The Imitation Game’s Allen Leech, who just wrapped the Christmas episode of Downton Abbey, wants in, too. “If I get invited and I’m there, I would be very, very happy,” he laughed. Us to, sir. Us too.”
Err…except nobody was following her around taking pics of her, except when she was walking down red carpets by herself.
Guess they didn’t tell their friends, did they? Sounds like they didn’t really tell anyone before they put it in the national news.
Have they not heard of this new medium called the group text?
Or a phone.
Bless his heart, he is just not that good at this, is he. He doesn’t normally play the game at this level. I am getting whiplash.
Where is the popcorn?
@sigh((s)) I can’t decide if he really thinks she was being papped 24/7, or if he’s trying to add to the narrative of “omg I’m so pressed and so tired of being in the public eye, just let me CREATE!” The only time they started getting pap attention was when some nutjob fans started the “omg was he with a brunette” thing and when they started acting sketchy.
Or email?
I’m starting to think these two really live on a planet of their own where they are the Brangelina and only ways of communication are either the Times or carrier pigeons.
Even Ben doesn’t get papped unless at airport or working. Jesus.
Still not buying what he is elling, sorry.
IKR? The papz are constantly getting grainy shots of them…. (crickets chirpping).
At least he referenced “our friends.” This is so weird.
All those friends she hangs out with when he goes to concerts and parties with them and she’s right at his… oh, wait.
What grainy photos? What is even talking about? “We both found Sophies”. Cue the eyeroll.
Funnily enough, they’re openly engaged, and we still don’t have grainy photos of her with a ring.
The grainy photo comment makes no sense. It does sound like he reads the blogs about the half butt photos of women he was papped with. I think he knows how to play the game.
From what I understand, an announcement in the Times isn’t terribly common in the UK unless you’re upper middle class or “higher”… So no, BC, it’s only common for your circle. I’ve yet to see a pap shot of them together, even when they were unaware of being snapped, that’d ever convince me they were dating much less engaged. If we saw some grainy shot of a ring on her finger, I’m sure we’d assume it was something she got herself.
Also note that the announcement listed his name first, when it should have been Sophie’s. It’s all about you Batch, isn’t it?
No, the guy’s name goes first in the UK.
Right. And the other weird thing, if they weren’t publicly recognized as a couple why would anyone be papping Sophie in the first place to get a grainy shot of a ring? Nobody would be looking for her or the ring…. WTF is he doing?
This is getting so wild.
@An, nnot living in the UK, so I did a check online. I found a 50/50 split on the online announcements from the UK, half had female first, half had male first. And it was usually the parents first ie: John and Jane Smith of Portsmith and Tim and Tina Doe of Surrey wish to announce…
As I said, I don’t live in the UK and I was only looking at online papers so…
given the above info, i think when he says not wanting friends to see pap photos first, i think it was a polite way of obscuring that he meant fans finding out, and also an admission he or his people see what gets posted on social media. either because of that nutter senyorita or that person (maybe senyorita too) who was tagging everyone on instagram.
This is still bugging me. You put it in a national newspaper to tell your friends so they wouldn’t have to find out through a pap shot? So instead they find out in an onslaught of media, because I highly doubt your friends are reading page *ucking 57 of the Times.
Explains the wtf lack of twitters from his friends, as they were as surprised as the rest of us. Because, you know, they found out exactly the same way.
But they didn’t want to be papped.
Alright, before this was kind of fun bantering around with this stuff, but for some reason this makes me mad. He’s on my douchebag list.
He must be playing to the tumbler/imdb crowd. They will believe anything.
The thinking fans wonder why he’s trying to take us all for fools.
I feel like we are in the midst of a badly written harlequin romance novel.
@Madly: and it’s the “thinking fans” that’s going to cause problems PR-wise. I know I keep banging on about PR but really, it’s important for actors and performers to a.) keep their names out there and marketable and b.) keep some sort of fan base. I get wanting to change your image and all that but at the same time, if you’re gonna come off as a douche and your fans (esp the ones who aren’t frothing) are side eyeing you, it’s going to end up impacting your marketability.
And @sigh((s)) Makes me wonder too how little his friends knew about what was going on. He keeps talking about how his friends are like family, but wouldn’t that mean they’d KNOW he was serious about whomever he was dating? Or is he just that private that they not only didn’t know he was that serious, but that he was even dating her?
