Benedict Cumberbatch will not be a Son of Solo. He will not be a Jedi Knight, nor will he be Darth Cumber, the Dark Side of the Force. For several days, all of the Cumberbitches and Star Wars fans were falling over themselves about the possibility that Benedict could be cast as someone or something in Star Wars Episode VII. But it is not happening. Cumby’s rep told various media outlets: “There is no truth to the rumour Benedict has been cast in Star Wars. I think the rumours are circling because JJ and Benedict have just recently had a wonderful time working together on Star Trek.”
So, okay, he’s not doing Star Wars. Fine. But then why did he pull out of Crimson Peak? (Sidenote: I keep writing Crimson Tide, so bear with me.) Was the film really a mess? Or did Benedict really want to form a Fassbender-like alliance with Brad Pitt?! Yes, after working with both Pitt (as actor/producer) and Michael Fassbender on 12 Years a Slave, Cumberbatch has now signed on to star in yet another Pitt-produced film. Not only that, but the role was originally going to be played by Brad! For years now (like, since 2008), Brad and his Plan B producers have been trying to put together a film adaptation of The Lost City of Z. Brad was going to play the lead back in 2008, but in 2010 he finally dropped out. And now Cumberbatch is IN.
Here’s a testament that good projects sometimes rise above development hell. Benedict Cumberbatch, who figures to be a big man on campus at the Toronto Film Festival with 12 Years A Slave, The Fifth Estate and August: Osage County getting big premieres, is negotiating to star in Lost City Of Z, which James Gray will direct from a script he adapted. Panorama Media will finance the film and handle foreign sales.
The film is based on the David Grann bestselling book. Cumberbatch is in talks to play Percy Fawcett, who in 1925 headed into the depths of the Amazon jungles in Brazil. Fawcett was there to map the jungle and, hobbled by malaria, he discovered a mythical city he called The Lost City Of Z. Scorned by peers who claimed that this ancient kingdom was a fraud, Fawcett headed back into the jungle with his son and one other, braving the dangers of disease, insects, snakes, poison darts and other hazards to reinforce his discovery. None of them were ever seen again and it remains one of the great exploration mysteries of the 20th Century.
Plan B‘s Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Anthony Katagas (who worked with Cumberbatch on 12 Years A Slave) will produce. Plan B has been developing the project for several years, and it initially seemed like Pitt would be heading into the jungles. Cumberbatch most recently starred in Star Trek Into Darkness and has The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug coming later this year and will play Alan Turing in the Morten Tyldum-directed Imitation Game that’s backed by Black Bear Pictures. He seems an intriguing choice to play Fawcett and is certainly a fast-rising leading man.
Looking up Percy Fawcett… well, the guy was British! So Brad would have been a bad choice to play him in the first place because accent work really isn’t Brad’s forte. So on that, Benedict is a fine choice. As for the story… it’s interesting and I can see how it would make a wonderful book, but a difficult film adaptation. There’s no real ending to the story because no one knows for sure what happened to Fawcett when he went back into the jungle. So are they going to create some kind of “Hollywood Ending” for the story? Dunno.
What I definitely think is interesting is this whole idea that Benedict is now one of Brad Pitt’s go-to guys. You know how much Brad loves Michael Fassbender, right? Imagine if Brad’s love extends to Cumberbatch now… God, this awards season is going to be amazing.
Also: Cumby has a new interview with The Express which you can read here. The quotes seem new but he’s talking about the same old stuff.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
Eve! Cumby is coming to Brazil!! Time to dress up like a tiger and wait in the jungle until he wanders by.
Also, I had no idea this book existed, but now I want to read it. It sounds like a really fun, old-fashioned adventure.
The book does sound good. I am very much into naturalist lit, albeit more of the nonfiction persuasion – Ivan Sanderson, Gerald Durrell, Thompson Seton etc.
I did My Family and Other Animals for my English GCSE! Have you read Silent Spring?
I just added Silent Sprint to my ‘to read’ list and OMG I LOOOOOOOVE ‘My Family’!!!!!!!! This is bringing back sooooo many memories from my childhood, when I was certain that being a naturalist was my true calling.
I read the book a while back and never would have put this casting together but it’s perfect! Great choice.
I am picturing mini-Anna now, with magnifying glass, matchbox for specimens (you let them go after study though), explorer’s hat and muddy knees.
Sixer, you have NO idea but this was EXACTLY me ages 5-14.
Gerald Durrell is one of my favorites!
That is the cutest thing ever!
Have you read E.O. Wilson? I’m reading his book Naturalist now.
