I came across this little post, written by someone on tumblr that I thought was quite brilliant and had to share. Too many people seem to put Benedict Cumberbatch on a pedestal and get angry when he falls off. They forget he is a human being just like the rest of us. A brilliant, talented, articulate, kind human, but human nonetheless.

My favorite thing about Benedict Cumberbatch…

phunkyvanspam:

Before all this Downton Abbey drama, many fans would say that Benedict has this natural, magical charisma. That he seems to have the right thing to say about everything. This may be true sometimes (especially on stage or when he’s talking about acting) but honestly? My favorite thing about him is the times he isn’t like that. He’s extremely intelligent, incredibly sweet and polite but let’s face it here: Benedict can sometimes be pretty socially awkward and neurotic.
Here’s a few examples.
My girlfriend had a good laugh when she found out I was [playing Steven Ezard from the Last Enemy] because although I’m not OCD, I have been known to check my temperature and worry too much about symptoms. And I do have threshold anxiety. I have this thing where I have to check the gas is off two or three times.” Usefully for this part, he has always felt something of an outsider. His grandmother paid for him to go to Harrow school, where rather endearingly, he “fell in with a nice bunch of teachers”. [x]
I wander over to Cumberbatch’s trailer. He’s dressed as Sherlock, and looks a bit bored.
“Is my eye spasming?” he says. “I can feel it spasming. Is it spasming? Look! Look! It’s doing it now.”
I can see nothing.
“I’ve never been this near a power station before,” he frets.
“It’s been decommissioned since 1983,” I remind him. [x]
And who can forget how, during dinner at a restaurant, he stared at Patrick Stewart for a very long time and then decided to walk up to him going “I need to talk to you NOW” without any greetings or anything, because he wanted to ask PATRICK STEWART if starring in a Star Trek film would ruin his career? [x]
Or when one interviewer on the red carpet said “I AM BLINDED by your star quality!” and Benedict offered her his sunglasses? Or his failure to realize that his sarcastic, self deprecating humor does not translate well in print and he should really think before he says some problematic things?
Or even what Gatiss had to say about him in this video (:35-1:35)?

There are so many more examples I can list here too, and you know what? All these little things I’ve mentioned aren’t bad at all.
I’m not saying he’s some worry wart that stays cooped up in a room biting his fingernails when he’s not seen in public. God knows the man has a ton of friends and likes to have a bit of fun every once in a while. What I’m trying to say is… He’s one of the greatest actors in recent years, and I believe he’s also one of the most human as well.
He’s honest with his feelings and insecurities, honest when he says he’s absolutely terrified of doing a seemingly simple task such as going on the runway, honest when he says he has such a really hard time doing the deduction lines in Sherlock, etc etc. Being a performer, all these little things make me believe that “if Benedict can do this sort of thing so can I.”
And THAT is more important than some delusion that he’s a god of absolute perfection. Because that doesn’t exist.