When Benedict Cumberbatch’s baby boy was born in June, the newborn immediately became a global obsession.
Last week, the long-awaited “Cumberbaby” was named Christopher Carlton Cumberbatch and the internet is still talking about him — much like it dissects almost every other move his chisel-cheeked father makes.
With Cumberbatch, even the mundane is celebrated, from using an umbrella on the red carpet, to struggling to say “penguin,” to passionately asking fans to put away their phones during his performance of Hamlet at the Barbican Theatre in London.
Beyond the obsession though, his roles have garnered critical acclaim. His on-stage debut as Hamlet opened last month and became the fastest selling play in British history.
As the lead in British television series “Sherlock,” he has amassed a huge fan base in China and even earned himself a nickname — “Juan Fu” (Juan is the Chinese world for curly and Fu is an abbreviation of Sherlock Holmes in Chinese).
Cumberbatch does not engage on social media, is perpetually confused about his own sex appeal — “I feel monstrously uncomfortable talking about this” — and is genuinely passionate about his work, as we saw when we sat down with him for this month’s Talk Asia.
Looking for longevity
While he might be the man of the moment, Cumberbatch claims that the notion of being a current obsession puts “a chill of fear” in him.
The sex appeal
He’s an unlikely heartthrob, something even he admits, and yet he was crowned the world’s sexiest man early this year by Empire magazine.
Perhaps the appeal comes from the tortured geniuses he has a knack for playing. But even then, Cumberbatch just doesn’t get it.
Becoming his characters
There is no doubting that wherever he goes, a frenzy will follow. But for Cumberbatch, it is “a very high class problem to have” because, as he says, it enables him to choose the kind of projects he wants to do.
Investing in those characters, “transforming” as he calls it, is what he believes he does best. He opens up about the challenges of playing Alan Turing in “The Imitation Game” — an unconventional, multifaceted character.
British Invasion?
Cumberbatch isn’t the only British actor turning heads in Hollywood.
Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne, Twilight star Robert Pattinson and James Bond actor Daniel Craig are waving the flag for the Brits abroad, and earning themselves legions of fans in the process. As are Cumberbatch’s “The Imitation Game” co-star Keira Knightley, and Oscar winners Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren.
However, Cumberbatch dismisses suggestions the current crop of British stars amounts to a trans-Atlantic invasion.