ELLE’s interview with Benedict (x)
Benedict Cumberbatch attends the Times Talks and TIFF In Los Angeles discussion of ‘The Imitation Game’ at The Paley Center for Media on February 16, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.
What matters to me is the quality and the variety of the work. I’m in it for the long game. I’m interested in working in 40 years’ time, and turning round and talking to an actor on set and telling them stories about working with Judi Dench and Michael Gambon. So any talk of “man of the moment” hype, heat, whatever, I just smile wryly. It’s the same shit with “sexiest whatever” – I was around 10 years before that as an actor and no one took the same face seriously. It’s all projection. (x)
Last December, almost 60 years after his death, Turing received a posthumous royal pardon for his conviction. The gesture, following years of campaigning, left Cumberbatch distinctly underwhelmed.
“It’s an insult,” the actor says, “for anybody of authority or standing to sign off on him with their approval and say, ‘Oh, he’s forgiven.’ The only person who should be [doing the] forgiving is Turing, and he can’t because we killed him. And it makes me really angry. It makes me very angry.” (x)
What are the funniest things that fans have said to you on the street when they recognize you? (x)
