Benedict Cumberbatch Brings His Sherlock Persona To The Brainy, Brilliant The Imitation Game

CINEMA BLEND
BY SEAN O'CONNELL 2014-09-07 19:30:50



Morten Tydlum’s The Imitation Game is a first-rate biopic, a thrilling espionage game that’s beautifully crafted and acted. To speak the film’s language – one of codes cracked by mathematicians – the movie equates. It’s also every bit as touching, tragic and romantic as it is intelligent and compelling. And yes, for those who keep track of these annual marathons, it is (or should be) an Oscar contender. Picture, director, screenplay, supporting actress and actor all seem to be in play.

Particularly Best Actor – yes, "Cumberbitches" – for Benedict Cumberbatch's calculated, lean, strong and confident portrayal of brilliant mathematician Alan Turing, who is recruited by the British government during time of war to help decipher Enigma, the machine the Germans use to encode their messages. To crack Enigma might mean to drastically shorten the war. But there is a lot more happening in The Imitation Game then the war effort.

"Pay attention," we are warned, in a Sherlock-y, Khan tone. Alan Turing has secrets. Everyone has secrets at play in The Imitation Game, from the military brass who recruit Turing to the MI6 agent (Mark Strong) who shadows his progress. But few are quite as damaging, as life-altering as Turing’s secrets can (and will) be. If you know history, you know the progressing of this story. The Imitation Game guards its reveal until the one-hour mark, so I’ll steer clear of it for now. It will be a major talking point as the film begins to roll out and play to larger audiences. For now, here’s what I’m comfortable telling you.

Turing -- much like Benedict Cumberbatch’s iconic Sherlock Holmes portrayal -- is a hyper-intelligent, internalized sociopaths with little patience for inferior folks and a laser-focus on task. The task, in this case, could save thousands of military lives and, possibly, turn the tide in a global conflict. But Turing is supposed to be part of a team, and the men he’s supposed to collaborate with (personified by Matthew Goode, Matthew Beard and Allen Leech) can’t stand his aloof arrogance.

Before you bringing in the ever-suffering John Watson, The Imitation Game dangles a bit of a bait and switch. Keira Knightley – the staple of period dramas such as this – is introduced as Joan Clarke, an equally brilliant mathematician whose gender costs her a spot on Turing code-breaking team. In a conventional film, she’d be a love interest. The Imitation Game is not a conventional film. At the moment where a normal biopic would detour into possible romance, the "Pay attention" warning come back, and takes us down a different, more sobering path

READ MORE HERE: http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Benedict-Cumberbatch-Brings-His-Sherlock-Persona-Brainy-Brilliant-Imitation-Game-67095.html

Benedict Cumberbatch visits hospice patients while filming The Imitation Game

HENLEY STANDARD
Published 18/08/14




ACTOR Benedict Cumberbatch visited patients at the Sue Ryder hospice in Nettlebed while making a new film.

The Sherlock star plays the lead role in The Imitation Game, which tells the story of how British mathematician Alan Turing helped crack the Enigma code during the Second World War.

The film, which also stars Keira Knightley and Charles Dance, will be released in November.

The hospice served as the iconic Bletchley Park, the secret code-breaking centre where Turing and his colleagues deciphered German messages.

Healthcare assistant Linda Miller introduced Cumberbatch to patients in between shoots.

She said: “It was lovely seeing Benedict chat to the patients. He said he felt humbled being in such a caring place.

“Afterwards patients chatted about the experience for ages and relatives said they were looking forward to seeing the film as it would remind them of the time their loved one was at Nettlebed, even if they were no longer with us.”

Staff nurse Sue Hollands, who was on duty when Cumberbatch and Allen Leech, who plays suspected Soviet spy John Cairncross, visited, said: “There was a real buzz about the place as patients and staff felt quite excited about the filming. The actors took their time to talk to patients and were not starry at all — they were genuinely interested in the patients and took a lot of time to chat to them and the staff on the ward.

“Benedict Cumberbatch was an absolute sweetheart.”

Dance, who plays codebreaker Alastair Denniston, chatted to patients in day therapy and met day therapy manager Lynn Brookes and healthcare assistant Caroline Dixon.

Pam Chatfield, palliative care servies manager. said: “The staff and patients enjoyed having the filming going on and although there was some disruption to our routine it was, for the most part, welcome.

“The income generated from the hospice being used as a film set helps us to care for patients and their families and loved ones.”

Filming at Joyce Grove, a Jacobean-style manor built for merchant banker Robert Fleming in the 1900s, took place over two weeks in September. The great hall, Fleming Room and former library as well as the grounds were all used in scenes.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.henleystandard.co.uk/entertainment/story.php?id=1507799 

Benedict Cumberbatch is Alan Turing in trailer for The Imitation Game

DIGITAL SPY
By Simon Reynolds

The first trailer for Benedict Cumberbatch's The Imitation Game has premiered.