@missmary – It would be incredible if none of his friends knew he was that close to proposing but it would answer a lot of questions as to why they are so silent. Wow. What in the hell is he trying to do? Maybe he got so caught up with her that he got carried away and now he is stuck.
*Never* trust written articles. I hope there’s a video of this. I can easily imagine him mumbling those things the same way he did earlier.
http://vimeo.com/111480458
So yes he did mutter and look as excited as a wet napkin.
Ugh. Please. Matthew Goode is so unctuous. He always has something ridiculous to say. He’s not got the best of reputations actually. Bit of a tower by all accounts.
I take it you think this is a positive a wonderful article Maggie, seeing as that’s the only thing you post? It’s actually not.
No, it’s the not thing we do in the UK and as for the way of telling your friends before ‘a pap photo’, OMG.. Is that serious? That sound so utterly douchey..
Nobody would be searching for a pap photo of her or a ring and so what if they did. It’s really nobbish of Goode to say that’s how things are done. The way things are done is people tell their friends first, like normal people, face to face and then if they MUST, at some point, they’ll put an a notice in the paper.
“It was a way of telling our friends who we hadn’t been able to tell before (they saw) some grainy shot of a ring on her finger.”
Reading comprehension-
It was a way of telling those friends we hadn’t already told, those friends who for one reason or another we hadn’t been able to contact personally, before they saw a papped shot of a ring on her finger.
Perhaps because she might accompany him to some events in America in the coming week and now that everyone knows there will be no wild rumours or speculation.
So a notice was put in the paper to alert those friends who they hadn’t been able to contact and of course let other people know.
Tradition, a simple engagement notice on page 57 of The Times. Not everyone does it that way these days but he is, as he said, rather old fashioned.
Yes I do focus on the positive, I am a glass half full sort of person.
We know nothing of his personal life, what he gets up to behind closed doors and I have no desire to know. I love his work and his persona and yes his looks but he owes me nothing. But reading through this morass of negativity, conspiracy theories and half baked analysis based on spurious evidence is incredibly depressing and I feel a need to put some balance into these posts.
I will also take this as a compliment, thank you.
“I take it you think this is a positive a wonderful article Maggie, seeing as that’s the only thing you post?
I’ve seen Matthew Goode’s interviews before. He sounds like someone who takes himself very seriously.
Or Maggie, he could have used text, whatsapp, email or any number of private and more personal ways to contact friends over a newspaper ad.
Using the friends as his main reason is bull, fair enough he’s old fashioned and traditional and if he’d just said that then fine.
There has been no grainy picture of the ring, no sightings of her at all since it was announced nearly a week ago….so ok then if that’s his story. It just seems VERY odd that someone so fiercely private would do such a public announcement (yes it is page 57 to argue semantics but it’s the Times and in his circle, an announcement like that is a very big deal) a few days before he starts his big US promo tour.
There was ZERO need to announce it, especially if she continues to stay away from him at public events.
I’m just not buying it.
Maggie. Give it up. He looks grumpy. Really grumpy. Nobody here is pretending to know what’s happening but there’s no rose tinted glasses.
FYI it’s clearer in People, he’s talking about Instagram, not paps.
Here is what I think will happen.
She’ll come and he’ll try and act super happy that he will become the next ctc. Calling it.
Is there vid of him with Goode and leach? He sounds pretty excited by the print. Also what’s ctc?
We both have Sophies! Like she’s a couch or a phone or a dog.
I’m super pissy. Must go to sleep.
ctc = Cut the Check???
Ctc? Critique? Criticism?
Holy crap, doesn’t that speak volumes…If I was engaged, all of my friends would know before it ever hit the paper, that is such a stupid thing to say – text, email, IM, they would KNOW. If he was worried about a grainy picture, why not have a photo of them together, with the ring, and put that in the paper too. WTF is he thinking trying to sell this load of codswallop? I think he’s really losing his mind or getting some very poor advice. How disappointing for him. The lack of tweeting by friends doesn’t really surprise me because he’s not on twitter so they don’t communicate that way, but the oddness of apparently everyone finding out the same way and no one having any idea he was getting that close to proposing is extremely strange. Wouldn’t surprise me if some of his friends are pissed about it either.
Addition to my earlier theory and my SO’s theory… He gets new PR in 2015 after this settles out one way or another.
Yes, he has clearly outgrown Karon. In fact, he did some time time ago.
Yeah this really implies he wasn’t planning on telling them in the first place……
Exactly, it’s bullshit.
