255 Little Favour. Indiegogo. 2013.
256 Little Favour. iTunes Preview.
257 Little Favour. “Making Little Favour.” SunnyMarch.
258 Ibid.
259 Ibid.
260 Ibid.
261 Ibid.
262 “Cumberbatch Honoured in Krakow.” News from Poland. 10 May 2014.
263 Ewa Figura. “’Little Favour’ With the Participation of Its Creators.” Off Plus Camera. 11 May 2014.
264 Andreas Wiseman. “Benedict Cumberbatch Launches Production Company.” Screen Daily. 29 Oct. 2013.
265 Susan Luciani. Email. 2 June 2014.
266 Ibid.
267 Comments. Burlesque Fairytales. Vimeo.
268 Luciani, 2 June 2014.
269 Ibid.
270 Ibid.
271 Ibid.
272 Brian Enk. “Smaug is Just as Scary in LEGO Form!” Yahoo Movies. 8 Apr. 2014.
273 Alison Flood. “Benedict Cumberbatch Records Audiobook of William Golding Novel.” Guardian. 6 Aug. 2014.
274 Amanda Cochran. “Benedict Cumberbatch-voiced film Jerusalem: Inside the Making of the IMAX Movie.” CBS News. 26 Oct. 2013.
275 Ibid.
276 Michael O’Sullivan. “’Jerusalem’ Movie Review: A Prismatic Portrait of the Holy City.” Washington Post. 21 Nov. 2013.
277 Jerusalem. Dir. Daniel Ferguson. National Geographic Entertainment. 2013.
278 “National Geographic Entertainment Presents Jerusalem.” Jerusalem the Movie. 2013.
279 BBC Radio 4. “D-Day Reports Page.” 6 June 2014.
280 Emily Asher-Perrin. “Learn to Love Listening to Radio Plays by Listening to Neverwhere.” Tor-Com. 28 Mar. 2013.
281 Jeremy Howe. “Neverwhere Returns.” BBC Radio 4. 26 Nov. 2013.
282 “Media Monkey: Benedict Cumberbatch, Hugh Bonneville, and Richard Caseby.” Guardian. 2 Feb. 2014.
283 “Rajar Q2 2013: Record figures for Radio 4, Radio 2 and Asian Network.” BBC News. About the BBC. 1 Aug. 2013.
284 Lyn Gardner. “Only the Brave Need Apply: Where Are the West End’s Champions of the New?” Guardian. 9 May 2014.
285 Oldman, “Benedict Cumberbatch.”
286 BBC Radio 4. Mansfield Park. 12-22 May 2014.
287 Mansfield Park. “Men and Women Are Afraid to Lose Their Position in Society.” BBC Radio 4.
288 Mansfield Park. BBC Radio 4. May 2014.
289 Comments posted to the Radio Times article, Dowell, 11 Feb. 2014.
290 Ben Dowell. “Benedict Cumberbatch Fans Break Ticket Record Over Final Episode of Cabin Pressure.” Radio Times. 11 Feb. 2014.
291 Mark Jefferies. “Sherlock Star Benedict Cumberbatch Has Fans in Stitches for Radio Sitcom Return.” Daily Mirror. 23 Feb. 2014.
292 The BBC Radio 4 credits list the character as Phillida, but other dramatisations have spelled it Phyllida.
293 Ben Dowell. “Benedict Cumberbatch Returns as Young Rumpole in Two New Radio 4 Dramas.” Radio Times. 14 Mar. 2014.
294 Julia Rampen. “Brokers Question £3 Million Benedict Cumberbatch FSCS Ads.” Mortgage Solutions. 9 Aug. 2013.
295 Ibid.
296 Ibid.
Chapter 10
The Public Private Man after the Transition
“It’s a difficult job, and with all the success comes a whole new load of problems.”[297]
Benedict Cumberbatch
With Cumberbatch’s increasing celebrity, the nature of his work has changed. He may have told a reporter at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) that his job is basically in front of a camera to portray a character, but increasingly his job is in front of a camera all the time, whether he is being recorded formally for an interview or a role or informally by fans or paparazzi. Whenever Cumberbatch steps outside, he stands a good chance of being photographed or followed, and although he strives to maintain normalcy in his private life - and to keep it private - the scrutiny has become ever more intense since 2010.
