As you probably know, Men in Black III is coming. It’s out tomorrow actually. I still remember seeing the first movie like 20 years ago. It seems like forever, but I just checked and it was 1997, still ages ago. Men in Black II was out in 2002, a full ten years ago. So they’re releasing the third one a decade later since no one puts money into original movie ideas anymore. (Sometimes for good reason.)

Kaiser, Bedhead and I were wondering if this will make back its production budget, a very steep $375 million(!) according to Wikipedia. It’s a huge gamble, but it could pay off. Bedhead wrote that “it might squeak by if you add in international ticket sales and merchandising.” Plus, you know, it’s got Will Smith in it and he’s a big draw.

Speaking of Will, his youngest two children, Willow and Jaden, came out to the premiere in New York last night, as did his wife, Jada. Jada was just in Cannes looking like a million bucks at Sean Penn’s Haiti benefit, so it’s nice to see her fly back to support her husband. We’ve heard split rumors about these two for a long time, but they were spotted out together during the European promotion for the film earlier this month. I tend to think they went through a rough patch and worked it out, like a lot of other couples. Is it goofy to say that I’m rooting for them? I really like them together.

Willow wore this ridiculous long shirt featuring Freddie Kruger at the hemline, like he’s jumping out from her lap. I would conveniently “lose” that thing if my daughter owned it. Willow is 11! She’s just a tween, but her parents are treating her like a little adult. They’ve made a lot of parenting decisions I disagree with, particularly putting their kids in the business so young. I guess they’re letting her express herself through her fashion and hairstyles, which I can’t argue with too much if she’s covered up. Kids know what they like to wear, and there’s no use forcing them to dress a certain way. (Although I would draw the line at Freddie Kruger dresses.)

I just looked up some quotes from Will Smith to add to this story, and I found this really awesome one about how Jaden, 13, asked President Obama if aliens were real. Will, of course, has been gunning to play Obama for a while, saying that he’s the “natural choice.” This story about Jaden asking Obama about aliens is a funny one, and I know my kid would bug me to let him ask the President something like this. Here it is:

Will Smith was left red-faced after his son asked U.S president Barack Obama if aliens are real during a visit to the White House.

The Men in Black star banned his son Jaden from asking the extra-terrestrial question ahead of a guided tour of the President’s home with his family, but the cheeky 13-year-old actor couldn’t resist defying his dad.

The youngster popped the question as Obama showed the family around the “situation room” – where the president holds meetings during a crisis – and the U.S. leader was happy to answer him.

Smith tells BBC Radio 1 host Chris Moyles, “The night before Jaden had said to me, ‘Dad, I gotta ask the president about the aliens,’ and I’m like, ‘Dude, no, it’s not cool. It’s embarrassing. Do not ask the president!’ So we get into the situation room and Jaden gets the look in his eyes and he leans over to me and asks, ‘Dad, What’s my punishment?’

“And Barack is starting to talk about this situation room and Jaden says, ‘Excuse me Mr. President?’ and I’m like, ‘Hey, Barack man, listen?’ and Barack said, ‘Don’t tell me.’ And in perfect form – and this is why he is the president – he stopped and looked at Jaden and said, ‘The aliens, right? OK, I can neither confirm nor deny the existence of extra-terrestrials but I can tell you if there had been a top secret meeting and if there would have been a discussion about it, it would have taken place in this room.’”

[From The Huffington Post]

That’s hilarious and I love Obama’s answer! Have you seen this game Obama Alien Defense? I would say that must be where Jaden got the idea, but his dad has been kicking alien ass at the movies forever. I think they should do a film where Will Smith as Obama fights aliens, like Independence Day except with the Commander in Chief. You don’t need to vary a good formula much, at least that’s the premise the movie industry operates under.

As for Jada’s black deep v-neck dress I kind of love it for some other event, and wonder if it’s from her Cannes luggage. The skirt is so sheer it looks like she’s wearing granny panties underneath. It’s too dressy and sexy for her husband’s premiere is what I’m saying, but he probably loves it. So maybe it’s just the right outfit.

