There’s some good news/bad news about Benedict Cumberbatch. The good news? We have a new Cumberbatch photo. The bad news? We only have access to ONE photo, but at least it’s a really good photo, right? He’s looking a little jowly, but his eyes look beautiful, he’s wearing a nice tux and we get to see some hand p0rn. SCORE. Ben attended the Winter Whites Gala last night at Kensington Palace, which is interesting. I wonder if he paid the $50,000 (or whatever) for a ticket, or whether he was there because he’s associated with Centrepoint, the homeless youth charity. I know The Batch is an ambassador for The Prince’s Trust, and I think he has some association with Centrepoint too. Anyway, you can see more photos of Cumby here (WHO ARE THOSE BLONDE WOMEN) and here.
Also, there’s some more “bad news” for Cumby. The Fifth Estate has been named “the biggest box office flop of the 2013” by Forbes. Apparently, TFE only made 21% of its production costs back. OUCH. Poor Cumby. You can read more about the biggest flops here.
Last thing – Benedict, James McAvoy, Christopher Lee and many more English actors are going to do a Radio 4 performance of Neverwhere – you can see some behind-the-scenes rehearsal photos here.
Bonus Colin Firth and Livia:
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Have mercy bless me JESUS he is good-looking.
Yes , Frida_K , he is !!!! ( sigh )
He looks a bit tired and like he needs a good sun holiday with drinks, lounging by the beach..oh and me sitting on him, but yes he knows how to wear the hell out of a tux and/or suit.
@Lindy,
Lindy, have you forgotten what he did the last time he had a sun holiday with drinks? I don’t want his leash to be *too* tight, but i cannot go through that again. ~sniffle~
If it’s with me, I won’t be as bothered! 😉
Of course I would. And while I agree with Lindy on the holiday point, I think he has proven that he can’t be trusted to resist famewhores while on his hols, so it might be best for him to keep working.
Plus, he needs to rein back in those little hairy caterpillars above his eyes.
That’s true, so I’d happily keep our location a secret, he can rely on me. 😉
I can also give his eyebrows a bit of a trim thanks to a beauty and massage course I did years ago. Win, win for Cumby!
Excellent. So, here’s the plan. I wear him out, you take him, relax him, polish him back up and send him back. And we just carry on like that until EsCon busts us.
I’m not quite sure that was what I had in mind, unless me getting to “polish him back up” is code for something filthy, in which case Ding-Dong.
😉
Oh this SO doesn’t work for me tho…
Should we suggest some sort of rota system?
Well. DUH.
But *ahem* I do think all married women should relinquish any rights to him and not be allowed in on the rotation.
You chicks are *busted”! You’d be amazed how aggressive these little hedgehogs can be when re-programmed. I’ve spent weeks depriving them of their favorite little cheese nibblies in case of just such an occasion.
Also, Fanty’s married & it hasn’t slowed her down one bit. She has a lot of energy & can, apparently, entertain both. It takes great buckets full of gin, but she makes it work.
You know EsCon, I had previously said I was a fragile flower, and thus, not a fighter. However, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting and realised that delicate blossoms just get stepped on. So I’ve called some DEAR friends of mine to help me. Please go right ahead with your Hedgehog Army as I’ve enlisted the BumbleBee Brigade. I’ll just tell them you all are going to disturb the nest and they’ll be after you in a snap! (And according to Queen Bee they do have some tenuous connections to their more rabid cousins. Unfortunately they are a tad difficult to control. But no matter, those are my concerns and not yours)
Hmmmp. And married women shouldn’t be frolicking with men not their husbands! Gin or no gin!!! (I cannot help but admire Fanty’s constitution though)
So, are you forcing me to unleash the power of the hive?
@Ladyslippers
I have a pass for him sooooo my husband knows
Uh oh.
@Ladyslippers,
Darling I do love you, but I perforce must back my nun. And we have Eve, who is getting increasingly shanky as every Cumbersuit appears, and a back up Dragonfly Air Force (DAF).
Nunneeeee, Nunneeee, give me your answer, doooooo. You’ll look sweet upon the seat of a Vespa built for two (plus a sidecar for DUC).
@Fanty,
Hey! I just heard the sidecar scrape the side of the Nun Barn. Are you letting Cumby drive again? What did we agree on about that? Hmm? Wanda will be furious.
