Benedict Cumberbatch, Transition Completed

by Lynnette Porter

  Like many who want to permanently link Sherlock with the man who plays him, Murray-arty has trouble understanding Cumberbatch’s gently emphatic “I’m just an actor”.[198] The best Murray-arty can do is conflate the character and actor as “Benedict Sherlock”. Fortunately, by the end of the episode, the apples and oranges have been counted and their numbers compared, and viewers who had not previously made the connection learned that Cumberbatch plays Sherlock Holmes on PBS.

  The public broadcaster also anticipated that a Cumberbatch-starring video would go viral. Hashtag #counterbatch promoted it, and PBSTV on Twitter later thanked the 3.5 million people who tweeted it. PBS’ official Tumblr shared behind-the-scenes photographs of Cumberbatch, script in hand, laughing at Murray Monster’s antics.[199] The actor received plenty of media publicity for appearing in the barely more than two-minute video, but the PBS websites benefited far more when Cumberbatch’s presence drew millions of viewers to this Sesame Street video.

  Top Gear

  Along with Doctor Who, the television institution that is Top Gear is a perennial best-selling export for BBC Worldwide and, in the U.S., a staple of BBC America’s programming. (Sherlock and Downton Abbey also are two of the BBC’s most lucrative exports, but in the U.S. they are part of a collaboration with PBS Masterpiece.) When Cumberbatch got behind the wheel of the reasonably priced car and took it for a spin, he not only got a great deal of attention in the U.K. but in the U.S. (when the episode was broadcast a few weeks later) and, since then, in the frequently rerun Top Gear episodes broadcast around the world.

  Fans who wondered about Cumberbatch’s first car, in light of the black Jaguar or motorbike he favoured later in life, learned that it was his mother’s Mini. That was followed by a Mitsubishi Colt circa 1982 that he fondly termed “a rust bucket”.[200] The revelation added credibility to Cumberbatch’s “average guy” persona while harkening to a time before he was famous.

  Today he is, however, a famous actor and, a few minutes after discussing his first car, he taught host Jeremy Clarkson how a movie fight is choreographed for the camera. Cumberbatch’s comfort with both the typical “average guy” and atypical movie star aspects of his life makes him seem well grounded and accessible, especially in the Top Gear episode.

  As the Star in the Reasonably Priced Car, Cumberbatch completed more test laps than any other guest to that point in the series. Upon hearing Clarkson’s pronouncement, Cumberbatch groaned, “That’s so shaming”. Nevertheless, footage of him driving his best lap and talking himself through the curves proved he had a respectable time of 1:47.8, but it was down a ways from the top of the leader board. What he lacked as a driver he more than made up for with an entertaining appearance on Top Gear and the goodwill of Clarkson and the studio audience.

  Clarkson started the conversation by asking about Sherlock’s demise and resurrection but soon turned to Cumberbatch’s role as “a damn good baddie” in Star Trek. The host asked why Americans cast Brits, never Americans, as the baddies in any film. Cumberbatch’s “hippie, mad, out in left field” theory is that Americans “do vowels which are sort of warm and loving and feeling, and we do consonants which are sharp and intelligent and thinking”. Clarkson summarised the actor’s assessment as British audiences are more intelligent than American viewers. “Maybe so,” Cumberbatch agreed, “and maybe that’s scary for them”. While the audience and the actor shared a laugh, he ruefully announced the “end of my U.S. career”.[201]

  While U.S. fans may not find the joke quite as funny, there is some truth to Cumberbatch’s analysis. The way that Sherlock enunciates final consonants as he makes a point is a very British vocalisation, for example, and his Britishness is one reason why he is so appealing to American audiences. This interview, coupled with Cumberbatch’s ease and humour throughout the episode, also goes a long way toward reminding U.K. fans that, despite the occasional worry that the actor will “go Hollywood” and permanently leave home, he seems most “himself” during U.K. television interviews when he is surrounded by people familiar with his body of work.