Josh Brolin looking like a handsome rogue.

And Benedict Cumberbatch doing the same! What’s he doing there? He’s not in the film as far as I can find. I like him better as a blonde, though.

Photo credit: WENN and FameFlynet

These are some new photos of Benedict Cumberbatch. They’re not his best. They never are. The man does not photograph all that well. You really do have to see this insanely tall, posh bastard in motion, and hear him speak. Because once you hear his rich voice, it really does take you to another level. Which is exactly why Benedict is now getting into the voiceover game! Apparently, he was tapped to do voiceover work for Jaguar’s new ad campaign several months ago, and now he’s even starring in a new ad too. Here are the commercials. HIS VOICE.

(Is it weird that I hate the way the Brits say “aluminum”? They add extra syllables.)

In addition to doing this oh-so-posh shill for Jaguar (I love Jags!), Benedict also appears in something called “Jaguar Magazine”. For real. There’s an interview and everything, and the “magazine” did this photo shoot with him. Cumby talks a lot about his voice and how happy he is to do voice work and such, and I’m just going to do some highlights from the piece. I do want to point out that Cumby is denying (or “re-imagining”) his early comments on being typecast as posh, asexual, intellectual sociopaths – we covered that interview months ago! Anyway, the highlights:

His voice: “I’ve grown up around people who know how to speak beautifully, but I was relatively old when my voice broke. I was about 15, and went from playing female roles in plays at an all-boys school to playing old men! It wasn’t until later that I began to develop a richer voice… I used to smoke quite a bit and it deepened my voice!”

On being typecast as posh Englishmen: “Something got taken completely out of context in the newspapers recently – they were claiming I was moaning about the parts I get, which isn’t true. It’s wonderful work and it’s very varied. I made a casual point about the fact that we’re still quite class-oriented in the UK, and that sometimes limits what you’re seen to be able to do as an actor. I wasn’t moaning. Because I’m posh, I do get cast in posh roles.”

He really knows how to sell Jaguars: “I have a [Jaguar] XKR and every time I step out of it, I look forward to getting back in – and that’s a rare thing to say these days about any journey. I love pressing the start button and hearing that Jaguar sound – it’s like a beast being gently awakened in a cage.”

[Via Jaguar Magazine, print edition]

“Like a beast being gently awakened in a cage…” Amazing imagery, Cumby. He must have learned something from Michael Fassbender: talking about BEASTS will always bring the ladies in. God, I love a posh bastard. And he walks a careful line between smugness and a sort of magnanimous noblesse oblige. I love him. He is everything Gwyneth Paltrow WISHES she was.

Photos courtesy of Jaguar Magazine.

We got a request for MORE Benedict Cumberbatch coverage, so here you go. These are new photos of Cumby at a NYC screening of the first episode of Sherlock’s second season. Did you watch the first season of Sherlock? It was pretty good. No, make that “damn good.” Cumby gets a lot of good press for his portrayal of a modern Sherlock Holmes, but we should also give Martin Freeman a lot of credit too – his Dr. Watson is a wonderful companion/straight-man/friend to Sherlock. Anyway, the second season of Sherlock begins on PBS this Sunday! Are you excited? I am! It’s already aired in the UK, of course – I think they got to see it last summer or fall.

If you’re not on the Cumberbitch Bandwagon yet, let me just say… I enjoy photos of the Cumberbatch, but he’s much better in motion. He’s an odd-looking man, for sure. But he also has a very rich, educated, posh vibe about him – he’s intellectual and well-spoken, and to borrow a phrase from F. Scott Fitzergerald, his voice sounds like money. And in case you’re not into the Sherlock Holmes thing and your deal is decidedly nerdier, Cumberbatch was cast in the new Star Trek sequel. It was just confirmed this week that he’s playing KHAN!