Cumby is *only* allowed in the sidecar!
Also, I hope I can still fit on the Vespa seat. I have to get serious about the size of my bustle. Please stop making those irresistible toffee apple pies—just for awhile, until I can fit back on the Vespa.
@LadySlippers,
I have considered your scenario & your question very carefully. It was very gentlewomanly of you to warn me, & I thank you most warmly.
You do know hedgehogs eat bees, right?
They love them. It’s like Christmas morning to them, along with Halloween Candy night.
(When the hedgehogs have done a good job, I give them watermelon, which they pretty much lose their little spiked heads over, they love it so much.)
He looks great! Love seeing him in a tux.
Good morning, Mr. Cumberbatch.
Sigh.
Hit = yes
Does anyone watch Sleepy Hollow? Someone pointed out that John Cho’s character’s neck (he got his neck snapped off and died then came back to life so his neck is all jiggly and wrinkly and saggy) looks like Cumberbatch’s neck/face and now I’ll never unsee it.
Yes, but only if Colin was busy. And not married. And into women his own age.
I can’t even answer fantasy questions “yes” or “no.”
Still going to come to the spa today???
😉
That was fun yesterday, no?
It was!
Did you see my response to yours? I haven’t been on again as Benedict is well…. A priority. 😀
Yes, it was hilarious. If only I had bid a teensy ten million more…
All day everyday.
Also hi there cumbercurls, i see you there. Set the cumbercurls free!
I would hit it like a freak lol.
He looks so handsome, he really knows how to wear a tux. Colin and his wife look nice as well.
As for TFE bombing ouch…I feel sorry for him but darling you should have been more cautious in picking your first lead role. Though I do applaud him for having the guts to play a controversial man and NOT go the cliche way of picking a good guy as his first mainstream lead.
Hells yes….but only if Tom Hiddleston was unavailable. 🙂
Ooh, very contentious words! Sometimes I don’t know who should star in my daydreams. Cumby has piercing eyes and a gentle soul but Hiddles and I would party until 3am and then eat poutine afterwards.
Well, duh.
Seriously, I’m confused about the radio broadcast of Neverwhere. Is this now the unedited edition of what we heard back in the Spring, or did they re-record it?
I hated Neverwhere. With a passion. If they re-recorded it, I hope they “accidentally” re-recorded a different book.
You really disliked it that much? I’ve only read two Gaiman books – I liked “The Graveyard” but was meh about “Neverwhere”. I guess I’m an unsophisticated reader because I normally need to believe that the protagonist isn’t an idiot, and I couldn’t quite get there with Richard Mayhew. Still, I didn’t completely hate it.
I liked the Graveyard book, but couldn’t get through Neverwhere. It was just too twee. Miss Eyre tells me that The Ocean at the End of the Lane is excellent. When Gaiman is good, he’s good. When he’s not, he’s atrocious.
Ah, that one is already on my Kindle wish list. Good to know!
Was Cumby’s “Angel Islington” worthwhile? Because he is an angel, you know.
Short answer: no. I hated it with such vehemence that even had Cumby stripped naked and hiddles-thrusted across my screen (had there been a screen), my answer to your question would have been upgraded to a mere “meh.”
Plus, just because he’s on the side of the angels, doesn’t mean he is one. Pay attention.
(and surely I can’t be alone in thinking that was the cheesiest line Mark Gatiss EVER wrote?)
And the sexy/creepy song the Angel sings? My God, Fanty! What does it take to melt your icy blue heart??!!!
(I just misappropriated a lyric from John Hiatt for that, I hope he doesn’t mind.)
What does it take? Maybe the thing above that I just described.
Nope. I enjoy watching him act, but the thought of his O face terrifies me.
Ha-ha! Too funny
I’m shocked that you didn’t use the curl-horn picture.
It is truly amazing
http://25.media.tumblr.com/d909d7c2104bbdd72a59413aeee2414a/tumblr_mww3jf0ot91qdghnpo6_r1_400.jpg
You have made my day with those curl-horns.
He looks tired in this pic too. I just want to cuddle him….
And….
Make him even more tired? That’s where my mind is anyway 😉
But I *would* let him sleep. Really I would.
The curl-horns are SO adorable. I hope he starts wearing them more often, on purpose. It will take lots of hair product to keep them in place, but well worth the trouble.