Maybe he’s talking about acquaintances rather than friends but your close friends would all know, the first thing we did after getting engaged was ring people and skype with those in different countries. The ring thing is also bullshit, she hasn’t been seen since the announcement to my knowledge so how would they have seen a grainy picture of a ring? The reports said they got engaged one day and it was in the papers the following day, that’s not even giving time for a picture to get out (and shows it was planned to a certain extent)
Everyone is different obviously but when we got engaged you couldn’t hide the smile on Mr Lindy’s face (and possibly relief as he’d been tied in knots for over a week lol).
You can be private but still show excitement over such good news. I don’t get his behaviour at all.
This is just getting more and more distasteful. It’s his every right to get engaged and I wish him all the best, but to say that friends can find out before grainy shots of a ring? I am no English but who reads that section of the newspaper? Ben, really, I understand things can get hard but it’s not nice or smart to call fame ‘nonsense’ with a scornful expression on your face while totally playing the game, or the announcement is for friends when it’s obviously not for friends. In fact, he’s lucky that he gets away with it. He’s gotten away with it to this point. If this had been another person, he’d be trashed for picking and choosing which part of fame he wanted to suit himself.
Fame is a double-edged sword as he should well know. Urgh. All I say is, if you have already bent over, don’t complain. Out.
I think he’s having trouble dealing with the personal/public boundaries and since fans don’t seem to respect boundaries these days (stalking his house by looking up his building application) I can see why he’d want to keep things private. God almighty, this is not the right way to handle this. Something’s up, and I think I know what, for him to rush like this I think there’s a Situation that involves timing.
Some folks are speculating a nasty rumor or bit of info was a-comin’ and PR got a-rollin’ asap before the promo season started, to head it off at the pass. Personally, I don’t think so but it’s something that’s gaining steam in some corners of tumblr. I think its down to promos and trying to change his image. And SH doesn’t have a red hot career going on and had the time to “help out”.
There’s no rumor I can think of that would have caused issues or that this would solve except one in this scenario, MissMary.
I’m still not buying her being pregnant. I legit think her family would’ve blabbed. Unless you mean the old “Oh he’s gay!” rumors people try to start up every few years.
I did mean the gay one, although I myself don’t subscribe to it, but not the pregnancy one. Her being pregnant wouldn’t matter.
Although I guess there is two, him being ill would be the second now that I think about it.
I’m still not fully on the preggo train, but….
What if BC was seeing a few women this summer, Sophie being one of them? Late July/early August, she tells him she’s knocked up. At her age especially, waiting 12 weeks to make sure the pregnancy will stick becomes more important. So, they make a deal. He stops seeing the other girls and commits to her…. Before making any big decisions they wait to see if she gets through 12 weeks okay.
So early September, Sophie is “announced” as the secret girlfriend in the Daily Mail. Early October, he’s in Edinburgh “asking for her hand.” LFF she shows up to the premiere, but not by his side – just in case he can still bail.
By early November, she’s 12 weeks along. No one else cares, but BC is old fashioned and wants to make an honest woman out of her. Frankly, I think he’d be more embarrassed by impregnating a woman out of wedlock than the public would be judgmental.
Sophie wins the lottery and says yes without hesitation.
Well, maybe even later than early August because he was seen with other women up until mid-August at the latest.
Get this: I think the first “Sophie’s the actual girlfriend” story hit papers on September 4. The “asking for her hand” stories hit around October 6. “She said yes” story hit November 5. Weird timing…
@ Me -That would also be my theory if we are going with the pregnancy train.
Although I would so much hope he would appear happier, as his biggest dream is coming true, which is why I don’t think she is preggo.
The family blabbing -a pregnancy is much more sensitive thing, so I don’t think they would talk about it.
But none of this makes any sense anyway, so what do I know 😀
The only way I see her being knocked up is if she told him on Monday night and he proposed immediately. She may not have told her family until in person on Wednesday. Otherwise, I don’t see it as likely.
I could be wrong on this, but the only reason why any of those stories made the tabloids in Sept/Oct was because of some nutter on twitter tweeting all the tab reporters about it, including CB.
@me: I have always said that the Edinburgh “asking for her hand” trip was actually a “mom, we’re pregnant” trip. Benedict may be old-fashioned but come on, it’s not the 19th century. And “we’re pregnant” is the kind of news you want to deliver in person, if possible.
If she is not at the NYC premiere it is because she is showing. And why haven’t we seen her AT ALL since any of this was announced?
