By REBECCA KEEGAN
August 9, 2014
Benedict Cumberbatch at the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego during Comic-Con on July 24, 2014. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
During his first trip to Comic-Con in July, Benedict Cumberbatch stopped to chat about his many brainy characters, from the detective he plays on the BBC's "Sherlock" and the World War II codebreaker Alan Turing, whom he portrays in the upcoming movie "The Imitation Game," to Hamlet and an animated wolf.
You're here for "Penguins of Madagascar," an animated movie in which you voice a wolf who looks like he's the brains of the operation. Have I got it just about right?
Kind of. He's the leader, the alpha wolf of the pack, so to speak, and does things in a polar opposite way, pun intended, to the penguins.
... Smart face?
Yeah.
Definitely. [Cumberbatch furrows his brow and rests his chin in his hand]
No, it changes. It's about the character. I've been very, very fortunate that there's something going on behind my eyes so that it looks like I'm ... encompassing the brilliance of their minds and ability to concentrate. But you know I have a very superficial, skin-thin understanding of the science. ... It's just about finding the humanity in all of that. Brilliant people have private moments of self-doubt and things which we could all relate to, but they also have these extraordinary moments of discovery or pioneering brilliance that pushes the envelope in how we view the world. I try not to pull faces — if I do, it has to be something with the character.
Darn, so you're not really just thinking about what you're having for lunch?
Yeah, exactly — "Why did I eat that cheeseburger? I should have stuck to the salad." Actors often have that kind of a feeling, especially on stage when you're struggling through the weirdness of your day and you're doing the play for the umpteenth time in a long run, that's very often something that happens: Your mind drifts and you think, "I forgot to buy the cheese in the supermarket!" You have to be careful of those mundanities creeping in because they can play havoc with your concentration.
Speaking of the stage, you're going to be playing Hamlet in London next year. What does that particular role mean to you?
A lot. It's something that's been in my life for a long time. I was offered it at school and turned it down to do my "A" levels and try and get some decent grades. ... I'm of an age now where I think it's now or never ,and I've found the right director ... this brilliant female director called Lindsey Turner, who's just a phenomenon. I think she's the greatest director of her generation, I'll be that bold, and she's a good friend and great collaborator. We've been talking about it for over a year already, and we don't even start rehearsals until next June.
Most actors, [Hamlet] appeals to them initially because it feels like an everyman part, which it is, to an extent, you have to bring a lot of yourself to it. ... The other appeal is the amount of direct communication you have with your audience. There's such a large portion of it where you become very intimate. You should care about him a lot, but he should make you laugh as well as feel things.
READ MORE HERE: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-mn-ca-cumberbatch-conversation-20140810-story.html
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