Here are some photos of Benedict Cumberbatch flying solo on Friday night at an LA event for Geanco, a charity helping Nigerians and other African people. Benedict received Geanco’s Global Promise Award for his work to raise money for Save the Children, and for being a vocal supporter of refugees. He referred to charity aid workers as “the true superheroes.” You can read more here. Meanwhile, Benedict chatted with the Guardian about Doctor Strange. Some highlights:
On life’s big questions: “You know, every time I dig a little bit deeper into science with my pea-sized brain, I hit a wall. I have a sense of wonder at what is beyond our understanding. There is wonder in logic, and, whether on the macro or micro scale, it just gets bizarre, extraordinary and unfathomable. And we have only five senses to understand and appreciate it, whether it’s theoretical physics or microbiology or circadian rhythms. It’s incredible.”
Whether he felt like the only British actor without his own superhero franchise: “I know what you mean, but no. I don’t really have a bucket list. I have, though, in the past, undergone one of the most life-changing moments in my personal life [he became a father in June last year], and also Hamlet, and now I’m here. The joy of it is in the contrast. I literally flew off to Kathmandu [where Doctor Strange was partly filmed] two days after we finished Hamlet. It was a massive gear change, but I love what it is to be part of this huge body of work and people. It’s great fun.”
Bendy doesn’t have a historical interest in this stuff: Most interviewees connected with Marvel films will profess a deep love of the comic books. Cumberbatch can’t quite muster that up and also declares himself a touch too squeamish to have consumed much of the earlier work of his director, horror aficionado Scott Derrickson (Sinister, Deliver Us From Evil). But he is interested in all this metaphysical malarkey.
Spiritualism: “Spiritualism keeps on cropping up in culture from way, way back, and the 60s were a moment where people started to look for something beyond the material. But how do you marry that with the modern world? And, of course, part of the answer in cinema is to take people on a journey that is almost beyond imagining but is now possible through state-of-the-art effects, digital manipulations and landscapes and environments which are, I think, going to be utterly mind-blowing in this film. And very funny, which is the other thing I thought was very important. You know, this character could be very hokey.”
So Benedict didn’t read comic books and he’s too squeamish to even watch horror films, even the horror films his director had done prior to Doctor Strange. That’s funny to me for some reason. I mean, no judgment – I can’t watch horror films either and I wasn’t into comic books as a kid. But I wasn’t cast as the Sorcerer Supreme or whatever. As for Bendy not having a bucket list… do you believe him? I do not. I think he’s been very, very interested in getting some major franchises under his belt.
Also: Benedict is going to host the November 5th episode of Saturday Night Live. That’s the SNL episode before the election, so there’s a chance some political candidates could show up in that episode.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I don’t mind blood and guts or demons or monsters. But I do scream at jumpy-outy. I need sofa cushions if there’s jumpy-outy.
Is it me, or is Benny getting a bit on the boring side? He used to say more pompous things that I could laugh at.
ETA: I suppose pondering on how the limitations of the five senses might impact on our perception of circadian rhythms from both macro and micro perspectives is PRETTY DAMN POMPOUS. I think what has happened is that I now skim over Benny’s pompous.
Blood and guts and demons and monsters actually bore me. But jumpy-outy unnerves me.
Benny is toning it down somewhat but I did find that second paragraph about not having a superhero franchise hilarious. He didn’t answer the question at all; it was pretty well known that he was pounding on every conceivable door to get a franchise; but “life-changing event” and oh yes, HAMLET!
He’s not as good at florid word salads as LEGS, is he?
Not at all; yet somehow, far more pretentious. Because HAMLET! And if I could put sparkles around that and make it all flash; well, HAMLET! Superhero? That I hounded everyone at the studio for months to get? Never mind all that. HAMLET PUSHING 40, the vanity production to end all vanity productions!
The reason he’s such a tit is if someone asks him directly about the baby or the wife, he climbs right up on that high horse and says “that’s private”! But he will shoehorn it in when the question doesn’t even remotely come close to asking about it. I wonder if he has any conversation where he doesn’t mention both baby AND HAMLET?
“Good evening, I’m Gary, I’ll be your waiter, would you like to hear the specials?”
“You know what’s special, Gary? Fulfilling a life long dream of playing Hamlet whilst simultaneously playing the part of a lifetime, that of fatherhood”
“Um, Oooookkkay. So, drinks?”