Good grief, just ask James Rhodes to Tweet it and save yourself some money! We all know you are “frugal.”
Lol! Oh, Ben, you poor shit. Time to consult your therapist again about the fame thing….etc.
Dear Benedict, if you hate the fame nonsense so much, just say “Thanks. No comment. It’s private.” But that wasn’t ever your plan, was it? You decided to announce the news two days before promo for a maximum impact. Deal with it.
And now we have to witness this little-by-little slow roll out until March. Good God, this will be exhausting.
I also find it very amusing that the only friends of his who have so far commented are The Imitation Game cast. I think they had a briefing 😀
And I also bet the Cumberbatchelor party will be sponsored by The Weinstein Company.
tbh there’s been a few things but hes back in the uk already. if he wanted max impact he needed to wait until the us premeire, it’s already nbd most places.
My guess is she wants to do red carpet in nyc and this means it wont be a big surprise or anything when she shows up w/him there. same with him having it hit the uk, when he’s way more famous, right when he leaves the us. he’s returning to the uk when peak interest has already passed, clever.
she could have walked the red carpet with him a month ago, at the London premiere, but chose to make her own entrance and walked the carpet by herself. No mention of her then and no explanation of who she was. And she could have walked with him at the NYC premiere as his girlfriend, no need to be his fiancee in order to be seen in public with him
she could have but once they were obviously an item thats when the serious clickbait starts in, dont know that I would choose a premiere to do that either.
hard to say who didnt want to go public until it was for sure going somewhere but i can see that from her end. not to say they couldnt have handled the early part better.
All I can say for right now is that I really hope she shows up at the New York premiere, and they look as loved up as ER does with his fiancee (so adorable… I *love* seeing people like that. My best friend and her husband look at each other like that). I think we’re all over-analyzing everything and the cause for BC’s grumpiness/lack of emotion is just exhaustion. If, however, the sour looks continue from him, or she doesn’t walk the carpet at all for photos, well… I dunno what I’ll think then. I really want to think the best of this relationship.
(As a side note: I went back and re-read some of the old threads from earlier this year where many posts commented on how they would be happy that BC finally found a girl, and that he should do his best to keep it as quiet as he could because of all the crazies. Well, he certainly accomplished that task, didn’t he?)
Wonder how many carets that ring will be. Carets…carrot…oh, dear.
This is gettin kinda crazy tbh. his work schedule is super, super intense so not surprised he’s not a ray of sunshine but he’s not kicking kittens either jeez lol. he ll be fine once something drops off his plate. no idea his fans were so brutal damn
I don’t know about brutal. Critical, yes. That’s one function gossip serves, criticism. He’s had tons on his plate before and not come across like this. From what I see, people who are critical right now are side eyeing the way all of this was hashed out in public. Not necessarily putting BC down for making the personal decision to marry.
I judge the way he seemed to let whatever relationship he has with the fandom affect the way he lived out his real life relationships (at least to a certain extent). Something has felt dishonest in his presentation – one way or the other.
However, I still admire his talent and his looks. Whatever is up, I hope he’s okay. But something about this is not kosher.
Oh come on. It’s his job. Other actors cope with it just fine without looking like the worlds about to crash down. He’s really got it pretty good.
what other actors are juggling a campaign and 3 other projects at the same time?
the reaction here is hilariously ott. people would explode if he actually did do something awful
Nothing would make me happier than to see him with someone he was crazy about, hand holding, arms together, hugs, smooches, some PDA but not gross, just something to indicate there was some good chemistry. I get ZIP from this situation. I think it was rushed for a reason. I live to be proven wrong….
Well, I’m getting out, no TIG, no nothing. Been a fan for 1 year. I like genuine people – IRL and on screen. I’m not one of those who can watch a film and know that the one I’m watching is very good at his job but IRL…not so genuine…
I’m also a trained psychiatric nurse whose been working for a decade and it’s clear to me that something is off. His heart isn’t into it. He want so badly to find his woman, his match, so he thinks she’s the one. I do believe he is going to try his best to make it work but I will not be around to watch it. Makes me sad. And he was becoming my favorite actor…
Starting to think that ‘Stop – right here’ sign behind him in the photo on this page might be a tad symbolic. Hey, it’s early where I’m at and I kind of couldn’t resist to comment on it… 😉
It looks even some fannies and nannies and other fans are starting to question BC’s behaviour, the no smiling, the lack of emotion. I am seeing more ‘wish he was happier’ or ‘he doesn’t look happy’ or ‘is this what you imagined BC would look like after getting engaged’ questions being asked. So its not just here at this board that things are seemingly odd. Its not everyone, but its increasing slowly.
