I recently caught up with the Sherlock and Star Trek star Benedict Cumberbatch at Comic-Con
When it first started in the 1970s, the San Diego Comic-Con was a small convention for a few geeks.
Nowadays it’s a massive, multi-genre entertainment extravaganza. For thousands of geeks! I made the two-hour drive along to San Diego from Los Angeles last week for the latest event.
The word convention makes it sound dull, but Comic-Con is anything but.
It’s a haven for fans of movies, TV and comics, and loads of punters take the chance to dress up in weird and wonderful costumes. Mingle among the punters and it feels like you’re rubbing shoulders with superheroes.
Fans pay hundreds of dollars to come along and dress up like their favourite characters. Iron Man, Batman, Wonder Woman I even spotted Sherlock Holmes.
The “real” Sherlock Holmes, that is, the incredible Benedict Cumberbatch was there and I sat down with him for a chat. He wasn’t promoting the new series of Holmes, or reprising his role as the villain in the next Star Trek movie. Cumberbatch was out of thespian mode and having some fun in the spin-off to the popular Madagascar series, Penguins of Madagascar.
I was a bit worried for Benedict before we chatted as he inspires fanatical devotion in some fans who love his portrayal of Holmes and of Khan in Star Trek. He was one of the main draws for the 130,000 fans at the convention.
“It’s really exciting,” he said. “I’ve never been to Comic-Con before but I’ve got friends who have, like James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. Through them I’ve heard about what it’s like here.
“But I haven’t experienced the madness and I haven’t been in there yet!” he said, gesturing towards the main throng of fans. “It could be VERY intense if I just walked out there in my normal clothes.”
“When you’re working with ‘professional’ fans who really take it incredibly seriously and who have an amazing knowledge then it’s a pretty good energy.”
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe revealed he’d walked round Comic-Con in disguise as Spider-Man to get a look at some of the weird and wonderful costumes which sounded like a good idea to Benedict.
“I’m a bit excited about the people-watching which, hopefully, I’ll get to do,” he said. “I want to see what other people are enjoying.
“I couldn’t possibly say if I’ll get myself a costume. I couldn’t tell you if I’m going to dress up and go out on the floor in disguise.”
In Penguins of Madagascar, Benedict plays a wolf who’s also, somehow, a CIA agent. He’s a bit more Her Majesty’s Secret Service than US super-spy, though. Think Bond, James Bond. I wonder
“There’s a bit of that in there, that’s why I kept it English, and near to my own voice,” he went on. “The character is very professional, he knows how to seduce and control and plan.”
Did he channel any Bond actors with the performance?
“A bit of Timothy Dalton, actually!” he said. “I didn’t intentionally do it, I just heard his serious Bond voice in bits of my performance.
“There’s a wee bit of Roger Moore in there as well,” Benedict added, slipping into a pitch-perfect Moore impersonation. I don’t just want to do all my Bond impressions now though!”
What a nice guy he is. If the Bond producers need a successor to Daniel Craig then Benedict would be a fantastic choice.
I also sat down with character actor John Malkovich, who’s very intense. He plays the villain, who’s an octopus-cum-scientist. Typecast again, John!
“What I’ve seen looks very good,” he said. “It’s interesting work to take a word or a phrase and try to place it where it needs to be for something you’ve never seen.”
Of course the great Sir Laurence Olivier always said you built a character from the shoes up so where did Malkovich start with an octopus?
“I guess from the arms?” he quipped.
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