As we discussed on Friday, the Sony Hack has gotten a new lease on life because Julian Assange has put the entire cache of documents into a searchable database on Wikileaks. Sony still isn’t happy about it, and their lawyers are advising people not to wallow in the information revealed in the hack. While the juiciest bits came out last December – and everyone covered it then – there are some newly discovered smaller gems of information worth some coverage. Like, Benedict Cumberbatch actually has a small part in the Sony Hack too! Huzzah. Apparently, Benedict met with Amy Pascal in January 2014 for what seems to be a general getting-to-know-you meeting about various future projects including Angelina Jolie’s Cleopatra project. Then Benedict’s agent contacted Pascal later on, raving that Benedict adored Pascal and that he would love to play David Bowie in the long-gestating Freddie Mercury bio-pic.
Pascal met with Benedict Cumberbatch in January 2014. A follow-up email from Tracey Jacobs, a partner at the United Talent Agency and co-head of its talent department, has the same found-poetry style that makes so many of the hacked emails such a bizarrely entertaining read:
Benedict loved you.
Hed be right for cleopatra and god knows what else. He mentioned something about bowie.
He loved you. And you? XoThat would presumably be the same Cleopatra, starring Angelina Jolie, that was at the center of one of the more memorable exchanges of the Sony leak. While Pascal and producer Scott Rudin’s thoughts on that project are well known, Cumberbatch wanting in on the Mercury film is news.
Pascal then passed on the news in an email to Graham King, a producer of several Martin Scorsese films, including Gangs of New York and The Departed, as well as Argo and World War Z. She memorably refers to Cumberbatch as “cum batch,” an abbreviation that manages to be funnier than anything this parody name generator could come up with:
Benedict cum batch wants to play bowie
Graham’s response was… less than enthused. In fact, he seems to assume that Pascal hasn’t even read the script, penned by The Queen and Frost/Nixon writer Peter Morgan! Burn!:
He’s not a character in script.
Let’s talk after you’ve had a chance to read it.
Pascal then did read the script and sent an ALL-CAPS message with her thoughts on the project, temporarily forgetting about Benedict as David Bowie. But she still wanted Bowie in the script – her favorite song EVER (apparently) is Mercury and Bowie’s “Under Pressure.” I guess if Pascal was going to produce a Freddie Mercury bio-pic, she was going to make sure Bowie was in it come hell or high water.
As for Benedict wanting to play Bowie, even if it was just an extended cameo situation… honestly, I could see it. I’m not saying Cumby’s Bowie would be the best thing ever, but I could see it. For real. But Benedict in Cleopatra? Who would he play? MARC ANTONY?!
Photos courtesy of WENN.
i prefer Tilda to play Bowie; just like Blanchett was great as Dylan… i’m sure Tilda’d be a better Bowie than Bendybatch
Inspired casting with Tilda. Would put the movie through the roof.
I’m just here ’cause y’all said SWINTON. I cosign on Bowie. She’d take Cumbers to school.
Bowie is my great passion and Tilda would be a perfect fit. Bendy is waaaaay too frigid-looking to play the Duke.
yes to Tilda. Benny would have murdered it and blonde is just not his colour
Tilda would be the perfect Bowie and Bowie would probably agree.
As a very huge Bowie fan, I would be very excited to see Tilda Swinton play The Thin White Duke….oooooooh very very happy indeed!
I still think mimif’s BF resembles Bowie, when his hair isn’t flattening like a helmet.
http://www.ew.com/sites/default/files/styles/tout_image_612x380/public/i/2015/02/03/1350-walking-dead-cover_612x380_0.jpg?itok=oVrfbKw5
This man looks like he never showers, but he’s just strangely alluring.
Yes, on Tilda. In anything at all.
omg yes .Tilda would be an amazing Bowie!
Just no. LEAVE BOWIE ALONE!!!!! Hiddles might pull it off though, he has at least some resemblance to Bowie or Tilda Swinton.
Edit, sorry lower-case deb, we must have typed it at roughly the same time!
Hiddles needs to play Gene Wilder in a bio pic. Or play Robin Hood in a remake of men in tights. Give us some humor!
SorryNotSorry for the thread jacking.
I’d rather see Tom playing Astaire than Wilder. I only want to see him in a smart or dark comedy a la When Harry Met Sally or Coen Bros or Wes Anderson.
Hiddles as Wilder is a BRILLIANT idea, I’d pay to see that and I’m a lazy sod who rarely goes to the cinema. And whose making a film about Fred Astaire? I love Fred Astaire.
I’d like to see Mr. Hiddleston play Leslie Howard in something, if he is going to do another biopic.