@ Miss J – no, but it’s on my list now. Merci.
I like the casting. But I am a wee bit worried we’ll end up with something like Peter Jackson’s King Kong.
NO. NO King Kong hate. I cried SO hard the last third of that movie.
I just don’t want it to end up as a mash-up of the first part of King Kong and Indiana Jones.
As did I, but (I suspect) for completely different reasons.
TIFF today!! If he cut his hair for the premiere I’m going to swoon. I’ll be unbearable tomorrow, so consider yourself warned.
ETA: I just read Sixer’s last comment and am now pondering Cumby in the Indiana Jones hat, plus whip. Mmmmmmmm.
I think King Kong is pretty unlikely given this is a nonfiction book! It’s also a very very good book and a fascinating character study. He’s a great choice and in the long run a much better idea than Star Wars 7.
@ Fanty – if you talk nicely to me, I’ll let you have Sixer Scion 2’s very own Indy whip. Actually, you may insult me for it if you like. I could lose it quite happily as it sends the cat into fits of conniptions and my curtains have suffered.
@ Mia – I meant tone, not plot.
I sobbed at the end of King Kong, but I’m the kind of knob who cries when an animal dies in a disaster/action movie despite usually thousands of people also dying..even if they are computer generated.
Is he at TIFF tonight?? He had better have cut that hair and not slicked it back.
Looking forward to the pictures on here tomorrow.
Hooray! My Sixer always comes through for me. Now, all I need is Anna, her giant magnifying glass and a ticket to Brazil…
@T.Fanty, @Lindy79:
God yes, his hair. Breathless anticipation. Can’t wait to see his (new?) look on the red carpet.
Am I the only one who likes his wild and shaggy Sherlock locks?
Thanks to this thread, I am now imagining Cumby in the Indiana Jones getup, with a whip OF COURSE. You know, this might work…
Okay, let’s go there: is TommyAnne Marion, being carried off in a basket, or the shrieky chick from Temple of Doom?
TommyAnne is Marion. Mostly because I think he’d get such a sense of liberation from wearing something white and diaphonous.
I could do a lot with a libertated Puddletom.
(Just realised I mistyped liberated but I quite like it, so it stays).
Best. Comment. Ever.
I also like the idea of sassy Tom outfoxing a doltish villager in a drinking contest.
I really want this remake to happen now.
See, I pity the villager. Where would villagers, doltish or otherwise, come by the makings of a Pervy Tombanger? I suspected those sassy capris were part of practising for something and now I know what. Tommy’s gone method.
*prostrates self before Sixer’s greatness*
*stands atop Fanty* Much better, now I can look you in the eye, Sixer.
I just looked up the definition of libertated in my Sixer-to-English Dictionary and what I am getting is that Tommyanna will need less mid-jump heel-clicking and more rubber plants. And a lot more of those classic Greek phrases he is so fond of using. Plus, the capris are always dodgy given that we never know if they are long enough to conceal his Kong. That is what makes the villagers cower.
Say, Fanty, could you follow me back to Thornfield? When I am at this height, CHemboy won’t have to bend as much whilst kneeling.
oww.
CHarming. Kneeling. And this http://31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4l4s9dnK71qlekkho1_250.gif
@Anna,
Oh hell no, you’re not the only one who loves the wild curls. I think most of us do. Fanty, as usual, is the hair-deviant who wants to see those beautiful lush curls scattered all over the floor of a salon.
The only way this impending shearing of the poodle curls is going to be okay with me is if I receive said curls in a plastic baggie straight from the hairstyist, with a certificate of authenticity.
Oooh, I loved the book and I think that Cumby will be a great fit (and I’m not a fan of his). I can already see him trekking through the jungle and being all explorer-y, lol.
So….an adventure flick? Hm, somehow I dont buy Cumby as a wilderness conqueror. But he IS a good actor, so we will have to see.
PS-LOVE that WHERE cover. He looks so charming and boyish!
T.Fanty, didn’t Eve divorce him, or have I lost the plot again?
I can definitely see Cumby in this role. A more adventurous 20’s version of Christopher Tietjens.
Oh my god. You had to invoke Tiejens. Now *I’m* going to dress up and hide in the jungle.
Technically, I think she did. But she’ll be back. She can’t quit him. Or us.
Have fun getting Tietjens in the jungle out of your head!
For some reason I’ve got an image of him dressed up like Livingston plastered in my brain. Complete with beige waistcoat and straw pith hat.
Oh the hat and waistcoat are a must. Although I worry that it’s going to be more evocative of the man in the yellow hat from Curious George.
