Thursday 23 February 2012

Making of Parked

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gaZMSSIBSSU

Colin Morgan as Cathal in Parked

Colin Morgan on the set of Merlin


Love these pics of Colin Morgan!

merlinboys:


Did you let kittens style your scruff? You gorgeous life ruiner, you.
© WENN

Colin Morgan interview excerpt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLbCJqj3O8I&feature=player_embedded

Nathaniel Parker on Colin Morgan

"I managed to slip into the National TV Awards at the O2 pretty much unnoticed, and then found that I was sitting at the end of the Merlin row, so got far too much screen time, grinning and saying hello to various other loveys. Dermot O’Leary is just fantastic isn’t he? Consummate really, or rather Consummate O’Leary ! I was surprised Merlin didn’t win, with the fantastic competition we were up against, but I do wish Colin would get nominated for his work. He is one of the best around, and I think will be seen as such when he gets the chance to spread his wings." — Nathaniel Parker

Simon Annand photo of Benedict Cumberbatch prior to the Children's Monologues

Head shot of Benedict Cumberbatch by Simon Annand


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Simon Annand photo of Benedict Cumberbatch before going onstage in Hedda Gabler

Benedict Cumberbatch, Hedda Gabler

Simon Annand photo of Benedict Cumberbatch in Frankenstein.

New Simon Annand photo of Benedict Cumberbatch in Frankenstein.
This is the piece that will be in The Half exhibition.
(From the Radio Times)

Want to see Wreckers!!!

Win a copy of Wreckers on dvd!
Wreckers, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy (Upstairs Downstairs) and Shaun Evans (Endeavour) is due for release on dvd in the UK on 12 March 2012.  Directed by newcomer D.R.Hood Wreckers premiered at the London Film  Festival in 2011 and went on to have a critically acclaimed limited  release at cinemas in the UK. Wreckers is a fascinating, unsettling, compelling film which delights in confounding your expectations at every turn. 
To celebrate the release of Wreckers on dvd the wonderful people at Artificial Eye have offered us two copies of the dvd to give away. 
To be in with a  chance of winning simply send your name and address and the answer to  the following simple question to contact@benedictcumberbatch.co.uk :
What is the first name of Benedict Cumberbatch’s character in Wreckers?
Competition will  close on Sunday 11th March when the winners will be drawn at random. One  entry per person and UK residents only (sorry international fans but  I’ll have some competitions coming up shortly you can take part in).

Promo photo from The Hounds of Baskerville

cumbercrieff:

A promo photo for the Hounds of Baskerville I haven’t seen before.