I’m not sure what your definition of a “vanity project” is. Like it or not, Cumberbatch’s Hamlet was the opposite of a vanity project. While reaction to the production was mixed, he received very good to excellent reviews and was nominated for an Olivier Award. The production itself received four nominations. It was also a huge financial success for the Barbican. it’s not as though he is some musician with no theatrical experience who decided he wanted to act and bankrolled it himself. …and no, he hasn’t been “shoehorning” a mention of it into every conversation.
A good part of Benedict’s career has been spent acting in the theatre to much acclaim. Why would he not want to play Hamlet? Here’s a list of a few actors who have played Hamlet while in their mid to late 30s and even 40s: Simon Russell Beale, Jude Law, Kenneth Branagh, David Tenant, and Richard Burton. Paul Giamatti was in his late 40s. So what?
He may have wanted Dr. Strange, but It is not “pretty well known that he was pounding on every conceivable door to get a franchise”. In fact, Marvel has said that they rearranged their schedule just so that they could get him. Aside from that, there is nothing wrong with trying to get jobs. That’s what actors do if they want to work. Maybe some of them just take a few acting lessons and then sit in their rooms waiting for casting directors to call. Those that do are now probably still waiting tables, or wasting away in their rooms rather than do anything so undignified as apply for a job.
Oh don’t be silly Phoebe. He mentions his family a million times less than most actors. It’s only the Tumbly crazies who think him mentioning his child very occasionally (which is very normal) is “shoehorning” and that’s sheer jealousy.
A friend of mine directed his Hamlet and she is one of the finest theatre directors of her generation. The production had problems (mainly because they had technical problems with the set – the revolve didn’t work properly, so had to create a new set from scratch at the last minute) but it was a perfectly respectable choice to make.
Depending on whether you read the folio or quarto version Hamlet is either 18 or 30. Cumby is not especially old to be playing the role.
He got major blow back every time he stepped out of line.
People still haven’t forgiven him the support of the refugees. As if that was a bad thing to begin with.
I imagine he is a nightmare for his PR team.
The last horror movie I saw was The Hitcher (the 1986 version, mind you). I’m really not into that genre.
And I had no interest in Bendy’s life changing Hamlet. Bah humbug.
ETA: The Fall season 3 starts this weekend on Netflix, US ladies. The first episode has blood & gore due to surgical details, but no jumpy outy things.
I can’t watch COMMERCIALS for horror films, let alone the films.
I don’t like guts and gore. I don’t like to be psyched out too much. I don’t like things jumping out at me. I have way too strong an imagination to be able to watch that kind of thing and not be terrified of my house afterwards.
Ooh can I come and sit by you? We can cower together at the mere thought of them….
Yes! haha – it’s so bad. When I was in college one of my friends forced me to go to a haunted house on campus for Halloween. She made one of the poor freshman boys who was about a solid foot taller than I was, and athletic, not let me leave.
Which worked. Until I started crying waiting to go in hahaha. He was just like “oh god… I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d cry. I feel so bad”
Yep. Whenever we’re in a cinema, I’d simply close my eyes if they start playing any horror trailer. All the way until the next trailer, because you know they’ll sneak in anothet scary scene after the title reveal of the film.
I am the same. I don’t even get the point of them. What is the entertainment value?
But I am the same with roller coasters too – why should I pay money to be scared and be afraid for my life? I don’t get it. I don’t want to be afraid for my life.
I hate violent movies. Since movies have gotten so violent, I don’t see a lot of movies.
I don’t like scary movies,I mean adult life is scary enough, why would I put myself through that? I’ll pass!
No scary movies for me. No blood, no guts, no tension-ridden “is someone hiding in the house” moments. I can basically watch Disney and Pixar. Hubby watches a lot of movies and tv shows late at night, as he chuckles that so few things are “Carol-proof.”
I absolutely hate gratuitous violence in movies, so tend to not pick ones with it in. It’s like when you read a book and every other word seems to be f**k.
Common sense again I know.
He screams “Bucket list”, I would bet he absolutely has one. I can just tell by the way he always says he doesn’t. Anyway, a bummer he doesn’t like horror, such an important genre of film to understand human behavior and mind. I mean horror with a plot, not just violence (I hate violent films too but strangely most of them aren’t horror – it’s the action genre that has got a lot of pointless blood). besides, he would be great in a horror film, it would definitely be a good combination. I wish I could find horror fans somewhere…I feel alone 🙁
I’m with Bendy. Most horror flicks these days rely on gore and empathetic degrees of violence: you know, the kind where you see someone stick their hand in a blender or some other such device and get HURT. I hate those!
What I do like are spooky ghost ones and not these over the top special effects ones either: more like classic stuff like the original The Haunting, The Uninvited, Nosferatu….The Others was perhaps the last good classic one, off the top of my head.