To all you ladies, yes to all the suggestions.
There’s no Astaire biopic that I’m aware of. I just think be great for the part.
yes to all of those plus Sidney Carton and the Scarlet Pipernel.He probably could pull Bowie off as well but Tilda is still the lead.
Tom was also mentioned in the leaks as well but cannot find the link.Something he was being cast as the lead in 2012 that never happened
Tom would be more capable of projecting the body type; he’s more willowy, and Bowie’s style of movement BUT unless it is Tilda, nobody should be Bowie.
And no, on a Gene Wilder biopic, but Tom does need to do a comedy of some sort.
He needs to be in a Wes Anderson film asap.
bowie also had sex with young girls… it’s right in a vh1 doc from a few years back. 13 years old.
so yeah, please no one else play this perv
What? Never heard that. I don’t want to believe that.
What? They had documented evidence and nothing happened to him?
I am on board with Fred Astaire. A dancing Hiddles is a happy Hiddles.
I will never believe it. Come on! If it were true, his ex wife (who loathes him) would have spilled the beans ages ago!
Bowie supposedly had sex with Lori Maddox when she was 13, Sable Starr when she was 13-14, and a few others. If Maddox sounds familiar, it’s because she’s the girl Jimmy Page started sleeping with when she was 14 (to avoid legal problems, Page kept Maddox under lock & key for the next 2-3 years until he was tired of her)
Additional fun fact: Steven Tyler of Aerosmith also had a 14-yr-old girlfriend. He stayed out of trouble by adopting her and becoming her legal guardian so he could move her into his house and take her across state lines.
Before you ask if I’m confusing Tyler with Ted Nugent – no, they both adopted their teenage girlfriends (though Nugent’s was 17).
Unfortunately, I’d be more surprised if any 70’s rock stars didn’t have sex with 14-yr-old girls. And let’s not forget Hollywood during this era – the Polanski case is the most well-known, but hardly unique.
NO and NO!
Why do Hollywood always want to do remakes? Have they ran out of ideas? Why?
As a Freddie Mercury fan I just want this movie made already!
It scares me who they will get to play Freddie – but yes….I would love to see this movie! As for the original question….why couldn’t Bowie play Bowie? With all the CGI they do these days making even old actors look young for flashbacks…..
They are talking about Ben Wishaw playing him, who does happen to be a brilliant actor.
I thought SBC is back to playing Freddie now that they revamped their plans?
According to an interview in ‘The Independent’ last week, Roger Taylor made it clear he didn’t want SBC to play Freddie and has pretty much settled on Ben Wishaw.
He’s not all that famous, but Bradley James from Merlin lookes like a blonde Freddie.
As a Freddie fan I want it to be about his music, not what Hollywood wants to make of it.
As for Bowie, my other leading man, Tilda is a great choice, but I do think that Rhys Meyers would be great, based on Velvet Goldmine and Elvis.
Bowie is much too good looking.
Bowie’s mugshot looks better than Ben’s best photoshop
http://cdn8.openculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/bowie-mug-shot.jpg
Bowie? Marc Antony?
Uhm… No Benny, you’d need sex appeal for those roles.
Hahahahaha
LOL
Let Bowie play Bowie. The aging is just an alien ploy; he’s actually ageless.
My thoughts exactly. Plus, he’s Bowie and his Bowieness knows no equal..
Can you imagine Bendy playing the Bowie of Labyrinth? With skin tight leggings and all? No, no, no, no….so wrong on so many levels!
David Bowie is one beautiful, charismatic man.
Bowie always seems so fluid and graceful. I can’t even describe it. I don’t think Benny could pull that off. He’s too gangly and seems sort of afraid to just “be”. Does that make sense?
He would be good in that Little House on the Prairie movie as Doc Baker.
Yes it makes total sense. (Your Little House reference made me *snort*)
I was completely serious about the Little House thing too LOL
He’s got the hair down already. No wig needed.
http://www.rankopedia.com/CandidatePix/16324.gif
Just clicked. I’m dying here, taterho.
And now, I will not be able to unsee that.
As dubious as I am about a Cleo movie . I think Benny would make a good Octavian/Augustus.
I do think he would be great as Octavian, but isn’t he a bit old?
No and No for Bowie and Freddie – there is NO WAY he can pull those off. He doesn’t have the vocals for a start.
Sacha Baron Cohen will always be my choice for Freddie!
Hiddles could be Bowie but i’d like to see an unknown take on that one or Tilda! Lee Pace could pull him off as well.
Bendy in Cleopatra – don’t see it, who would he play. Marc Anthony was older than her and very masculine by all accounts – The Bloke would be a better choice. Caesar was also older – someone like Russell Crowe would be great.