It’s funny you say he looks Jowly.. he has a week chin. Which is something my eyes go to all the time.. His weak jawline and neck area..
anyway when I first saw him he made me think of John Wood. they look alike to me.
hit it= no never
Kaiser asks who the two blonde women are. LttP (on early today) asks more pertinently, who is the lady in black whose left buttock is remarkably close to (being touched by?) the Wizard’s left thigh? Please let it not be his long-suffering niece, A Black Scandal in Winter White. A beautiful man—born to wear a tuxedo—with eyes to kill for.
Who cares about the two blondes? Benedict is smiling and he’s sexy!!!! Let’s focus on the important stuff here people! (I’m sure others will disagree but I’d bet they came with their dates so NOT important!)
It is fabulous. Although I expect poor Emily just lost her Christmas bonus over that.
Did I miss something?
That was a misplaced comment in response to the cumberhorn. Which, incidentally, I have.
Don’t we all my dear *sigh*
Would not hit it. Do not get it. (I’ll take Fassbender.)
LOL neither do I, so you are not alone . He seems like a jolly nice fellow though 🙂
I am going to make that photo of Colin and Livia my Christmas card photo this year, I think.
In the cast photo, Natalie Dormer’s knee is touching the Mac – that woman is my idol.
How she can just stop at the knee, I don’t know. I would have no self control and would throw the Mac into the nearest closet and show him my Neverwhere.
Oh James McAvoy, how I lust for you…
Well, it’s the Goddess Natalie – I am sure she didn’t stop at the knee. That’s just all they got a shot of.
Count me in too, oh McAvoy, how hot you are…
So @j.eyre, am I to imply then that in the table read photos we can’t see Goddess Natalie’s hands for good reason?
The Mac does seem very animated in one of the shots.
So effin jealous of Natalie Dormer.
@Diana join the club. Together w j.eyre we can be the McEttes.
I like the McEttes, I could add that to my resume. Truth be told, I think I might also be a Dormerand.
LOVE the McEttes! Let’s do it. Lord knows he’s worth it.
If you’re going to be the McEttes, you need some kind of song. You sound like a girl group.
T.Fanty – Great suggestion!
Ladies, perhaps we can find a way to mash up Scottish folk with highly charged 70s sexual soul music. Something like…
“Let’s get it on the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond”
Oh, if we’re going that way, might I suggest Burns’ Night be formally re-christened as Rug Burns Night?
Oh T. Fanty, when it comes to The Mac I wish every night could be a Rug Burns Night…
I think someone needs to come over here & borrow my “Barry White Sings Robert Burns” album (vinyl), entitled “Oh, Girl, I’m Gonna Rug Burn You All Night Long.”
Hit him? Oh yes and with immense pleasure.
Well if Mr. Cumberbatch or Mr. Firth knocked on the door. . .just sayn’
I didnt ever find him attractive until Sunday night when I saw 12 Years…hot damn.
Another convert!!!!
Welcome dearest M!!!
Ahhh, no, no i wouldn’t. Collin Firth on the other hand, in a nano-second!
Blondes? I just looked at the first picture & I want to know who the Blue Women are.
Does Cumby have a new type? I’m going to check Sephora now for some nice blue foundation. Anyone with me?
Sorted!
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Archive/Search/2012/9/18/1347961540515/Avatar-010.jpg
BOOM!
LMAO!
Hahahaha! Clever Lindy! I hope he doesn’t mind my sticky-up ears…..
Well he’s shared his opinions about Zoe :p
If he’d been “with” someone last night, it’d be all over the place by now. One DOES look like his long suffering PA (maybe she’s on Drunk Uncle Cumby duty, riding herd since his Ibiza incident?).
I feel sure that after Ibiza, Wanda sent Emily a registered letter telling her that she was not to let her Drunk Uncle out of her sight for a second, ever again. Then followed up the letter with a blistering talking-to.
@EscapedConvent: “Emily, we discussed this. ONLY CHAFFINCH WORTHY WOMEN!”
Quite right. Only chaffinch. Owl-Worthy is important too, but you only get to be owl-worthy after you’ve given Wanda her sixth grandchild.