Public Focus on the Actor and Acting
Since Cumberbatch has become more famous, he has been interviewed hundreds of times, often about topics unrelated to acting. While it is expected that the public who enjoy his performances want to know more about him, the focus frequently shifts from the role and means of achieving a performance to the man and his off-camera life. That is a shame, because when Cumberbatch discusses his preparation for a role and his connection with a character, he provides insights not only into the way he works but, for those who do not act, a greater appreciation for the profession of acting. Far more than most actors, Cumberbatch has eloquently discussed elements of his performance.
For a man described in Esquire as not liking to talk about his craft, Cumberbatch in Q&A sessions does exactly a lot of that. The Esquire interviewer noted that “he doesn’t actually seem to like talking about acting at all. A question about his morally complex role in 12 Years prompts a long digression about the scourge of sweatshop labour”.[298] Perhaps Cumberbatch merely likes to take a conversation in a direction of his choosing. When asked politely about a topic he has not previously covered in other interviews, he often lets the audience in on his ideas about a character or a time period and shares some of that much-vaunted research.
Louise Brealey delightfully knows how to ask questions that lead to in-depth answers, and in the venues in which they have talked before an audience (e.g., the 2012 Cheltenham Festival), time has not been a big factor in limiting the conversation. Too often when Cumberbatch promotes a film or walks a red carpet, interviews are limited to one or two questions and mere sound bites of responses.
When Brealey asked about Cumberbatch’s process and preparation for a role, he offered insights on what have become, to date, some of his most famous roles that reflect his work in a variety of media. When preparing himself to play the creature in Frankenstein, he locked himself away and “imagined myself not being able to speak or hear or feel or taste and just deprived myself”. Gradually he began to move around the room “in the dark and work with the concept of having no sense memory of the smallest things you take for granted”.[299] During this sensory-deprivation exercise, Cumberbatch focused on such basic physical responses as breath or heartbeat and gave himself over to the experience of feeling as a newborn “creature” would.
Not surprisingly, the way he approached the role of Christopher Tietjens in Parade’s End differed greatly. “Tietjens was a time compression as I didn’t have time to read a quartet of novels”. Instead, Cumberbatch relied on the script and his trust in director Susanna White, author Tom Stoppard, and co-star Rebecca Hall. His leap of faith, instead of intense physical preparation, resulted in a most pleasant acting experience. Cumberbatch concluded that Tietjens is “my favourite. He’s the person [among his many roles] I most admire in my life”.[300] These increasingly rare in-depth discussions provide insights about Cumberbatch’s work as an actor, not the details of his life as a celebrity found in many popular press articles.
The Job of Interacting with the Media
Although Cumberbatch does an excellent job of describing a character or project, dealing with an onslaught of reporters or facing the media (or independent paparazzi) when he is tired or stressed seems to be one of the more difficult parts of his new “job” as a celebrity. Cumberbatch sometimes can be short with reporters who may not ask the most appropriate or well-researched questions or who want more face time than the actor is able or willing to give.
A comparison of two rapid-f
ire interviews along the press line before TIFF’s 12 Years a Slave premiere illustrates the rapid shift in Cumberbatch’s interest and elaboration of his answer, depending upon a reporter’s demeanour and question. A CityNews interviewer congratulated Cumberbatch on his many fan and professional successes at TIFF, suggesting that he should return to a clearly welcoming Toronto more often. The reporter prompted Cumberbatch to discuss his smaller role in 12 Years, compared to the lead in The Fifth Estate, opening the way for Cumberbatch to express his gratitude for the role in “a very big and very important film” and to discuss his audition. “I fought for this role. I auditioned for it, and Steve [McQueen] hadn’t seen my work before and saw my audition tape. So I got it the old fashioned way, which meant a lot to me”.[301]
In contrast, another interviewer tried to delay Cumberbatch by slipping in an extra question at the end of the allotted brief time granted to each media outlet. The reporter asked Cumberbatch what he would change about his recent performances (more likely a reference to his work as Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate, which had premiered a day earlier at the festival). The actor paused for a moment, clearly uncomfortable with the question, and his handler hurried him along to the next group of reporters. “I have to go,” he replied in lieu of an answer.[302] He was not rude, but he did not seem to appreciate the question or the reporter’s attempt to waylay him.