This reminds me of the final scene in “A Handful of Dust”, based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh, where a young, sunburnt James Wilby, with a glorious mop of golden curls, participates in an expedition into the Brazilian jungle (and ends up reading Dickens to Alec Guinness forever). I imagine Cumby as a dark-haired version of this, in white linen shirt and trousers, every now and then mopping his brow with a handkerchief …
Substitute the hankerchief with my knickers and I’m 100% on board.
Wow. He’s going to be very sweaty in this. I like the thought of that.
So you wouldn’t mind the Sherlock-goes-jungle-curls on which I would insist? Great news. Then I wouldn’t mind those bits of your underwear (which I expect – just for historical correctness – to be in 1920s fashion, right?).
Sherlock curls are only allowed when the “twist and diffuse” lady is guaranteed to be on hand. I don’t want sweaty, limp strands of hair stuck to his alien forehead, like a bijou poodle who has just jumped in a lake.
Plus, I’m smitten with Christopher Tiejens and that uptight Edwardian look, so short hair is fine by me. I also wouldn’t mind if he wore his blue suit into the jungle.
It’s going to be hot in the Amazon. Won’t he have to take off his shirt?
@Fanty,
Jorts, Fanty. Jorts.
There is probably something very wrong with me for wanting to see Cumby in a pith helmet. I just hope he has a pocket watch.
@TFanty: Chrissie Tietjens curls are fine with me. They were wonderfully impeccable in the trenches or after a foggy night with Miss Wannop, therefore a wise choice for the rainforest.
@EscCon: Wouldn’t he have to take off all his clothes to take a shower in the torrential rain à la “To the End of the Earth”? And there’s daily rainfall in the tropics!
I’m starting to just kind of want someone to send Cumby into a jungle for a week with a backpack, pair of jorts, a lot of cigarettes, and a video camera. I think it would be hilarious.
I think there’s a short story in there somewhere.
His cigarettes get stolen by a monkey and he has to barter them back by doing errands/chores for their monkey master (T.Fanty, dressed up like the members of the Lubby-Dubby tribe from Carry On Up the Jungle.)
That’s better than my gay remake of the Indiana Jones movies. I’d make a great Barbara Windsor, and you know Cumby has his Sid James cackle down pat. My only question is who could play Kenneth Williams?
*side eye to a certain cookie-munching dragonfly king*
@curlsunited,
Oh! Thank you for reminding me of his rainfall shower in “To The Ends Of The Earth”! He was so, so cute. Plus, I believe it was the first time the Cumberbum was shown on film, & a girl never forgets her first Cumberbum, does she?
(I really loved To The Ends Of The Earth, especially after he got bonked on the head & acted like a goose over Miss Chumley.)
Cumby had many wonderful scenes in this series, & my very favorite was the scene in which he’s drinking with some of the ship’s Officers. The ship is pitching so violently that he gets thrown around the room, but is careful to keep catching the bottle of Scotch as it slides up & down the table. The men are sick, but the bottle stays in perfect condition.
Cumby is quite good at physical comedy.
He SO has the look for this kind of project. I really hope that it happens, it sounds pretty great!
I haven’t read the book but I’ve heard very good things. I shall sit and wait patiently for the film. God knows, waiting for a 3rd series of Sherlock is an endurance trial for patience. I’m a pro at it now.
Remember when we thought it would be broadcast in September? Happy days.
Is his forehead growing? As in receding hairline?
Tell you what. Conversion to Cumberbitch Status takes about 1.5 seconds of Sherlock. I’m obsessed.
That’s what happened to me. I was always “meh” and the I watched Sherlock and developed an immediate, ridiculous, school-girl crush. The boy is hot. HOT. In so many wonderful ways.
This could go very well for BC or very very badly… I have visions of Tarzan remakes (even though this is NOTHING like Tarzan) dancing in my head.
I like him, I do. But, could he please go away for a while because he will become to annoying. He’s always in the media these days.
Oh gosh, I agree. I feel like he is all over the place, almost like Hiddleston. They both are fast becoming two actors I need a break from. I find them both to be talented( not necessarily attractive) but I feel like saying, “enough media!”
He gets all the work…
Not gonna lie, I’m kinda meh about this news. I was disappointed that he dropped out of Crimson Peak and I was hoping that it was because he had signed up for a BIG movie that was going to get him a lot of attention and advance his career. This just feels like a lateral move at best or even maybe a step down. He’s signed on to play Some British Dude. Awesome. We’ve never seen him do that before…
From what I gather, he’s also going to play “some British dude” in Crimson Peak with an ensemble cast in a mansion! This is something else. He hasn’t done this adventuring stuff. James Gray, the director said it is a sprawling adventure.