Don’t much care about blondes—blue women also leave me cold—but i put you ladies on today’s list of things to check on because I’m into backsides—whose backside got so close to a Wizard thigh that I’ve been thinking about it ever since? Might add that when this blog rocks, it is an existential experience. Every day a Cumberday—best of all with a play-by-play (from T.Fanty, with pictorial support from the groundlings).
@Fanty: I just came back from Idris’ post. Do explain your Little Favour comment please.
I will, anon. I’m on my way into work.
Anon? Oh Elizabethan English makes me shiver with glee.
I do have other questions for you. It’s about you being English in the States. I went back to some OLD BC posts and saw some comments by you that intrigue me.
Oh who are we kidding? Call in sick to work, I have millions of questions I could ask you.
Okay, lucky for you, I live-blogged (or emailed) my thoughts to EsCon as I watched last night. Here you go:
– Cumby in leather! He’s very scowly. He is called Wallace, which is stupid.
– he’s trying a not-posh accent. It isn’t great.
– Someone just called him Ace! That still doesn’t make Wallace any better.
– apparently, the only direction anyone has given him is “broody.”
– Nick Moran is a bit hot. And he wants Cumby to look after his kid. Someone needs to get Wanda on the phone, pronto.
– Cumby just said “yeh!”
– Lots of minimal script and EYE ACTING. shiftiness all round and meaningful looks.
– which aren’t helped by plunky piano music in the background. It’s like the end of an episode of Will and Grace.
Five minutes in.
– more music. Nick Moran is tall. Cumby still looking shifty.
– there’s a big, significant “men don’t shake hands but grab wrists” moment. God, they’re manly. Even more so because they care for a little girl.
– more hands. Clearly whoever directed this has seen the “hand porn” tag on tumblr.
– Okay, every saying “it’s me” as a means of introducing themselves isn’t style, it’s just annoying. Especially in a fifteen minute movie.
– At least they bought Cumby new jeans for the role.
– Sacrilege! He’s driving a range rover!
– There’s a back of the hair scratch. Mostly because I think he knows that he isn’t quite pulling off the chavvy accent.
– he seems to have some version of Hans Solo frozen in stone on his wall.
– the violence is on. Someone just hit him with a truncheon. A bit different to my prison plan. Cumby seems to have frozen and is staring, and I’m not sure if it’s because they’re popping him in the stomach or he’s just knifed them in the neck with a pizza cutter. Because he’s all manly like that.
– cue the entry of a slightly sassy yet villainous crime lord. Clearly inspired by In Bruges. Or actually not, because he’s some kind of Russian. Looks like pizza dude is dead.
– So, Cumby just took on a whole gang of thugs and is now chasing them down the street. In a disheartening turn of events, I realize that he is, in fact, wearing maroon jeans.
– Okay, so the villains have Cumby lying in front of them, and are spilling their entire plans on the phone. They’re about as smart as an 1980s 007 bad guys. Moonraker wouldn’t have been this obvious. That said, I don’t really get their nefarious plot.
– on the upside, they took off his nice jacket before they slapped him around. The jeans still confuse me.
– In the space of about twenty minutes, he’s got REALLY sweaty. The timeline is off, here and I can’t work out whether he’s been there for half an hour or half a week. And I think he’s insulting the baddie in Russian or Ukranian, and baddie is laughing, but nobody is really explaining it, so I’m not sure that it’s witty. But it involves a nice shot of Cumberarms.
– lots more eye-acting, but now he’s a little squinty because he’s supposed to be all banged up.
– The bad Ruskie has just said that he’s going to explain how this works, which is good, because I have NO clue what’s going on. Except he just started talking about leaking, and now I’m even more confused.
– suddenly, Cumby and the child are BFFs, which is a bit weird because it seems they only met about twenty minutes ago and Cumby has only spoken about six lines in the whole thing. Said child hasn’t even had time to take off her coat or backpack, which either means that the time is ridiculously condensed, or Ace is a really bad host.
– Cumberbum looks good. The final verdict on the jeans is that there blue and tight. This is good.
– Dumbest twist ever. I totally saw this a mile off, and and I didn’t even see the end of the Sixth Sense coming.
– Cumber arms ahoy. And he does some good kung fu hands.
– He’s surly and confused now. And apparently not seeing straight.
– lots of blood, but they could have actually taped on a faux cut. I’m sure they could have bought one at Rickys during their halloween sale and saved it, as cost is evidently an issue with this movie.