Whishaw has the vocals for Freddie-i have seen him sing on stage and hie has an amazing voice
Sorry, but only Freddie had the vocals for Freddie. Like only Bowie has the vocals for Bowie…. 🙂
Stay away from my beloved Bowie.
It would be hard to live in that world. The insincere email from Cumberbatch’s agent–“He loved you”–and then the begging–“He’d be right for Cleopatra and god knows what else”–must cause a loss of self-respect at some point.
Yeah really. Such transparent obsequiousness. Pascal seems objectively loathsome. And as if anyone would say to a studio boss, “He hated your guts, but would still like to be in the movie.”
Kevin Bacon for Bowie. He’s delicious! He can sing, he can dance, his acting skills are underrated, and his facial contours can stand up to Bowies. I saw him play live with his brother in their band once, and his charisma was unreal. I heart Kevin Bacon…just can’t help meself
Kevin can do practically anything and he would have a lot of fun.
Looking at his pics here, I just realized for the first time…is his makeup artist contouring his face? As Sherlock, his face is pasty white with no contouring. The lighting and angles highlight his bone structure. I imagine red carpet photos can wash you out with all the flash.
Anyway, Ben as Bowie, I don’t see it. Just, no. Too stiff in his movements.
Have you seen him play Richard II in ‘The Hollow Crown’, he’s brilliant in it, heartbreaking and even Tom Hiddleston once described Ben as the best actor of his generation. His peers really rate him.
I think there is some confusion here or frisbeejada’s post is in the wrong place. Jammypants is talking about Cumberbatch as Bowie. Frisbeejada seems to be talking about Ben Whishaw, who is linked to the Freddy Mercury role, not the Bowie role.
oops by bad but upthread we were discussing Ben Wishaw playing Freddie Mercury and obviously got totally carried away and overexcited – apologies.
Ben Whishaw is cause for excitement. We need more Ben Whishaw. I want to feed him cookies and gossip with him.
Don’t feed him cookies! He’s elfin and he should stay that way….
@Hermia, but elves makes cookies, don’t they? And can we have him play Puck in Midsummer Night’s Dream?
@Lilacflowers Yes, yes, yes. But he would make such an interesting Ophelia or Desdemona too… 🙂
In the spirit of men playing women and viceversa…
@Hermia, Ben Whishaw for all the things!
I thought Ben was up fpr Freddie
Damn, just realized Kevin’s too old to play baby Bowie and now I have to match the lost sock drawer. Let the pouts commence
I read this news last year. I don’t know why CB reports this now.
Just go away Benedict! he’s so desperate and phony. IMO he’s a knavish, shady, egotistical, prententious fool. I sometimes feel like i’m the only one who can see this guy is not who he presents himself to be and i could see through it all from the beginning. I’m glad some people are noticing it now. Trust me he is very calculating.
I’m sorry to say that you are probably right.
LOL you just described more than half of Hollywood. People need to let this go, these people are total strangers who don’t owe anyone squat besides performances.
LBR As long as it ain’t some Allen/Polanski level sh&t, who cares?
Half of Hollywood don’t pretend to be the internet boy-friend for years though. Come on guys! It’ s not like you don’t know what we are talking about! 🙂
It’s obvious that actors only owe us performances, but it is also crystal clear the Batch has played the “I’m the dork next door” game because it suited him. Many have been taken in, some have not.
Now it’s over, we can all go back to enjoy his talent, as long as he stays well away from the Duke. Light years away, if possible.
anytime anyone claims to know the real person behind the actor, positive or negative, it’s bull$hit b/c these people are total strangers.
and all of ’em got personas that have amplified real parts of their personalities mixed in with BS, so unless they’re killing someone, I’m right back to who cares
Again: no one really cares. But also, no one is a total stranger. Or everyone is.
And after all we are on CB discussing said strangers… 🙂
Today on caricature or real person…”and he also caused global warming!” 😀
do not forget me
as two peas in the obsessed with cartoony images of ppl we don’t know pod? LOL
@hermia, I totally agree. Most actors are snake oil salesmen or women. They are selling themselves as the goods. They can be great con artists. I have 3 annoying Cumberb*tches in my life. I told them this man knows he is not the typical Hollywood type of leading men, so he sold himself another way (dorky, clever and witty). I can almost guarantee you those quotes about not able to get anyone pregnant, regrets about not being a father at a certain age or cannot wait to meet the mother of my child, are sales pitch designed to make the fandom swoon. I don’t think he meant 1% of those craps he said. Now, they are coming to bite him in the a**. He met the woman and the mother of his child in one shot and I don’t think he wanted them that fast. I know nothing of his relationship with his wife; I just hope they will be happy. It is going to be a busy and stressful year for them both. I appreciate his talent since “William Pitt the Young” role. I don’t find him remotely attractive except for his neck. I like the moles on his neck and it is because my wonderful husband has them as well. They always distracting to a vampire like me, Haha. Give me Mark Strong and Colin Firth any day of the week!
