I can’t stop thinking about how perilously close Benedict Cumberbatch is to becoming one of those actors doomed to circle their own groundbreaking performances. Over and over.
With his odd physiognomy and quicksilver reactions, Cumberbatch has given us some compelling geeks, socially-inept geniuses, and brooding, suffering weirdos. But as I look ahead to the roles he is slated to embody in the upcoming TV, stage, and screen pantheons, I am growing uncomfortable. Cumberbatch is about to become a stereotype!
Richard III in a three-part mini-series for TV. Yes, that Richard III! Then there will be Doctor Strange, with Cumby as Strange. He’s already filmed the next season of his eccentric and dazzling Sherlock Holmes. And I know—because I already have tickets—that he will be playing Hamlet this coming autumn at London’s Barbicon Theatre. The “am I really mad or only pretending to be so” Hamlet.
There’s a theme here, and if Cumby isn’t careful he will end up like William Shatner (sorry, I realize that acting-wise that’s a ridiculous comparison)—destined to play the same character his entire career.
Why not play a) some ordinary Everyman, or b) a greedy contemporary corporate CEO ala Madoff, or c) a serial killer? How about a George Clooney role? You see my point. Anything but another misfit genius who can’t get a date.
Another strategy might be for Cumberbatch to submit to another sort of top dog actor’s challenge: to do a film co-starring another Alpha male lead. Jeremy Irons comes to mind. Or—and this might push the rising superstar to his fuller powers—Daniel Day Lewis, also a once-precocious phenom who just kept breaking through to richer revelations until he won a third Oscar for playing an American president.
Challenge yourself Cumberbatch! or be condemned to repeat your most oddball, crowdpleasing, cheap cinematic moment in perpetuity.
but, did you like the film???
Hi Christina!
Happy Holidays!
xo Diane
Ooh, I like the idea of Benedict C. and Jeremy Irons in a film together! Son and father (respectively)?
Perhaps you did not see him in the National Theatre of London’s “Frankenstein”? An astounding performance. You could say that he resembled the sociopathic, brooding stereotype here, too, or you could say he is a brilliant actor with unequaled physical skuills. The slight movements in his face, the immediacy of his reactions to his fellow performers, are hardly “cheap” cinematic tics.
I’m a fan. I could watch him in perpetuity in roles that few could perform with such genius.
Hi Susan – perhaps you didn’t read my review of Imitation Game. I DID see Cumberbatch as Frankenstein – both versions. And I am going to London to see him do Hamlet. I am a huge fan of this astonishing actor.
But since I did see his other work, I noticed a lot of repetition of brilliant acting tricks.
I think he’s the finest actor working today – which is why I so wished for The Imitation Game to be worthy of his skills. It just didn’t push him. I have the distinct feeling – based upon watching him in all his other films, on TV as Sherlock (bravo!) and on the stage – that he could have played Turing (at least under this tepid production) in a coma.
Few could perform with such genius – but you have to ask whether the vehicle is worthy of the genius. I long to see what Paul Thomas Anderson could do with him.
Thanks for your comment!
Christina
How about a fading Archie Rice -“The Entertainer” type of role in which he has to sing and dance. Olivier did it and was spectacular.
or the great Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Flawless”.