Here’s Cumby’s appearance on VH1’s Big Morning Buzz. I enjoy the way this woman is fan-girling all over him. Also love Cumby’s reaction to his Cumberbitches!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Here’s a magazine cover that I didn’t get a chance to use last week! Benedict Cumberbatch was the cover boy for The Sun’s magazine, The Sun TV Buzz. He was promoting Sherlock, obviously, which is currently airing in the UK – but we in America won’t get to see it until the summer, I believe, on PBS. So what’s this Cumberpost about then? Well, Cumberbatch just made a MAJOR career move, and surprisingly enough, it’s really, really smart. Guess it pays to be an asexual, sociopathic intellectual!

Yes, your beloved Cumberbatch (he’s my beloved as well) has signed on to the Star Trek sequel. Considering the Hot Guy Friday requests we still get for any actor involved with the JJ Abrams Star Trek, I think it’s safe to assume that many of you bitches are Trekkies, and that you will soon be initiated into the ways of the Cumberdong.

A little backstory at first – it’s thought that this second Star Trek film would involve some kind of remake/retelling of Wrath of Khan. Benicio Del Toro was loosely attached to play Khan, but he left the project in a huff a few weeks ago. The rumored controversy was about money, apparently. Benicio wanted to get paid A LOT and producers said no. So now people are wondering if this tall, asexual, odd-looking English boy is going to end up playing Khan? I don’t even know. People associated with the film are just saying that Benedict is going to play the “villain.”

So, why is this a good move? More exposure in America, of course. Benedict is surprisingly long in the tooth (he’s 35 years old), so it’s not like he’s ever going to be an “overnight success”. What he can have is more exposure in America, and a growing career as a character actor on both sides of the pond. Yay for more Benedict!

Additional photos courtesy of WENN.

Come, all ye Cumberbitches, for I have a new interview with your icon of strange, unsettling beauty. Benedict Cumberbatch has a new interview with the Radio Times (via The Mail) to support the new season of Sherlock, the modernized Sherlock Holmes series done by the BBC. To the delight of this Cumberbitch, Benedict discusses how he’s so deliciously posh and how he’s often typecast as a “slightly asexual, sociopathic intellectual.” OH CUMBERBATCH. I love you.

Being posh doesn’t seem to have done his career much harm so far. But Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch has complained that his privileged background and elite schooling have left him typecast. The 35-year-old actor grew up in Kensington, West London, and was educated at Harrow – where fees are £30,930 a year – before studying drama at Manchester University.

As a consequence, he claims he suffers from ‘class-typing’ in his career. Cumberbatch, who also starred in this year’s film version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, said: ‘I was brought up in a world of privilege. It can ostracise you from normal codes of conduct in society. Being a posh actor in England you cannot escape the class-typing from whatever side you look at it. I realised from quite early on that, although I wasn’t trying to make a class specialty of it, I was playing slightly asexual, sociopathic intellectuals.’

He added that the fact that he went to one of the oldest schools in the world ‘does not make me an archetypal product of that school’.

Cumberbatch told Radio Times: ‘We all want to escape our circumstances, don’t we? Especially if you are an actor. It is an imaginative process that gets my juices going. The further you get away from yourself, the more challenging it is. Not to be in your comfort zone is great fun.’

The actor has won plaudits for his portrayal of a brilliant but emotionally dysfunctional Sherlock Holmes in the BBC1 series, which returns in January. Earlier this year he starred as Stephen Hawking in the award-winning BBC2 biopic about the acclaimed scientist, and as spook Peter Guillam in the updated film adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

He has also played ‘toff roles’ such as Scarlett Johansson’s unbearably pompous husband in The Other Boleyn Girl, and the arrogant Edmund Talbot in the BBC adaptation of William Golding’s epic To The Ends of the Earth.

He will soon be back on the big screen as Major Jamie Stewart in Stephen Spielberg’s Hollywood version of the West End theatre hit War Horse, which is released in January.

In the past Cumberbatch has said his parents – the actors Wanda Ventham and Timothy Carlton – sent him to Harrow in the hope that he might not follow in their professional footsteps.