  Career Expansion as a “Commentator”

  If 2013 was Cumberbatch’s most profitable, promotable year as an actor (at least, to date), then it also precipitated a huge increase in the number of purely celebrity events that earn him nearly as much publicity as an opening night or a red-carpet premiere. Mid-2013 to mid-2014 largely became categorised as the “celebrity year,” and Cumberbatch was invited to serve as a “journalist,” interviewer, or commentator at high-profile, entertainment-related events unrelated to acting.

  The Laureus Sports Awards

  In March 2014, Cumberbatch emceed the world-renowned Laureus Sports Awards, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Although he is an admitted sports fan and kept up with the Who’s Who nominated for awards, his performance at the Laureus Sports Awards seemed “stiff,” and not in the sexual way he suggested in making what one fan site called a “filthy joke” regarding his enthusiasm for being next to Olympian and Sportswoman of the Year Missy Franklin.[202] No public reviews lambasted his performance as the event’s host, but Cumberbatch likely would be better at conducting interviews or making emcee-type jokes in a setting closer to the area of the entertainment industry he knows first hand much better than sports.

  When Cumberbatch ventured into the audience to briefly interview Tony Hawk, the commentary became more about the actor than the skateboarder. To relate to his subject and the sports audience, Cumberbatch mentioned that he had done some snowboarding and had attempted skateboarding, but added in air quotes that he is a “’middle-age’ boarder, and when I fall over it hurts, man, it really hurts”.[203]

  As the actor asked some typical questions and provided the requisite banter, he pulled the microphone toward himself each time he commented on Hawk’s answers - unconsciously shifting the audience’s focus to him instead of leaving the mic on Hawk so that the audience could hear his every word. The back-and-forth movement of the mic not only was distracting to television audiences, but it inadvertently kept the audio focus as much on Cumberbatch as on Hawk. A well-seasoned host or journalist knows to keep the focus on the star - in this setting, the athletes and award winners - and to keep the interview moving along. At times during Cumberbatch’s emceeing duties, his jests fell flat, or an awkward pause slowed the show’s momentum.

  Although Cumberbatch, who prides himself on being the consummate professional actor, should improve with more experience as a host, being the emcee of such a prestigious event, and one with which he might not automatically be associated, led to an awkward performance. The fact that this was a first-time hosting job may not be lost on his fans, but to viewers more interested in sports than Sherlock, the choice of this actor as emcee may have seemed startling or strange.

  The Grand Prix Circuit

  On March 30, 2014, the day after he hosted the Laureus Awards, Cumberbatch took on the role of “sports journalist” by interviewing Formula One drivers on the podium after the race. The actor looked cool and professional in his light jacket and open-necked white shirt, and he brought a friendly smile and handshake to initiate his interview with Malaysia Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton. Nevertheless, one reporter called the after-race interview “a rather bizarre sight” because the British driver was interviewed by “Sherlock and Hollywood actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who had been seen trackside at the Sepang International Circuit throughout the weekend”.[204] Cumberbatch’s interview style lacked crisp precision, but then, many fans thought Cumberbatch likely got the job because of his hosting duties the previous day - more a case of “right place, right time,” rather than a new direction for his career or the result of journalistic credentials to get him the job. For his part, Cumberbatch told BBC News that Formula One’s CEO, Bernie Ecclestone, asked him to conduct interviews and that “you really can’t turn that man down”.[205]

  When he conducted post-race interviews for Sky
in late May 2014, however, The Telegraph offered pointed criticism. Among the “five things we learned at Monaco” during the Grand Prix, according to Formula One racing correspondent Daniel Johnson, is “Sherlock Stay Home”. Johnson covered the racing news first in his article but then felt compelled to include a scathing criticism of the Sherlock actor. Although sporting events increasingly have become as much about entertainment as sport, inviting actors who have not directly participated in the sport to interview athletes smacks of ratings bait. Hiring an actor who is qualified as a journalist to interview athletes would not be nearly as distracting as bringing on board a television or film star who likely will increase ratings or publicity by making the sporting event noteworthy to the actor’s fans, but who also may not be a natural interviewer.