Not all audiences or interviewers may understand that Cumberbatch protects his personal life, does his job to provide accurate information about his roles, and expects journalists to be equally professional. Cumberbatch occasionally corrects interviewers or reporters, but the way in which he does so varies with the attitude of the person talking with him. On U.S. television, he has gently corrected interviewers if they mispronounce a word (e.g., Jimmy Fallon’s mispronunciation of “Osage” led to a correction, but Fallon amiably appreciated it) but can clam up or indicate his disapproval at less-than-stellar questions.
If interviewers have not prepared or ask questions that he has been asked many times, the actor might call out the reporter. Such was an interview during promotion of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in December 2013. During a press conference with other cast members, Cumberbatch was asked why he likes to play “psychopaths” such as Sherlock and Smaug. Cumberbatch took umbrage, stating that Sherlock is a sociopath, not a psychopath, and, quoting Sherlock’s response to Anderson in “A Study in Pink,” recommended “do your research”. Clearly annoyed but trying to lighten the mood, he more softly added “just keep asking me silly questions and get no answers”.[303]
Even more apparent was his willingness to speak up when uncomfortable during a large press event in late December, this time at the premiere of long-anticipated Sherlock episode, “The Empty Hearse”.[304] Caitlin Moran, who had moderated a previous Sherlock premiere at the BFI in 2011, again interviewed the cast and creators after the screening. She was widely criticised by fans online following her decision to provide Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman with printouts of fan fiction to read to the crowd of press and fans during a Q&A being filmed by the BFI for later online distribution.
As the actors read what became quickly apparent as slash (or a same-sex relationship story), Cumberbatch paused, explaining that he usually reads his scripts before performing them. A moment later, he pointedly asked Moran, “Are you going to say something after we finish? What is the point?” She admitted that the reading was “the good bit” and “it played better in my head,” to which Mark Gatiss smoothly replied, “that’s the problem”. Cumberbatch and Freeman gamely tried to get to the end of the page, but, when Freeman reached the part with a kiss between Sherlock and John, Cumberbatch collected the page from his co-star and handed his and Freeman’s copies back to Moran.
Although many fans protested the actor’s use of “ludicrous” to describe the scenario depicted in this fan fiction in comparison with the stories that he and Freeman act out on television, the actor made a point to Moran that her attempt at humour had fallen flat and he did not appreciate it. However, Cumberbatch is also highly aware that the press, as well as fans, judge his every word and action and are not shy about reporting his responses. He “apologised” a moment later, saying that he did not mean to get all “uptight” about the reading - and he straightened his spine, lifted his nose in the air, and humorously enacted the role of someone haughtily feeling above the situation.
Cumberbatch was publicly put in a position in which he either remained uncomfortable or protested as politely as possible while explaining why he felt that reading fan fiction aloud on stage was not a good idea. Yet he also was aware that such a protest, however mild, could and likely would be perceived as diva behavior, and so he tried to tone down his initial response after the fact.
Although Cumberbatch often complies with what he is asked to do during an interview or Q&A session, he is not afraid to speak his mind if he has a problem with a situation or question. Almost immediately after taking a stand, however, he seems aware that his body language or his tone might create a backlash or criticism of his behaviour, so he subtly changes his expression and softens his tone or explains his rationale, not so much to “play the game” as to indicate his awareness of potential backlash. As he becomes an increasingly widely recognised star, he not only is provided more opportunities to snap at insipid interview questions, but he faces more widespread criticism if he is not always friendly and forthcoming. Negotiating that tension is still something that Cumberbatch seems to be working on, but his momentary displeasure seems to be an honest reaction to constant scrutiny. In general, his demeanour around fans most often has been cheerful and gracious, and he has increasingly made an effort to pose with them or sign autographs wherever he goes.
