Benedict Cumberbatch continues his slow take-over of the world this week after he was named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People. TIME referred to him as “the alarmingly talented English star” and fellow actor Colin Firth had this to say about Benedict in TIME’s article:
When I was about 25 years old, I worked with two very good actors. The encounters were brief, but I’ve remembered them both with great admiration. Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton both embodied qualities which one is fogyishly tempted to look at with nostalgia. Along with very considerable talent, they had elegance, glamor, wit, kindness and decency.
I didn’t know at the time that they were married or that they had a son of about 10 who was quietly gestating all the same attributes. And now, 30 years later, the boy has been let loose. He has taken the form of Benedict Cumberbatch.
His parents’ qualities are on rampant display. It’s rare to the point of outlandish to find so many variables in one actor, including features which ought to be incompatible: vulnerability, a sense of danger, a clear intellect, honesty, courage — and a rather alarming energy. I take no pleasure in feeling humbled, but there’s no getting around it.
He must be stopped.
Middle-earth News director, Arwen Kester, was able to speak with Benedict at the Desolation of Smaug world premiere last December.