@chantal At this point, I don’t even believe he’s clever anymore 🙂
ps I have a neck thing too. I can tell Bowie from any photo of just his gorgeous white throat. 🙂
Serious for a moment: He’d have to be, hermia, to pull off what’s been suggested. He’d have to have been capable, media saavy and smart enough to pull it off for say a decade, and I personally don’t believe he is. He can’t even stay focused in brief interviews let alone for sustained periods of time.
So, that leaves two more realistic options: either he changed, as people do, through natural or unnatural means. Could be temporary, could be permanent.
Or, he’s being told his image is doing him no favors at his age, and he needs to be seen as more serious and less awkward. Which would be fine if his prior image didn’t include much of his actual personality, but I suspect it did, as his PR is not the best.
[A bit off topic, but Chantal honestly I wouldn’t even bother from quotes that are what, 5+ years old? Regardless of who it is, people definitely change over time and can want things at one point and not later.]
I like Amy’s spelling skills with his last name.
Honey, no, no, NO!!
BC is a good enough actor, I think he can pull off bowie well. However,Eddie Redmayne to me would be a better. He already has androgynous look. Dye his hair blond and Bowie comes alive. Tilda would be phenomenal as well. If I had money to invest in movies, I would cast BC in a remake of Gaslight and I would make him creepier and scarier than the original versions. Maybe he should produce it. A theatre as stage version would be perfect. I pretty sure he could find backers in China.
ooooh that would be a good film for him.
Eddie would be great, especially as young, pre-Ziggy Bowie.
I’m not a huge fan of Bowie or anything but Benedict just doesn’t have the loose sensuality required to carry off a Bowie part.
I agree it’s Swinton or nobody. Wow, she’d rock it. Remember her in Orlando?
Yes, I do. First time I saw her. She made such an impression.
Same here. I watched it again last year and my, was she amazing in it. To be fair though, I have never seen a bad performance from Tilda.
I agree, Swinton of Bust
I’ll also co-sign Whishaw as Freddie Mercury.
Shouldn’t the name of this thread be changed to Tilda Swinton MUST play Bowie?
Or “Anyone but the Batch”?
BC is dragging his heavily pregnant wife, who’s due in late May, to the Met Ball in New York on May 4th.
I guess they have to pay Anna Wintour back for that Vogue spread somehow.
What??!? There’s no way she should be allowed to fly at this point.
MET guest list is quite unreliable, though. Last year it included J Law and J Chastain, neither of them showed up.
Let’s hope it isn’t true then. Otherwise, it’ll make the two of them look thirsty beyond belief.
I think everyone would side-eye him for dragging her there. He would also get side-eye if he went alone. Just don’t go, B. Everyone wins.
@Felice: Why should we assume that he is dragging her there. She might be the one who wants to go. Maybe she feels wonderful in her pregnancy and it is a chance to see her old NY friends. The Met Gala is a great opportunity for her to see Art, Theatre and Opera and get inspired for her next project (baby room and baby clothes). LOL
Maybe she wants to give birth in NY. After all, that’s her real home 🙂
And let’s not forget how he loves dancing….and prancing…
Maybe it’s already born.
No airline would let her fly.
The Met list is full of people who don’t show every year. It’s just the invite list, not people who confirmed.
Met Ball is just a mess these days, i laugh at those who take it seriously. One thing i agree with goopy on in my life (she mentioned hating it). Benedict takes it seriously, you can almost see him thinking “aren’t i so wonderful and dapper and next to AW” he’s thirsty and has planned it all. He’s so unauthentic in everyway. A humongous show off. I like Tom Brady , he comes to support Gisele, he always seem uncomfortable but has a polite down to earth attitude and he takes it for what it is and never changes his personality to fit it with that crowd. Plus he just naturally looks dashing and has a presence.
You’re right about Brady. It’s a career trade-off. She attends football games and he attends the Met Gala. Although, lately, she seems to have really gotten into the football games, probably because she now involves the kids. Maybe he could bring the kids to the Met Gala.
Are you serious, Simi? Brady has one of the biggest egos in football, it’s legendary, and the guy ditched his pregnant girlfriend for a supermodel. He’s full of it 24/7.
Perspective is flying out the window, wow.
