FIRST SHOWING NET
by Ethan Anderton
June 9, 2014
Source: Deadline
The weekend finally brought news that Marvel had locked down a director for the troubled production of Ant-Man with Yes Man and The Break-Up director Peyton Reed getting behind the camera and Anchorman and Step Brothers writer/director Adam McKay contributing to the script before cameras roll next month. Now Marvel is looking ahead to their next developing Phase Three title, Doctor Strange. The comic book studio has already lined up Deliver Us from Evil and Sinister director Scott Derrickson to be at the helm, and now Deadline reports Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy are candidates to star.
There's no such thing a knowing too much about Benedict Cumberbatch. So, as a bit of a treat, we've put together a list of facts about the Sherlock star you (probably) didn't know.
1. He can do a mean impression of Alan Rickman.
2. Back in the day (2003) was on a programme called 40 Something, with House star Hugh Laurie.
3. He's been on Heartbeat, twice.
4. He says it would be great to play a "normal guy" in a "normal comedy".
5. He's really cute with Tom Hardy in a very old-school interview. Proof.
6. On meeting fellow celebrities he said: "I have the same butterflies and inability to be cool. I approach them as a fellow member of the human race as the next person in their audience does. I've been doing this for 10 odd years, and so to meet people who thrilled me with their work for my entire life in such a concentrated manner as has happened over the last few years has been mind-blowing."
7. Even when he's drunk, he's still a gent. Well, that's according to Ed Sheeran who spent a night drinking with him.
8. His shower scene from Star Trek: Into Darkness was cut at the last minute (don't worry, you can see it here).
9. He was nearly killed in South Africa when he was carjacked.
10. At school, he painted oil canvases in his downtime.
11. On relationships, he thinks a woman who is intelligent is sexy. "A woman who can make you feel smart with her conversation skills is also sexy. I believe the sense of humor is important."
12. Like David Bowie, Cumberbatch has a condition called heterochromia, a mutation which means there's a difference in coloration in his eyes. Specifically, the irises have a varying combination of blue, green, and gold.
The campaign for JJ Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness has leaned so heavily on Benedict Cumberbatch's mysterious villain John Harrison that it's easy to forget he's still largely unknown in the US.
But while Trek fever will have died down by autumn, Cumberbatch fever is unlikely to follow suit: he's got a spectacularly awards-baiting trio lined up with Julian Assange biopic The Fifth Estate, Steven McQueen's Twelve Years A Slave and Meryl Streep/George Clooney drama August: Osage County.
With that bright future in mind, Digital Spy takes a look back over Cumberbatch's five most memorable roles to date.
Stuart: A Life Backwards (2007)
We included this on our Tom Hardy top five list last year, which should give you some indication of just how powerful its two lead performances are. Following the true story of the friendship that developed between an unstable young homeless man (Hardy) and an author (Cumberbatch) who was writing his life story, this is a subtle and increasingly devastating two-hander which makes both actors' subsequent success all the more gratifying.
Sherlock (2010- )
Despite being set in the present day, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss's lovingly detailed take on Sherlock Holmes retains the spirit of Arthur Conan Doyle's novels as well as any adaptation ever has. Cumberbatch's mercurial, fascinating Sherlock – self-described as a "high-functioning sociopath" – combines the suave appeal of Basil Rathbone's 1930s Holmes with the arrogance and vulnerability that made Jeremy Brett's incarnation definitive for many fans. Any Holmes is only good as his Watson, and it's Cumberbatch's warm, utterly believable chemistry with Martin Freeman that makes Sherlock arguably the best thing on British telly. When it's actually on.