The Problems with “Perfection”
As one reporter crassly put it when questioning whether Cumberbatch would be the next great British import to America (along the likes of Sean Connery or Daniel Craig), “Is Benedict Cumberbatch a charming and handsome megastar-to-be? Or a pretentious and overbearing snot? Pardon the sharp contrast, but these are essentially the only categories we Americans have when welcoming new actors from across the pond”.[305]
Perhaps a Dunlop tyre commercial, airing in Asia, best summarises the “posh perfection” with which at least a portion of the public identifies him. It also allows Cumberbatch a way to skewer this image, which he has repeatedly said to the media is inaccurate regarding his current lifestyle or public schoolboy past. In the television spot, Cumberbatch plays a lord of the manor. He descends a magnificent winding stairway and inquires about the outerwear being held out for him to don. His manservant patiently explains the weather conditions. When Cumberbatch walks outside and scans his fleet of expensive cars, he asks why they all have Dunlop tyres. The servant merely laughs, incredulous that such a wealthy, refined man does not have the common sense to know the best tyres. In the final shot, as Cumberbatch drives away from the estate, he frowns with one final question of his loyal servant, “Why are you going on my date?”[306]
Having someone make his decisions and take care of the everyday aspects of his wealthy lifestyle may be the public’s expectation of someone of his socioeconomic status, but Cumberbatch continues to find ways to play up his “ordinariness” while enjoying the benefits that his career provide him. In either guise as star or common man, the actor strives to be perceived as a gentleman, and numerous publicised as well as undocumented everyday encounters with the public and employees of businesses he visits or where he works frequently mention his thoughtfulness. He is very much aware that the media waits for him to misbehave or act supremely entitled as a result of his wealth or celebrity, but he also seems naturally respectful.
In the quest to sensationalise headlines, especially on those rare days when Cumberbatch has not been either photographed by paparazzi or linked to an event or a project, the media sometimes resorts to creating a less flattering image quite at odds with the
actor’s usual public persona.
A headline in January 2014, for example, claimed “Benedict Cumberbatch Involved in Fight During Oscars Weekend”.[307] When he was in Los Angeles, his driver parked where he was not supposed to, blocking a hotel exit. Cumberbatch, getting out of the car, heard valets and security officers telling the driver to move and tried to intervene in what escalated into an argument. The driver, not the actor, ended up in a heated dispute, but paparazzi captured images of Cumberbatch around the vehicle as the squabble took place. The resulting headline implies that the actor was more significantly a part of the fracas, which might cause readers enough of a surprise to grab their attention. How many people noticed the headline but did not bother to read the article to learn what really happened? Such headlines should not hurt Cumberbatch’s image at this stage of his career, but they point to the larger issue that anything even peripherally involving him becomes fair game for a story, flattering or not, centred around him.
In June 2014, articles circulated that Cumberbatch “punched” a reporter who said something negative about Keira Knightley, Cumberbatch’s co-star in The Imitation Game. The more details that came out in subsequent articles increasingly made Cumberbatch less of a fighter and more of a gentleman, but the first headline played up the punch (which apparently was a tap on the arm rather than a debilitating hit). The Independent article using the “punched” headline even rehashed photos telling the tale of Cumberbatch’s political messages delivered to fans and paparazzi during Sherlock’s on-location filming in 2013.[308] This time, however, the newspaper labelled the messages, as well as the republished U2 photobomb from the Oscars, as “freak” occurrences and evidence of Cumberbatch’s “bad” or at least not-as-mannerly actions now that he has become a star. Other media outlets, however, that followed up on this “story” idealised Cumberbatch as a gentleman or knight standing up for a lady’s honour - hardly the image of a hot-headed hitter.
Benedict Cumberbatch, Transition Completed Page 20