Not a drill!!! He allegedly has a cameo in Zoolander 2. He was in Rome today and the girl said it was for Zoolander.
Here I thought he was there to get to the bottom of the scandal that is “weddingdressgate”. Darn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I just said here on CB that the quote from SH re. the dress seems taken from Zoolander. I am a seer…. 🙂
Anyway, let the nesting continue!!!!!!!!! Didn’t he say he would not go out much? Italy to me seems slightly “out” as opposed to Hampstead…. a bit “south of the river” LOL
PS Bowie had a cameo in Zoolander….
Have you seen those fan pics in Rome? BC looks like somebody has just pissed in his cola. First I thought it was 4 pics with the same fan, but no, 4 different (lovely) girls and one disgruntled Cumberbatch.
i can read italian, so idc how he looks, they’re really happy he was nice to them
lol they were looking for someone else though and startled him, he was going to his car
Yeah, you can tell the fans were pleased so I doubt he was a dick.
And he didn’t have to take the time to take 4 pics and talk to them period, so….
@Hermia-maybe he wanted to beg (er-ask) Bowie himself to put in a good word for him for the Freddie Mercury flick.
As far as “Pissybatch”-I’m sure he was mortified that he was once again caught away from the nest and the beloved mother of his child (who’s probably in Ireland or Scotland anyway).
@all I can more than read Italian and the fans were just happy he was there. I doubt he was nice to them, just courteous (he’s a gent, after all) and since in Rome you don’t get much of that (I’ve lived there for 2 years, so I should know) to them he must have seemed like Prince Charming. 🙂
He still wasn’t obligated to do anything with them, so….*shrugs*
Evidently you don’t know how pushy Italians can be when they want to…. 🙂 🙂
Those pictures from Rome…it’s like the women are posing with his wax figure. or maybe a cardboard cutout.
It’s the wax figure from Japan, the one with the wedding ring 🙂 🙂
@anon121 Well, since he said he was looking forward to doing nothing, just nesting with his beloved SH, I’ve counted: Ad for MG, Letters Live, Shanghai for MG, The L. Awards, Italy and soon the Shelocked convention and the Adobe gig. I bet if they had a program for celebrities on the moon, he’d go there too 🙂 🙂
Have you guys heard that Moffatt said both MF and BC don’t want to do the show anymore and they had to be persuaded because they don’t “need it”?
I know it’s true they don’t need it, but still, considering without the show they wouldn’t be where they are now…
It was kind of misleading media spin. He’s talking about having to pitch the series to them, but since it’s done season by season as opposed to say a one-time 5 season commitment, that would be pretty typical now.
I bet it’s not media spin, I bet it’s exactly what it says on the tin: they are over it, because they don’t need it anymore.
If we stop looking at things through rose- tinted glasses, this is the reality: they did it because at the time they had nothing much going on. Now they are famous, they can very well do something more lucrative.
It’s not the first time it happens, won’t be the last.
Probably for the best anyway, as the third season was not that good in terms of storyline.
Best PR pitch, translation “come to the sherlock convention people even if you cannot afford it.” And to also sell Sherlock mechandise. Very conning!
It is. There’s a video, hermia, and both of them still do less lucrative projects besides Sherlock. But sensationalizing Moffat-speak always gets more clicks. It’s actually incredibly likely they were signed for 4 and 5 at the same time.
I agree they can do what they want, but that doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy filming it, which is what Moffat said.
There’s plenty of stuff to criticize BC about lately, but I don’t think he or Martin are abandoning the show. Moffat knows how to market and promote and he always says something that gets the chatter up about the show. Big whoop. Besides, did either of them ever ‘need’ the show anyway? Wasn’t Martin already offered the role in the Hobbit before Sherlock debuted? And Ben says Speilberg , Danny Boyle, and Steve McQueen had never seen Sherlock before he got War Horse, Frankenstein, and 12YAS. Sherlock may have been his break out role for audience recognition, but directors already knew him and they are the ones in charge of casting.
Actually Spielberg was a big fan of Sherlock (so I have read, not that I know him). And believe me the others must have known too, whatever they said. Because these projects you mention only happened after Sherlock, not before. How surprising…
And you are deluded if you think they had this level of fame before Sherlock. I bet I could have screamed the names Martin Freeman and Benedict C. in Paris, Berlin or Rome, and people would have thought I was putting on an avant-garde performance. 🙂
As I said, let’s be honest here: they don’t need it anymore, they have moved on.
I know Moffat likes a bit of s*it stirring, but in this case I bet he’s telling the truth.
I wouldn’t be surprised if both 4 and 5 never happened. Especially if Strange is a huge success.