[From The Mail]

Sigh… the Brits love their caste system, don’t they? Sure, we have a class system in America too, but I don’t feel like ours is as pronounced and die-hard as the British system. Americans believe that you can be born into poverty and you can work your way up to the upper echelons of society, and that’s an admirable thing. When that happens with an Englishman, they get publicly mocked in the tabloids for thinking they‘re above their station. As for Benedict being typecast – I personally think it’s his voice. He’s got that gorgeous, rich voice that just reeks of old money and privilege and education. It’s certainly not the worst thing. When you think about it, an American actor like Laura Linney has the same problem – whenever she plays working-class, I find it hard to believe. She just seems too educated and refined. Benedict and Laura should do a movie together. They’ll play a rich couple who do horrible things in beautiful places. Hmm….

Photos courtesy of WENN.

David Gandy and Benedict Cumberbatch were at the same London event for Omega last night. And I decided to lead with Benedict – don’t make me regret that choice, Cumberbitches. REPRESENT. Shout your love. I have to say, it amuses me to no end how many girls love The Cumberbatch. The overwhelming majority of commenter-email I get is from fellow Fassbender-loonies, but I’m starting to get some mail about Cumberbatch too, amazingly enough. A Cumberbitch emailed me yesterday to “hyperventilate” (her words) about season 2 of Sherlock airing on the BBC in January, although it won’t come to PBS until May of next year. Still – new Cumberbatch, which is always welcome. There’s even a new Cumberinterview, all about how much he identifies with Sherlock Holmes:

Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed playing the famous detective Sherlock Holmes has changed how he sees the world. The award-winning detective drama Sherlock is returning to the BBC for a second series in the new year with Benedict playing the title character again. He stars alongside Martin Freeman, who plays Dr Watson, in three 90-minute films adapted from the Arthur Conan Doyle classic stories.

Speaking at a screening of episode one, A Scandal in Belgravia, at the BFI Southbank in London, Benedict said: “Our daily lives are so mundane, we get taken over by what is immediately in front of us and we don’t see beyond that. We don’t observe as he (Holmes) keeps on saying, we see things, and what is so thrilling about him is it all suddenly becomes a potential adventure.”

“I think if you look at the example of Holmes, or at least what I have learnt from playing him, is that you see extraordinary depth in the smallest detail. It’s joining the dots, that’s the fun thing, building a narrative. So I sit on trains and I try to see, ‘Is that mud on the bottom of a boot?’, ‘I wonder where he has been’. ‘That collar looks a little bit frayed’, ‘I wonder whether he is has been travelling for a while or has he forgotten his washing?’ You do try to piece together personal stories from bits of information.”

The other two episodes to make up the series will be The Hounds of Baskerville and The Reichenbach Fall. Created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, the first series was huge hit with audiences and won a series of accolades including two Baftas for best drama series and best supporting actor. The second series of Sherlock is due to be shown on BBC One in early 2012.

[From The Press Association]

Benedict is also in two big awards contenders this awards season – he has supporting parts in both War Horse and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. So for all of us Americans who don’t get out Sherlock Cumberfix until May, we can content ourselves with his films. Also: do you think Benedict will get invited to some awards shows?!?! Maybe the SAG awards. *getting so excited I might pee a little*

Note about the photos: There was only one photo of Benedict from the Omega event, so I’m including some other pics of Benedict from his past few public appearances. The brunette chick is his girlfriend. She’s pretty, I guess. She looks elegant and moneyed, which… you know Benedict comes from money, right? And he seems to like classy girls too. I’m also including some photos of David Gandy at the Omega event, just because it makes me light-headed to think of the two of them close to each other. Tall, sexy, English bastards.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

These photos from the Toronto Film Festival premiere of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy are several days old. I was going to write about them before, but I got busy and I kind of thought that no one would really care. Instead of leading with Colin Firth, who I love, let’s talk about my boy Benedict Cumberbatch, who is 35 years old and terribly English (“terribly” used in the British sense, meaning “very”). In the past, when I’ve included photos of Benedict in other posts, the Cumberbitches have come out to lust over their man. So here’s a post full of Cumber-goodness. To me… well, I like him a great deal, I think he’s a hell of an actor, but I don’t get all hot for him like he’s a Fassbender. I just enjoy The Cumberbatch. He’s silly and funny and rather cool.