Knack Magazine interview with Benedict Cumberbatch

Benedict Cumberbatch belongs to the absolute top of the acting world in his home country Great Britain since the BBC’s successful update of Sherlock Holmes. This year, with his parts in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, War Horse and the in Belgium shot Parade’s End, he’ll win over the rest of the world. ‘Wisdom doesn’t come with age.’
By Steven Tuffin.
‘IT CAN’T GET MUCH BETTER’
Sometimes it goes fast, very fast. Before 2010 Benedict Cumberbatch (35) was a somewhat unknown actor in his home country. Despite his roles in Hawking, Atonement and The Other Boleyn Girl, the big breakthrough hadn’t happened yet for the son of actor couple Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham.
That changed in the year in which he celebrated his 34th birthday, due to his title role in Sherlock, the BBC series in which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s master detective gets a huge update. Cumberbatch portrayed Holmes as a semi-autistic sleuth who uses modern day technology like smartphones and the internet to solve crimes.
In 2011 the actor’s success story continued. Together with Jonny Lee Miller he starred in Danny Boyle’s adaptation of Frankenstein. The actors switched roles every other performance, which meant that the National Theatre performance was sold out night after night.
Neither did his performance as sidekick of George Smiley, the, by Gary Oldman portrayed, spy hunter in the understated Oscar favorite Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy - which will premiere here February 8, go by unnoticed. And with the start of the second season of Sherlock on the BBC on the first of January, his status as Britain’s hottest actor only got validated.
International interest followed suit and the number of productions in which Cumberbatch can be seen in the near future is growing exponentially.
Later this year he’ll appear in Parade’s End, the (for the greatest part in Belgium shot) co-production of HBO, BBC and VRT adapted from the literary classic by Ford Madox Ford. And after that roles will follow in The Hobbit; Peter Jackson’s two part prequel to The Lord of the Rings and in the follow-up to J.J. Abram’s popular Star Trek reboot.
First up: Steven Spielberg’s War Horse. In the WWI drama Cumberbatch plays one of the many people who come across Joey, the miraculous horse that gets shipped from the idyllic English countryside to the European trenches and is a witness to the madness of the Great War. Although it’s not a big role, the rising star pulls out all the stops in his performance of a British army major. ‘Thanks for the compliment,’ Cumberbatch says laughing during our conversation in the imposing Claridge’s Hotel in London. ‘Laurence Olivier - still the great role model for all actors, I hope - once said: There’s no such thing as a small part. I wholeheartedly agree with that statement. Only with such an attitude can you make it as an actor. Believe me: during my first years on stage and in front of the camera I often felt like nothing more than a moving piece of furniture. I still always gave the best of me.’
You’re very humble. Is that because you had your big break at a later age?
Does wisdom come with age? Somehow I doubt that. Both my parents were actors, so I know how it all works. And when I was younger a drama teacher warned me about the pitfalls of success as well. Fame can be intoxicating and confusing, but it’s up to you to resist that. To be honest I don’t care for all the attention, first and foremost I’m an actor because I’m a great lover of theatre and films.
Your career at the moment must be like a dream come true - you even have fans who call themselves ‘Cumberbitches’. Is it all a bed of roses?
You won’t be able to tell by looking at me, but deep down inside I’m quite terrified for the ‘Great Wall’. I got directional pointers off Spielberg, the shoot of Parade’s End in your country was a fantastic experience and I’ll be working with top talents such as Peter Jackson and J.J. Abrams. It doesn’t get much better than that. There’s a big chance I’ll have to scale back next year. But let’s focus on the positive for now and by that I do not just mean my ‘bitches’. (laughs)
Tell us about working with Steven Spielberg
It was like a dream come true. One of the first movies I ever saw in the cinema was Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. The moment when the Ark was opened and all the demons were released I’ll never forget. Of course I stood on set with trembling knees the very first day of shooting. Steven immediately calmed my nerves. His intensive preparation time makes one realise he’ll never ever lose control of the production. He’s been working with the same crew for ages and so has time to answer difficult questions of the actors himself. He’s simply the perfect general for a project like War Horse.
It was your first mega production, didn’t you ever feel a bit lost on set?
Oddly enough no. It’d make no sense to tell you that everything went down in an organic way - the production was too enormous for that to happen. But I didn’t feel like a tiny cog in a soulless machine for one moment. That’s Steven’s talent as a director right there. Despite the fact that he’s got everything planned out in detail he still leaves enough room for spontaneity. You have to, otherwise you’d never get shots like that beautiful sunset at the end of the movie.
If that hadn’t worked out during the shoot, he could always have opened his box of CGI tricks.
Bullshit! I understand that Steven is known as the godfather of popcorn cinema, but you can’t possibly compare him with the Michael Bays of this world. Granted, in movies such as Minority Report and War of the Worlds he used digital effects - without those he’d never been able to make those movies - but the shoot of War Horse was all about ‘old school filmmaking’. The project has become his tribute to classic Hollywood legends as John Ford and Michael Curtiz. These days everyone’s so used to CGI that they think they see it in every shot. An example: the sequence in which I together with three hundred soldiers charge into battle. ‘Wow, they pasted your head perfectly onto the body of the stunt jockey,’ an American mate of mine told me after having seen the movie. And that was after I’d been in the saddle for months to prepare.
Did you find the preparation to be easy?
Not really, it was one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced in my career. Before this I’d never sat on a horse before. Oh wait, I’m lying. When I was about twelve years old, my mother took me a few times to a riding school. I nearly died on the back of that animal back then - and it wasn’t much different during the first training sessions this time. I resembled one of those characters in Blazing Saddles or City Slickers. It took ages before I felt at ease in the saddle. Only after a few weeks I started to get the hang of it. After that it went fast. Horses are clever animals, they’re very intuitive. My horse knew it could go a bit further the more I learned. I became really addicted, as a human you won’t come any closer to the experience of flying than on a galloping horse.
Soon you’ll take your chances in the US. Did Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy co-star Gary Oldman warn you of the dangers of the Hollywood factory?
Gary didn’t keep any secrets from me when we worked together. ‘If you’re going to work together with the best of the best, you better ask as much questions as possible,’ I told myself. Though we never really talked about him moving to the US. You shouldn’t forget that Gary took that step when the British film industry was dying. There’s been a revival since then. Of course I’d like to live a few months a year in Hollywood, then I’d at least get a bit of sunshine. (laughs) But surrendering completely to the American way of life? No fucking way!
You having turned down the part of the iconic Dr. Who would seem to point to the fact that you’ve had it with the UK?
Not at all. Turning down the offer was incredibly hard. Not just because I’m an enormous fan myself, but also because he, besides James Bond and Harry Potter, is one of the few British TV and film characters that are known over the whole world. The reason that I turned down the role, is that I don’t want to be pinned down to one character. Of course I realise that lots of people see me as Holmes, but Dr. Who is a different kind of animal. If you take on that role your face will appear on t-shirts, lunch boxes and so on. I didn’t want all of that.
Geek projects like Star Trek and The Hobbit will be connected to all kinds of merchandise though, no?
Oops, now I’ll have to watch it. I’m not allowed to speak about those movies yet. I don’t worry about The Hobbit, in that one I play two parts, Smaug the dragon and the mysterious Necromancer. The first is a computer animated character, like Gollum in Lord of the Rings and the second I only voice. So I’d be surprised if one of them would look like me. About Star Trek I won’t say a word. J.J. likes keeping the fans on the edge of their seats. Why would I sabotage that approach?
Finally; did shooting Parade’s End leave you with some special Belgian memories?
Like I said, Parade’s End was a special experience for me. The character that I portray was very close to my heart. For the first time ever I felt I was playing a kindred spirit. Shooting in Belgium I found to be unique by the way. Despite your troubles I didn’t feel any tension between the Dutch - and French speaking crew members. Actually, I was amazed by the ease with which these two so-called different cultures worked together.
For Your Consideration: Benedict Cumberbatch