The highly-anticipated drama will open the BFI London Film Festival on Wednesday, October 8, StudioCanal has confirmed.

"I am thrilled to be returning to London to share The Imitation Game with the audience of the BFI London Film Festival," said director Morten Tyldum. "The experience of directing this film has been so tremendously rewarding, and I am humbled to share Alan's Turing's incredible story on Opening Night."


In The Imitation Game, Sherlock star Cumberbatch takes on the role of pioneering mathematician and scientist Alan Turing, whose code-breaking work at Bletchley Park proved vital to Germany's defeat in World War II.


Read more: http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a585410/benedict-cumberbatch-is-alan-turing-in-trailer-for-the-imitation-game.html#~oLwOKeIc77HrQP#ixzz38yzGChyg
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Glowing reviews for Benedict Cumberbatch at Imitation Game test screening in New York

RADIO TIMES
Susanna Lazarus
11:25 AM, 20 June 2014

The Sherlock actor has already been tipped for awards season glory for his portrayal of code breaker and computer scientist Alan Turing

A New York City test screening of The Imitation Game has provided the strongest indication yet that Benedict Cumberbatch will be a mainstay of the red carpet when the 2015 awards season comes around.

The Sherlock actor plays computer scientist and Bletchley Park codebreaker Alan Turing in the new biopic which was bought earlier this year for a record fee by The Weinstein Company (the distributors behind Oscar winners The Artist, The King's Speech and Silver Linings Playbook).

And while Cumberbatch features alongside a star-studded cast – Keira Knightley, Rory Kinnear, Allen Leech and Matthew Goode – it's his name on the tip of every viewer's tongue.

Details of the 18 June event remain pretty scarce – test screenings are known to be largely secretive – but a few comments have emerged on forums and the Twittersphere heralding the film and the British actor's commanding performance.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-06-20/glowing-reviews-for-benedict-cumberbatch-at-imitation-game-test-screening-in-new-york

Benedict Cumberbatch takes on the Nazis in first images from The Imitation Game

RADIO TIMES
Ellie Walker-Arnott
11:09 AM, 06 June 2014



Cumberbatch is playing the lead in the movie about the life and career of scientist Alan Turing who became famous for breaking Enigma codes during the Second World War, only to then be criminally prosecuted for his homosexuality.

The 37-year-old British star isn't the only A-lister to lend his acting talents to the flick. A few of Cumberbatch's co-stars – Keira Knightly, Matthew Goode and Downton Abbey's Allen Leech – can be seen here, too.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-06-06/benedict-cumberbatch-takes-on-the-nazis-in-first-images-from-the-imitation-game

Keira Knightley: Benedict Cumberbatch Punched a Journalist in the Face for Me

ET MOVIES
By ANTOINETTE BUENO
June 05, 201



The notoriously reserved Keira Knightley, 29, covers Elle UK's July 2014 issue, in which she dishes about her close circle of friends, including her Atonement co-star Benedict Cumberbatch.

Just how close are the two?

Apparently, Benedict once "joke-punched" a journalist in the face for dissing Keira.

"When I saw him again, I said, 'Did you punch a journalist?' and he was like, ‘I f*cking did,'" Keira recalls to the magazine with a grin. "Everybody needs a friend like that."

Though one thing the pals probably won't be doing together?

Singing karaoke.

"I hate karaoke. Like, I really, really hate it. I have to be so drunk I’m nearly about to fall down before I sing in front of anybody. It just terrifies me," she admits. "But, also, among the people you go with, there will be somebody who secretly has an amazing voice, and you're just like, 'F*ck off.'"

The beautiful actress also admits to having surprising insecurities when it comes to being out and about in public.


READ MORE HERE: http://www.etonline.com/movies/147149_keira_knightley_recalls_the_time_benedict_cumberbatch_punched_a_journalist_the_face_for_her/

See Benedict Cumberbatch as computer scientist Alan Turing in first look pictures from The Imitation Game

THE MIRROR
By Claire Hodgson
September 19, 2013

Star Trek Into Darkness star Benedict Cumberbatch has been pictured on the set of his new film, The Imitation Game.

The 37-year-old plays Alan Turing, the computer scientist who is credited with cracking the German Enigma Code during World War II.

These snaps show the actor with a slick 1940s haircut, dressed in a tweed and pinstripe ensemble worthy of Sherlock Holmes.

Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/benedict-cumberbatch-pictures-first-look-2285578#ixzz2fLhQTMus
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Benedict Cumberbatch: Turing feature to shoot in the UK this autumn (TELEVISUAL)

Alan Turing biopic The Imitiation Game is due to shoot in the UK from mid-September, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, with director Morten Tyldum (Headhunters).

The feature is based on Andrew Hodges' book about the famous mathematician who helped to crack  the Nazi's Enigma code in the second World War. The film's screenplay is by Graham Morore and it is being produced by Black Bear Pictures in New York. 

READ MORE: http://www.televisual.com/news-detail/Turing-feature-to-shoot-in-the-UK-this-autumn_nid-2942.html

Keira Knightley may co-star as 'complicated love interest' with Benedict Cumberbatch in Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game

The Atonement actress is thought to be up for the part of Joan Clarke who worked at Bletchley Park and was briefly engaged to the homosexual Enigma code-breaker

Keira Knightley looks set to join Benedict Cumberbatch in a film based on the life of ground-breaking mathematician and Enigma code-breaker Alan Turing.

The Atonement actress is in talks to play a woman who forms a “complicated relationship” with the code-breaker, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Although details are yet to be released, it is likely that the part Knightley is being touted for is that of Joan Clarke, Turing’s co-worker in Hut 8 at Bletchley Park, a good friend to whom he proposed marriage in 1941.

Graham Moore's screenplay, The Imitation Game, has been commissioned by Black Bear Pictures with Headhunters with Sherlock star Cumberbatch lined up to play Turing.

Turing, who was gay, apparently told Clarke, also a brilliant mathematician and cryptanalyst, about his sexual preference. But Clarke was “unfazed” by her fiancé’s homosexuality, according to Andrew Hodges’ biography, Alan Turing: The Enigma.

However, Turing decided he could not go through with the marriage and the pair remained good friends until his death.

READ MORE: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/keira-knightley-may-costar-as-complicated-love-interest-with-benedict-cumberbatch-in-alan-turing-biopic-the-imitation-game-8645806.html

Benedict Cumberbatch: Is This Keira Knightley's New Leading Man? By Eleanor Young - (MARIE CLAIRE)

Keira Knightley married hubby James Righton in an intimate French ceremony less than a month ago, but already it seems she's preparing to make way for another leading man.

According to rumours, the actress is in talks to team up with Benedict Cumberbatch, in new movie The Imitation Game, about work on the Enigma code in World War Two.

The film version of the Alan Turing biopic was originally rumoured to star Leonardo DiCaprio in the leading male role, although whispers have now turned to British actor Cumberbatch. 

Keira Knightley is said to be 'in talks' over the flick, which could start production as early 2014.

It's thought the film, one of the most hotly-tipped scripts to be released in 2011, will be directed by Headhunters' Morten Tyldum and document Turing's role in cracking the Enigma code.

While details are still very vague, film industry publications The Hollywood Reporter and Variety report that Keira could be set to join the cast as ' a woman from a very conservative background who not only forms a complicated relationship with Turing but is there for him until the end'.

Wow.

Read more at http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/news/celebrity/543098/is-this-keira-knightley-s-new-leading-man.html#xlMRcoVtfz5SdJcG.99 

Keira Knightley in talks to co-star with Benedict Cumberbatch in biopic of Enigma code-breaker Alan Turing (INDEPENDENT)

Keira Knightley looks set to join Benedict Cumberbatch in a film based on the life of ground-breaking mathematician and Enigma code-breaker Alan Turing.

The Atonement actress is in talks to play a woman who forms a “complicated relationship” with the code-breaker, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Although details are yet to be released, it is likely that the part Knightley is being touted for is that of Joan Clarke, Turing’s co-worker in Hut 8 at Bletchley Park, a good friend to whom he proposed marriage in 1941.

Graham Moore's screenplay, The Imitation Game, has been commissioned by Black Bear Pictures with Headhunters with Sherlock star Cumberbatch lined up to play Turing.

Turing, who was gay, apparently told Clarke, a fellow mathematician and cryptanalyst, about his sexual preference. But Clarke was “unfazed” by her fiancée’s homosexuality, according to Andrew Hodges’ biography, Alan Turing: The Enigma.

However, Turing decided he could not go through with the marriage and the pair remained good friends until his death.

The mathematician is famed for writing the first blueprint for modern computing. He also invented an electromagnetic machine called the 'bombe' which formed the basis for deciphering Germany’s Enigma codes during the war.

The work Turing and his team did at Bletchley Park has been credited with shortening World War II by as many as two years, but it is only six decades after his death that Turing’s contribution is beginning to be fully acknowledged .

READ MORE: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/the-imitation-game-keira-knightley-in-talks-to-costar-with-benedict-cumberbatch-in-biopic-of-enigma-codebreaker-alan-turing-8645806.html