  Johnson criticised not only Cumberbatch but those who hired him. He acknowledged that Formula One racing broadcasts are entertainment, but sometimes the sport’s promoters have made “imprudent decisions. None more so than the decision to have Benedict Cumberbatch, aka Sherlock, conduct the podium interviews”.[206] After faintly praising his “humble, enthusiastic approach” as somewhat refreshing, the journalist added that Cumberbatch is “emphatically not a journalist” and racing “fans do not want to see some actor stumble through the questions, preventing us from hearing what we really want the drivers to talk about”.[207]

  Cumberbatch fans, if they are not also Formula One aficionados, may have tuned into Sky simply to see the actor, but they are a secondary audience for the race and its television coverage. Placing Cumberbatch in a situation that turns out to be awkward for racing audiences can do little to enhance his credibility as an interviewer, if that becomes a direction he wants to pursue more diligently (not as a celebrity perk).

  Another website, for example, described Cumberbatch’s rather awkward interviewing style (asking Lewis Hamilton, who had just lost the race to teammate Nico Rosberg, “How are things with your teammate, I think people want to know”[208]), but it more positively illustrated his degree of celebrity by entitling the article “Benedict Cumberbatch Bonds with a Surly Lewis Hamilton”. Cumberbatch’s name, not driver Hamilton’s, is the emphasis of the headline, only one illustration among many of the entertainment media’s, as opposed to sports journalists’, focus on the Grand Prix. Unfortunately, this site presented a mixed message about Cumberbatch’s role at the Grand Prix. The headline suggested news and likely photographs about the celebrity, but the video clip included with the prose gave a sample of his less successful role as an interviewer.

  Whereas a journalist specialising in sports may encourage president and CEO of Formula One Management Bernie Ecclestone to keep Cumberbatch away from the platform interviews, a Montreal reporter published an article taking the opposite view - asking Ecclestone to specifically invite Cumberbatch to participate. Asking whether Ecclestone might send the “Sherlock, Star Trek, Fifth Estate, (etc.) actor Benedict Cumberbatch to these parts, to interview the winners as he did in Malaysia and Monaco,” the reporter added that “many of us would be happy to see him! Not to mention, a visit here would keep the alliteration going - Malaysia, Monaco, Montreal!”[209]

  The number of exclamation points emphasises the fact that Cumberbatch the actor is in demand, and fans want to see him in person, no matter what reason brings him to their hometown. The Montreal reporter likely wrote on behalf of many Canadian fans who would tune in to the Grand Prix race or go to the event only to see Cumberbatch. His role as an interviewer seems to be far less important than simply his presence at an event where fans living far from London, Los Angeles, or New York, for example, might be able to see or meet him.

  These examples of Cumberbatch as interviewer, instead of interviewee, help delineate his professional strengths - or weaknesses. Granted, situations that allow him to practice his interviewing or emceeing skills off the world stage are limited, but some additional rehearsal or a more gradual build up to working a global event would help him make a better professional impression when he takes a job as “journalist”.

  The Chelsea Flower Show

  Despite these less than perfect performances as an emcee/interviewer, Cumberbatch was tapped as a commentator for an event that seemed better suited to his style. In late May 2014, Cumberbatch and his mother, Wanda Ventham, joined forces to talk about the Chelsea Flower Show.[210] Certainly such an appearance did little to downplay his reputation for poshness, but it did allow him to gain more experience as a commentator in a safer environment - on the BBC, at a classy event, and under the watchful eye of his mum. Their previous banter during a French and Saunders radio show in 2011 has remained popular with fans, and Ventham’s guest appearance as Sherlock Holmes’ mother in two 2014 Sherlock episodes made the mother-son pairing especially compelling for the BBC’s broadcast of the prestigious flower show.

  The two actors took part in a Mum and Me segment. Cumberbatch dressed casually but classily in a light jacket, open-necked shirt, light trousers, and sometimes sported a straw hat. Almost the moment the pair arrived at the show, tweeted photos included comments on their wardrobe and every move. Whereas Ventham seemed animated, her son often appeared more serious and subdued - and highly aware that even sipping from a water bottle would become a newsworthy tweet.