For Your Consideration: Benedict Cumberbatch

01/10/2012
Every year, great actors sabotage their own chances for an Oscar nomination — and in rarer cases, for an Oscar win (damnit, Julianne Moore) — by delivering stellar performances in multiple films, thus splitting their votes and coming up empty-handed. This year, everyone's talking about Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain, three young actors who shined in no less than 11 award-worthy films. These hard-working and talented stars, who for the most part deserve the attention, have unfortunately overshadowed Benedict Cumberbatch, 35, perhaps best known for playing Detective Holmes on TV's Sherlock.
In addition to the magnetism and intrigue he has brought to Holmes, Cumberbatch has had a great year on film — a fact that has not escaped the notice of J.J. Abrams, who recently cast the Brit in Star Trek 2. "Honestly, he’s just an incredible actor," Abrams said at a press conference. "If you’ve seen his work in Sherlock, he’s just got incredible skills. He’s an amazing stage actor. He did amazing work (on stage) in Frankenstein. He’s brilliant. You try to cast people who are great. We got lucky."
Cumberbatch's most notable success in film this year occurred in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, a film that has not been met with much warmth in the United States. Perhaps a lack of familiarity with the John Le Carre novel upon which the film is based, combined with a labyrinthine plot, left most American viewers of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy wildly perplexed (myself included), but that ought not to distract from the quality of the acting, which was superb. Gary Oldman, in the lead role of George Smiley, has been the subject of a fair share of buzz for his understated performance, but that makes Cumberbatch's lack of attention all the more puzzling. As Smiley's right-hand man Peter Guillam in the film, Cumberbatch dazzles like Swarovski crystal held to the light, while suggesting, in minute flashes, an edge of insidious sharpness.
Notice the way Cumberbatch describes Guilliam's character in our exclusive interview with him and compare it to the thoughtless dribble most actors his age use to describe their work. "So it’s interesting Guillam on the front of it is very at ease with who he is, his visual look is very sort of dandified. He’s got a great blond bob, and fantastic Citroën DS car, and these fantastic beautiful clothes," he said. "It’s all going swimmingly, but that’s part of a personal armor that slowly, steadily gets stripped away."
There's also something about Cumberbatch not so easy to explain — a je ne sais quois missing from many Hollywood stars that fill out the year's roster of beefcakes and bad boys. It could be that he's not exactly cut out to be a hearthrob, replacing biceps and pouty lips with something more cerebral, more dignified. In Steven Spielberg's War Horse he is simply electrifying: the film, asleep with sentimentality for its first thirty or so minutes, bolts upright when Cumberbatch's naively-trained Major Stewart strides into the frame, and sags a little when he departs a brief interim later. No, it's not quite enough screen time to really earn him an Oscar nod — not among such lengthier supporting roles played brilliantly by Albert Brooks in Drive and Christopher Plummer in Beginners — but if there were an Academy Award for scene-stealing, Cumberbatch would be 2011's most deserving.
—JUSTIN JANNISE