When the fannies and nannies start questioning, you know something is up.
Thank god they’re starting to get some sense. I know he’s jetlagged, but honey…he looks like he’s about to punch someone. He needs a nap. I’d make him tea but he might get fussy and shove me out the door.
@tasha – LOL!
I agree.
It has been very interesting to see these different narratives in different places. The “he’s so happy” one has been almost dogmatic and if you are voicing an alternative opinion, it’s basically a beheading. At least in here, you will be argued against in more civilized manner.
It’s also very weird the way the fannies and nannies are putting him on pedestal. I think that the idea that BC would *never* make a mistake, handle something badly or just suck up to people is more far-fetched than questioning this whole situation with a few harmless theories.
I wrote my dissertation on the power of discourses and it has been a fun ride to witness this little battle.
I don’t think he understands fandom; or I don’t think his people understand fandom. They are treating us like mindless idiots who’d believe anything they’re trying to sell us. Or perhaps we are the minority here in a tiny corner while the rest of the world either don’t care or sing his praises.
A little bit honesty and integrity wouldn’t hurt even if you’re campaigning. But yes, he’d better change his game fast. If she is still no show for premiers and the award season, more and more people are gonna have questions.
I think Harvey is going to *insist* she show for premiers and awards season, and if she doesn’t like that she could be in for a rude awakening for what it will be like to be married to a movie star! At that point, the relationship breaks up……or Benedict stops being a movie star. At this point nothing would surprise me tbh
Honestly I would be devastated if he suddenly quit acting for her
Seriously, Grace. Like, Ingrid has/is getting a PhD FFS. BC’s fandom is not the average fandom. For some reason, he attracts a lot of older, educated thinkers.
They were not “out” publicly. No papz would be looking for Sophie to take a grainy shot. BC was the subject of all of the grainy twitter shots. No one would catch Sophie. “She barely has a face. You couldn’t pick her out of a lineup a of one.” She was even misidentified as an extra at the LFF TIG premiere. A. flipping. extra.
Somebody’s been drinking their own Kool-Aid. If he wanted to mind freak his public, I’m done in. Could not be surprised even if they announced that Sophie had already given birth to the Cumberchild back in April.
@me – Sophie was misidentified as an extra? Laugh out loud!!!!!!!! Now, however, she is bigger than Amal.
Can I just say that I thought his response sounded unbelievably as if he had been instructed to say exactly that?
Like.. When you try to remember a text you had to learn by heart?
And Karon in the background, smiling sort of strained, didn’t really help the point.
He can’t honestly think we will believe that he did the announcement to tell his friends.
Unless.. Someone was a bit too much of a coward to tell them personally because he knew they would try talk him out of it? Just throwing that idea out there..
*goes back to munching the popcorn*
Yeah, it was *very* short and clear answer (and we are talking about Benedict, people.)
I would be more willing to believe this whole thing, if the happy couple had been together for years (although the timing would still be suspicious). But this is supposed to be a man *so in love* he proposed after only five months (most of which he spend working 24/7).
Something really isn’t right…
What do you ladies think is going on behind all this weirdness? I don’t know what to think anymore.
Well, to conclude, it’s IMO either:
1. PR thing (explains everything)
2. She’s pregnant (although he would be happier, I think. Surely, she cannot be that bad.)
3. He wants to keep it private (the announcement goes against that theory)
4. He’s just tired, Richard III is getting to him and don’t smile because of that (he was however able to give a genuine smile when talking about his dad)
5. It was a hasty decision and he’s already regretting it (he however seems to think everything through to the last detail)
6. It’s some product of jealousy / relationship thing (I don’t want to speculate about this because I don’t know her or their relationship at all.)
7. He’s tired of promo and fame (see 4.)
He could crack a smile about it and also talk about, you know, how his fiance is pretty awesome as well.
i’m wondering if he’s having serious mental issues from stress, where he won’t be thinking things through
I like your thinking, Pinky. That would be a good reason not to tell your friends and just get it out there. If you know all your friends are going to be all, well maybe you should have a think on that before you do something rash.
why is he talking about the announcement instead of his freaking fiancee?
