It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve talked about Benedict Cumberbatch, a 2010s staple. Maybe because it’s been a few years since his last big film (2022’s Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, since then, it’s been shorts and indie stuff), but maybe it’s also because like some other 2010s staples, Benny C has settled down, keeping mostly out of the spotlight between press rounds with his family. But he is back on the press trail for his upcoming film The Thing with Feathers, a drama premiering at Sundance this weekend.
To that end, he has a new cover feature in Variety. Marvel is getting a lot of headlines, of course, as Cumberbatch revealed he won’t be in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday but adds that Doctor Strange will be “in a lot” of 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars. He shares his reaction to learning RDJ is returning to the MCU (“what the f-ck”) and that he had to learn to relax on a gargantuan Marvel set. Cool. He also talks about The Thing with Feathers, a film he not only stars in but produced through his SunnyMarch banner. He’s trying to balance his blockbuster career with “slightly European sort of world cinema”, which he feels he wasn’t being considered for due to said blockbuster career. Groovy.
Also randomly this interview includes a quote from Tom Cruise, Cumberbatch’s “close friend”. SAY MORE ABOUT THAT, PLEASE.
Of course they don’t. Cruise provides his soundbite (Cumberbatch “is extremely talented and fun to watch — and fun to hang out with”), and then they move on like we’re not all wondering how and when that friendship came about and the Xenu of it all. Sitting together at Wimbledon is one thing, but “close friend” Tom Cruise? What do they talk about? Is Cumberbatch closer to Xenu than we know, or is Cruise, maybe, farther away? Tom Cruise has celebrity friends (see also: Lewis Hamilton), but usually his celebrity friends make sense. Like he and Hamilton have fast cars in common. What does Tom Cruise have in common with Benedict Cumberbatch, besides acting? Inquiring minds want to know! Celebrity profiles will not answer!
While discussing the founding and evolution of SunnyMarch, Cumberbatch’s friend and producing partner, Adam Ackland, says that Cumberbatch was “partly motivated to move into producing to demonstrate there was a better way of working after some bad experiences on film sets”. SAY MORE ABOUT THAT, TOO!
Of course, they don’t. We only really hear about bad behavior in the film industry when there’s a lawsuit. But this caught my attention because I can’t even think of any bad set stories involving Benedict Cumberbatch off the top of my head. And if he’s not going to talk about it, he’s not going to talk about it, and he doesn’t HAVE to if he doesn’t want to, but he founded a whole business on the principle of doing that business in a kinder, gentler way because of his experiences and the gossip in me is CURIOUS.
As is so often the case with celebrity profiles these days, it’s less about what is actually said than what isn’t. I believe Cumberbatch is generally intelligent, I’m willing to believe he’s charming and interesting, as writer Brent Lang and several people quoted in the profile insist. But I also think all the edges are sanded off, and while there are a couple of hints at a more interesting Cumberbatch, we’re not going to pierce the veil in Variety. That’s not what this profile is for. This profile is for promoting The Thing with Feathers, which is seeking distribution, and reminding the industry that Cumberbatch is a Serious Actor as he approaches fifty and the next phase of his career. Sure, he’s in Marvel stuff, but that pays the bills so he can make these intimate dramas and character pieces no one is financing anymore! Plus he’s friends with Tom Cruise!