Friday 17 February 2012

“Stephen Dillane, Mark Rylance, Simon Russell Beale, Eddie Redmayne, James McAvoy, Casey Affleck, Ryan Gosling, Jimmie Stewart, Adrian Scarborough, Harrison Ford, Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Rod Steiger, Steve McQueen, Martin Sheen, Alison Janney, Sissey Spacek, Meryl Streep, Nancy Carroll, Juliette Binoche, Maggie Gylenhall, Amy Adams. There is an infinitely bigger list… God I hate lists!”

Photo of Benedict Cumberbatch from Hedda Gabler in which he played Tessman.

cumberbatchweb:

Photo of Benedict Cumberbatch from Hedda Gabler in which he played Tessman.
Receiving a rare airing at the Victoria and Albert museum on 18 March 2012 at 2:00 p.m.

Ok, while I don't agree with graffiti in any form, and I'm fully aware that Sherlock is a tv show, I still think this is pretty awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Q0mnC3F7h5E

Once again Benedict Cumberbatch is proven to be a flawless individual.

mtailuve:

“Benedict was playing Maximillian Clarke, a paranoid hypochondriac who’s so afraid of germs that he lives inside a sealed suit that filters all the bacteria out of his air and food. Isabelle Vincey, the heroine, finds him surviving in an igloo on the Dark Side of the Earth and he joins her on her quest to start the world turning again.
Benedict was a real trooper on the shoot. He was trailing cables and pipes, carrying all the weight of the suit, blinded by the fogging visor and deafened by the compressor that kept the suit inflated. Every time Katie took his helmet off he was sweating buckets. But he never complained. (By contrast, after he’d left – to go to the BBC for the first read-through of Sherlock – we put crew member AJ Nicol in the suit for five minutes for a wide shot and he came out swearing and cursing and moaning.)”
— Neil Oseman, the writer-director of The Dark Side of the Earth, on Benedict working on set  
*The “germ suit” Benedict wore in the photo has been sold to raise funds for Neil’s short film, Stop/Eject.
“Benedict was playing Maximillian Clarke, a paranoid hypochondriac who’s so afraid of germs that he lives inside a sealed suit that filters all the bacteria out of his air and food. Isabelle Vincey, the heroine, finds him surviving in an igloo on the Dark Side of the Earth and he joins her on her quest to start the world turning again.
Benedict was a real trooper on the shoot. He was trailing cables and pipes, carrying all the weight of the suit, blinded by the fogging visor and deafened by the compressor that kept the suit inflated. Every time Katie took his helmet off he was sweating buckets. But he never complained. (By contrast, after he’d left – to go to the BBC for the first read-through of Sherlock – we put crew member AJ Nicol in the suit for five minutes for a wide shot and he came out swearing and cursing and moaning.)
— Neil Oseman, the writer-director of The Dark Side of the Earth, on Benedict working on set  

They're like a pair of schoolboys together!


I wonder if any of the cast will be attending? So close, yet still so far away! If Colin Morgan is attending, I will find a way!!

Parked will be playing at the Toronto Irish Film Festival on Saturday, March 10th at 8:00 PM at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Tickets cost $15 and you have to be 18 years of age or older to attend.

Johny Capps on Colin Morgan. I've always said Colin is extremely expressive, you can almost always tell what his characters are thinking without him uttering a word.