Did you know that Benedict is heterosexual too? That really surprised me! I thought for sure he was gay, but according to reports, Benedict just recently split from his girlfriend of 10 years, Olivia Poulet. He’s already moved on too, with a girl named Anna Jones. A source says, “It’s a very new relationship but it seems to be serious. Anna really enjoys Benedict’s company and they had a lovely time in Venice. Benedict has invited her to the London premiere of his new film. While he’s quite private about his relationships, he is very happy with Anna. They are looking forward to spending more time together.” Benedict also confirmed the split in a Guardian interview, when he acknowledged that he hadn’t been single since he was at university: “When I was last single I wasn’t the same person, I was desperately backwards in coming forwards. But now I quite enjoy it. Naturally, I miss the proximity of a partnership with someone I know and love – and I still love Olivia to bits – but being single’s fun.”

Oh, he also wants kids! He tells The Guardian that he’s been broody “for ever” and that he wants kids soon: “Yeah, I’m a bit behind on that. Maybe it’s because I was an only child, but I’ve always wanted kids. I’ve realised now that the reality of children is you have to be in the right place with the right person.” Here are some more highlights and quotes from various interviews:

Benedict on punching Tom Hardy in ‘Tinker’: “It was very enjoyable. He wanted me to hit him harder and I had to point out that I needed my hands for the rest of the day. Because he can take a bit of punishing Tom. And it’s probably, let’s face it, the only time I’m going to get to really have a proper pop at him, in his current form. So it was good fun.”

On the 1970s costumes for ‘Tinker’: Cumberbatch is buttoned into sharp three-pieces. “Tom [Hardy] did Starsky and Hutch via The Sweeney and I got the suits,” he grins. “F–k me, those suits…” If there’s plenty of competition for the best acting performance in Tinker, Tailor, Cumberbatch wins most-dapper-dressed with ease: one dark grey number with powder-blue tie and matching kerchief practically demands its own agent. “I’m hoping maybe the film’s going to bring that kind of 70s suit back, you know?” he says, putting on an exaggeratedly hopeful face. “Like Keira was supposed to do for one-piece swimwear in Atonement…”

Benedict on the London riots: Sherlock was shooting night scenes in north London during the August riots. Fortunately for Cumberbatch, his scenes had already wrapped, but Mark Gatiss and Martin Freeman were among those evacuated from the location shoot when gangs bore down on the set, stealing scaffold poles and smashing trucks. Cumberbatch admits, with humour and considerable passion, that the riots were a nasty challenge to his natural liberal principles. “I’m a Prince of Wales Trust ambassador, so I’m all about giving youth an education, a voice and a chance to not take the wrong road,” he says. “But those eejits saying they’re doing it for socio-political reasons? F–k off, no you’re not, you’re on a jolly and you’re getting away with it. It makes me want to belt them, make them lame for a bit so they’re dependent on other people’s mercy… It’s very hard for me to talk about it,” he continues, “because I came from an incredibly privileged bubble so the minute I open my mouth I can sense the comeback of, ‘What the f–k do you know?’ And that’s fair. But my sympathy is with the people who do know what they’re talking about, who have been brought up on estates and live morally decent, contributing lives and who have seen opportunists destroying all their work.”

[From HuffPo and The Guardian]

He’s a Prince of Wales Trust ambassador! His last relationship lasted ten years! He’s a dandy! He’s posh! Okay, now I’m a little bit Cumber-loonie. LOVE HIM. Love all gingers, especially when they’re posh.

Photos courtesy of WENN.