Yes!! The book is great & I think Cumby will do a fine job.
Well, anything involving Mr. Pitt makes me skeptical at first, but then I saw James Gray is adapting the script and directing. His “The Yards” and “We Own The Night” had some intensity that I kind of liked. So this sounds promising in a way; might become something interesting and has box-office potential I guess.
As for casting – anything situated in the 1920s and Cumby should fit like glove. After all it was his old fashioned awkwardness that melted my bitchy heart in the first place…
Brad makes great film choices. And his production company has had great success. If you think this would have been made with Brad being involved.. think again. BC has not carried a film before. And trust without a big name behind it; this would not have gotten financed. That is exactly what Steve M. said about TYAS.. without Brad no film. YOU can make a film but it takes distribution to get it out there.
People need to step off. Brad has power in Hollywood to get the films he wants made.
He may make great film choices by Hollywood or someone else’s standards – just not necessarily always MY taste.
Pitt has huge power in Hollywood and if that makes you happy, well then good for you…
You guys I am extremely happy to share this news
@BAFTA: BREAKING NEWS: @BAFTALA to honour Benedict Cumberbatch with the British Artist of the Year award: http://t.co/76EKtXBrON #Britannias
FINALLY he gets the Bafta….well deserved
Yippeee, just great news 😀 I hadn’t noticed so Thanks for telling, this made my evening!
Oh how exciting! Good for Benedict! It really is his year!
Did not realize there was a BAFTA LA!
Brad loves the letter Z apparently.
I know right WWZ, Lost City of Z, their another movie he in talk to do that has Z in the tittle and then there is the most important Z of them all Zahara.
On the other hand Zahara could just be picking all of these movies for dad to do because they all have Z in it.
Sherlock curls are gone ladies. Theres a pic on instagram when I was looking at pictures from #tiff
It’s blurry and profile but he looks delicious
It looked surprisingly dark and sort of semi-short to me, but yeah, it looks very promising – I cannot wait to see more pics !
He looks SO EFFIN GOOD. I want to lick him.
He looks amazing. And so dashing. UNF! The short hair really does fit him. God he looks hot.
I’m so behind on everything. Sigh. I live in a red carpet-unfriendly time zone, so saw the TIFF pictures only just now, over morning coffee. Mmmmmh, dashing boy, and I love his dinner suit with the cute bow tie.
Pity though that he couldn’t be bothered to touch up on his roots. (And would someone please give his publicist some advice on how to dress and get her hair done?)
I suppose I’ll see you all later on Kaiser’s new post “Cumby in Toronto … would you hit it?” YES! I DO!
i was watching some of the live feeds from the carpet and damn our boy look GOOD! but he did seem overwhelmed by the media. still he did make an effort to talk to everyone (they were running late because of this). he had to answer the same questions over and over. his flight had just got in 4 hours ago.
early buzz for the movie is good but we won’t really know until tomorrow.
i think he may be realizing now what an international phenomenon he’s become. this may be part of why he looked overwhelmed.
Some people were kvetching that he didn’t spend “enough” time with the fans, was hurried, etc, but I didn’t see anything showing he was being rude or cold to ’em. I think he really was overwhelmed by the media (he’s seemed so in the past, too-as much as he wants to be known, I think it’s still a bit wtf when you have cameras in your face and people shouting at you).
Guys I met him at TIFF. Holy fk he is even more beautiful in person like no lies. He gave me an autograph and sai thanks for coming. I asked him how are you? (I know stupid thing to ask but my brain wasnt functioning) he replied saying he is a bit jet lagged but he slept on the plane.
Then he said thanks and left…I had eye contact with him like 4 times. I am just done with life like 100%
Funny everyone says that when they meet him that he is more beautiful in person. My friend met him a few months ago on the Sherlock set in person and she was one of those girls who was like “meh” about him and always called him an alien hybrid. Lol. But after she met him she has developed a HUGE crush on him and watched all his interviews and movies, radio plays etc. haha. Lucky you. I can’t wait til I meet him one day. Congrats.
Aww thank you 🙂 I am jut over the moron right now. Even my friend who came with me was all meh about him by seeing him in person she was all star struck and couldn’t breathe hahaha
He looked gorgeous, his hair was just perfect, that style suited him so well.I know this is odd but I just love the way he holds his hands when standing.
Ive noticed it for ages.