“Colin has always been a fantastic actor, and when we auditioned him we saw that he had a huge range – which we knew would be essential for the role. What’s amazing about Colin as an actor is that you’re constantly refining his lines because he has such a powerful presence on screen. He can do so much with just a look now. Because of that, with the way we write the dialogue and conceive stories, we can be far more filmic in Merlin’s journey – because Colin doesn’t have to constantly communicate what he’s feeling and thinking through dialogue. He communicates those things so well with just his face that we’re able to push the emotional content of stories a lot more.”
-Johnny Capps, Executive Producer

Colin Morgan in making of Parked

colsandbradders:

#that awkward moment when you’re jealous of a car because it touched Colin Morgan’s lips

*nods*

Colin Morgan in making of Parked


cumbercrieff:

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I’d love more from this photoshoot

New promo pic for Parade's End

I just squealed out loud in the pub when I saw this photo of Benedict and Rebecca. 

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Radio Times - Benedict Cumberbatch on how Sherlock fell

It’s a moment that’s been picked apart on internet forums and in the press, but how did actor Benedict Cumberbatch feel about filming Sherlock’s dramatic plunge from a rooftop in last Sunday’s perplexing finale?
“Doing the fall was really exciting,” he reveals in the documentary Sherlock Uncovered, which features on the DVD of series two (released on Monday 23 January). “That’s me up on the roof. That’s not me jumping off the roof, but that’s me jumping off a smaller roof onto a lower roof, which is about four feet. And then that cuts to me on a wire dropping about 70 feet, I think, onto a massive inflated bag.
“It’s fast, not terminal velocity as there’s a tiny break on it because they need to slow down before the end… but it’s pretty bloody fast.”
The final scene from The Reichenbach Fall revealed that Sherlock had survived his confrontation with Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott), but viewers have been leftpondering the whys and wherefores. Earlier in the week, co-creator Steven Moffattold Radio Times that “there’s one clue that everyone’s missed. It’s something that Sherlock did that was very out of character, but which nobody has picked up on.”

Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston about sets mistakes - War Horse Interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnOEudtD5Qc&feature=player_embedded

Gallery: Sherlock- The Hounds of Baskerville preview screening and Q&A with BBC Cymru Wales

Sherlock The Hounds Of Baskerville 6
Sherlock The Hounds Of Baskerville 7
Sherlock The Hounds Of Baskerville 8
Sherlock The Hounds Of Baskerville 9
Sherlock The Hounds Of Baskerville 10
Sherlock The Hounds Of Baskerville 11
Sherlock The Hounds Of Baskerville 13

Benedict's deleted scene in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. What a fantastic scene, wish they had kept it in!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grzckoapa7k&feature=player_embedded

Just cause I miss the Gingerbatch.

ladyt220:

friendsprotectyou:

Good afternoon my dear Tumblers ♥[He’s so lovely in this photo *w*]

Reblogging just for sheer unadulterated cuteness.



Get your arse in my bed. Not kidding.

Can you spot what I spotted in the pic? Even mother nature has been Cumberbatched!

ladyt220:

You know I’ve only just noticed he’s got a ladybird on his arm.
(Very bottom right corner.)



So is this proof that Cumberbatching can jump species? How big a smile is that ladybird wearing?

Colin Morgan 'Parked' - interview and scenes from 2011IFFMH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcfE5j8Lnpg&feature=player_embedded

Need some more Colin Morgan, here he is presenting at the IFTA's

Martin Freeman : “Ben’s been generous about how, when he first met me, he thought, ‘This is going to work.’ He was very pro my doing it, and I felt the same. For whatever reason, it kind of worked immediately between us. Whatever we bring that complements each other, whatever differences and similarities we have, they do work.”

Brainy is the new sexy!!

Sherlock’s Benedict Cumberbatch has beaten former Doctor Who star David Tennant to the top spot in a RadioTimes.com poll asking users to choose which male TV personality they’d most like to take on a Valentine’s Day date.
More than 27,000 of our users voted in the poll, with 12,141 making Cumberbatch their first choice date and 10,352 favouring Tennant.
Meanwhile, over 6,000 voted for their fantasy female date, with a similar pattern emerging. Sherlock’s Louise Brealey - who plays lab technician Molly Hooper - came top with 1,625 votes, ensuring Doctor Who alumnus Billie Piper remained in second with 1,134.

I'm not liking the idea of Johny Lee Miller playing Sherlock. He's an extremely talented actor in his own right & I feel it's almost like, if we can't have Benedict we'll pick Johny Lee Miller. They are not interchangeable!! I also wonder what Benedict thinks of this. On a different note, I wonder who they will pick for Watson, as the friendship between Sherlock & Watson is so integral to the show working.

sherlockings:

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