  On BBC One,[211] he was introduced only as “actor Benedict Cumberbatch” before the interview; the implicit assumption is that audiences know exactly who he plays, without the need to mention Sherlock. Interviewed without his mother, Cumberbatch was friendly and eloquent, but quiet, as if the whirlwind of his life has caught up with him. He mentioned in this and a later flower-show interview that he enjoyed the calm of the gardens.

  During this first interview, Cumberbatch briefly talked about his parents and grandparents as gardeners, while the BBC briefly popped a photo onto the screen showing blond young Ben surrounded by flowers. Although he relishes his booming career, Cumberbatch admitted the pace is often difficult if he wants any semblance of a “normal” life. He commented that he seldom lives in any one place for more than three or four weeks at a time, so maintaining even a terrace garden is difficult unless someone else cares for it. He added that he does have a camellia that survived renovations on his home and a southern exposure during London’s harsh recent winters. However, as he has on numerous other occasions, he touted the benefits of Hampstead Heath, near his home, and seemed more taken with the idea of the urban wilds than the prospect of creating what his mother later described as a “romantic” little garden he could replicate in the limited space at home. For his solo interview he shucked his jacket, shades, and hat and looked younger than he did when shown on BBC Two[212] touring the many artistic exhibits with his mother.

  During the longer (about eight-minute) interview with his mother, Cumberbatch deferred to Ventham as she recounted early family forays into gardening. When her son was still a preteen, the family bought a cottage where they began to garden in earnest. Ventham laughingly recalled that even before that, she had her son dead-head the petunias in their rooftop garden, but he spent most time outdoors at nearby Kensington Gardens, where the boy sometimes found it difficult to understand why he should not pick the flowers there.

  During a stroll among the many artistic arrangements of the Chelsea Flower Show, Ventham pointed out driftwood amidst some lush greenery and asked her son if it reminded him of anything. He immediately recalled his grandmother, who used what she found at the beach to enhance her home garden. When in conversation with an interviewer or his mother, even though he stood in front of the ubiquitous camera, Cumberbatch talked amiably and added titbits about his childhood. However, as a “commentator” on the flowers, he contributed little to viewers’ understanding or appreciation of the gardens - although fans undoubtedly appreciated the view of the mother and son meandering the paths and stopping to admire a lovely blossom.

  As a commentator, Ventham seemed far more at ease and conversational, even when forc
ed by being on camera to constantly make some type of statement about the blooms before her. Cumberbatch came across as a doting son enjoying time with his mother more than trying to say something memorable about what they were seeing. When Ventham thanked her son for bringing her, it carried a double meaning for the actors. They enjoyed attending the Chelsea Flower Show but were aware that, without Cumberbatch’s current fame, the pair would not be included in the BBC’s special coverage. Attaching both Cumberbatch and Ventham to the programme brought a new audience to the coverage, as many fans undoubtedly tuned in to see what the actors would say more than they watched to learn about horticulture.

  Television Acting Beyond Sherlock

  To date, acting is Cumberbatch’s professional strength, and The Hollow Crown showcases him in the best of theatre on television. The Hollow Crown series presents three Shakespearean plays about British monarchs. The first series of televised history plays, broadcast in the U.K. in 2012 and later on U.S. PBS stations, comprised Richard II; Henry IV, Part 1; and Henry IV, Part 2. Ben Whishaw won a BAFTA as Leading Actor in Richard II; Jeremy Irons received a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries for his role as King Henry IV; and Richard II received a BAFTA nomination as Best Single Drama. The U.S. Critics’ Choice Television Awards nominated the series as Best Miniseries. Therefore, when BBC announced a second series, audiences and critics could assume that it would be cast with well-known, often-awarded actors in the title roles.

  Shakespeare’s first tetralogy (Henry VI, Parts I-III; Richard III) is the focus of the second series. The announcement of Cumberbatch as Richard III earned a great deal of attention in April 2014. The prestige of Shakespeare and The Hollow Crown seemed well matched by the acting credentials of Cumberbatch and first-time television director Dominic Cooke, who built his reputation in the theatre, most recently as the artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre. Cumberbatch is no stranger to Shakespeare or the Royal Court, telling the media that he “can’t wait to work with Dominic Cooke again to bring this complex, funny, and dangerous character to life”.[213]