@gg – Maybe he feels that if he smiles and acts excited it will open the door to more questions and he doesn’t want to do that. So, by being short and sullen he figures people wil get the drift and leave him alone.
He draws? I thought he wears poorly chosen accessories and/or goes to the opening of an envelope.
He’s back in the UK today for Hollow Crown filming then back to USA for 14th!
Hi ladies.
You know, after all the initial shock wore down I was prepared to go back to thinking this is just Benedict doing dumb shit because he’s having a mid life crisis but this is getting even weirder.
I wasn’t expecting this to get weirder.
The explanation about telling your friends through the TImes…is this him feeding some kind of complex or fantasy where his old upper class friends are scanning the Times to see who’s getting paired off? Or is it something simpler and less loony than that? I don’t want to think that’s what he thought. I want to think better of him.
And the comment about a grainy photo of a ring. Is it just me or is he or his people trolling EB and twitter? I can’t think of anything else for why he’d say that.
I am thinking: is this about to get weirder? Then: how weird is this go to get? And: would I be bizarrely entertained in the end?
I am not entertained by it and don’t want to be. This was one of my favourite actors, who I thought was a down to earth guy through all the praise he gets from people around him, and in the space of a week he’s now showing himself to be a conceited precious weirdo. I want to think this is him having a meltdown and not his true character.
I also don’t want to think of him as the guy who’s desperate to hit the upper crust by proposing to a two bit aristo after 5 months of dating and taking out an ad where the aristos take out the ad.
@ Claire
Personality determines destiny. He can be impulsive, he can take himself a tad too seriously even on a better day, all that and an intense workload and pressure from HW do not stir well. He was clearly just making what he thought to be the best decision during a difficult time. Whether that is a good decision remains to be seen. I don’t think it’s entirely about her upper crust background. If that’s the case, he should be very happy to have achieved his goal. Maybe it will work out between him and SH. Even though he’s handling all this badly, I still hope it works out for him. But seriously, I hope he realises soon enough that’s not the way to behave because all he is doing is painting himself in a very unfavourable light.
hes not going to hit the upper crust with someone in the same social class as him…? he needed to marry up if thats what he wanted
@j that’s right, maybe BC’s getting married for the peerage and to get his name back on the posh side.
I think he thinks he’s a bigger deal outside sites like this, than he is in terms of paparazzi. Yes he get shot if he’s in areas of high volume (after the MET, LAX) or when he’s attending things but day to day he doesn’t get hounded wherever he goes.
Unless he meant that someone on Twitter might get a shot of it.
yeah i assumed that’s what he meant. but you know his friends wouldn’t see a grainy pic on twitter unless they all search for it. which means there’s a chance they’re reading this stuff as well
Saw the pics of last USA-stay and saw his grumpy face. He looks like he is in a pissy mood. (excuse this expression) It’s getting worse with every further pic. It seems that he is really really angry about something. OK, but whereat? My theory is that SH and he are trying to pull a thing trough against the approval from family and friends (5 month is a short time and so on) SH and he met one day, they knew each other for several years, both got a similar job, both got the same age, maybe the same interests, maybe good sex and so on. One day they got the idea: why not to stay together, have children and marry? Why waiting for great and real love, that maybe never will come??? Or to late, to raise a family? So let’s try it wether we will make it or fail grandiosley. (allegedly her words mentioned by a friend to the press) A word and a blow. He book the announcement in the Times. And than happend the think: The whole world gave their comments and these comments are not friendly so slowly broke down what begans so nicely. We don’t know his face when he is with SH. Both of them where very unfriendly to the press, very introverted. He makes the impression as if he don’t want to speak about his engagement to the press. He don’t want to explain his thoughts, his decision, his engagement. Think he fears the reaction of the fans, of the world, of the yellowpress. And I understand, that nobody wants to be observed by raising a family or trying to built a marriage. But BC is a man of public interest and not a private man. His fame depends on the wishing well of his fans. And at the beginning he was proud of that and find it adoreable, but now he sees the drawback of fame. And!!! We don’t know what his management has said to this decision. Surely they confirmed, but do we know what they say when nobody can hear it?
@izzy – Don’t we know what they look like when they are together – miserable. Even when they seemed not to know they were being photographed they reportedly always looked distant, detached, sullen, disinterested and ugly, with no connection between them. What man would walk off into a restaurant and leave his love in the car by themselves. I have more love for my dog. People who love each wouldn’t give a #&@* about the paparazzi or anyone else. They would just do their lovely thing and smile.