– The villain is still laughing. I have no idea why.
– Cumby looks really short next to Nick Moran.
– Bless him, Cumby is acting his little heart out, even though they’ve given him NOTHING to work with.
– IT JUST STOPPED!!! Some artsy and sombre violin music and that’s it?!?!?!?!?! WTF?!?! I want my $1.99 back.
– there had better be a bloopers reel. What a swizz.
– it was very manly, though.
OMG Fanty, that was amazing! I honestly lol more than once!
I like LF but wasn’t amazed by it. I just kept thinking it felt ‘off’ but the director was trying to distract us with BC’s body so we wouldn’t notice. BUT is was better than the other stupid short BC was in. I did not like that one at all.
ETA (edited to ASK): What’s wrong with his accent?
I came for BC articles…but I stay for T.Fanty. That is all.
He drops a bunch of constanants, but keeps slipping back into the posh. Even though he only has mono-word-lines (if such a thing exists).
EMBRACE THE POSH, CUMBY. NEVER CHANGE. You know what would have been great. If he launched into a tirade about how gangsters invading his house and having do adopt small children wouldn’t have happened if they had a couple of decent private members’ clubs around here.
@ T. Fanty
I actually didn’t think LF was bad but it’s obviously just a cut of something larger and not a complete story. What I got:
–Wallace has some PTSD going on. Knew the child at one point but couldn’t remember her.
–They wanted James, not Wallace. James set Wallace up. Wallace was the bait, the child the weapon.
–The “Hans Solo” (LOL) on the wall is actually a child solider (that I know for sure but I’ve seen it before).
–Moran’s villain was supposed to be a bit irrelevant? IDK the child solider theme was far more disturbing to me.
It was well-received indie-wise, so it’s a good but not amazing entry piece. Not bad for a first attempt at all on the production side of it.
TFanty, you’re such a darling! Will you pleeeease live-blog when watching “Coriolanus”? (We could compare notes. Oh, people in my local cinema will hate me).
I cannot WAIT so see this, based upon the definitive (Fanty) review!
Forgive me, oh great TFanty, but the actor that you keep referring to as Nick Moran is actually Colin Salmon.
Darn it! Good at reviewing, terrible at research. This does not bode well for my job. Thanks, Miss Scarlet!
However, I am aware that Hiddles is playing Caius Martius, and assuming V4Real doesn’t get annoyed and punch me in the head, you’re all on!
Oh, and Miss S,
It’s two days later and I am still smirking over the greatness of the name Colin Salmon. It sounds like a man who was turned into a cartoon bear by an evil elf.
I don’t get it. I still wouldn’t hit it with someone else’s vagine.
Does anyone else find it odd that Firth was there? Isn’t he an avid Republican (anti-Monarchist) like Helen Mirren?
The Firth;s were there because it is a charity they support. And Helen Mirren goes to events at the Palace from time to time. They can be anti Monarchist but still go to events where royals are present. It would be foolhardy and also bad manners to refuse invites to everything just because a member of the royal family will be there.
Also just because you disagree with the system, it doesn’t mean you have to dislike the people who are in that system.
If it is something they already supported, that makes sense. I won’t agree with calling them “foolhardy” if they were to ignore royal invites or refuse to attend if royals are present. That’s the point of the Republican movement; these are unearned positions that in and of themselves are not worth respect — just because some out-of-date system says they are. No more “off with their heads” just because folks might not like Wills and Kate. Those days are – thankfully – long over.
I had a Cumby dream last night actually. It involed us being a serious relationship and having lunch, that was it, no sexytime or anything. It was still a good dream tho 😉
*pushes Cumberbatch across the room* Hello Colin!
Colin Firth!!!!!! Also, Cumberbatch.
If only Tom Hardy and Daniel Craig were there, wearing tuxedos and smirking.
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/e8/23/6c/e8236cc1a6897336289b4afe40094b05.jpg – I’d take this with a side of McAvoy, please. 😀
That pic of Tom Hardy is too heavenly. *currently wiping off drool*
No.
Ooh I think he looks better when he’s angled and not straight forward as he does look jowly. Still beautiful eyes!!
Doesn’t bother me that he prefers blondes ;).
Who says he prefers blondes? Kind of silly to make that assumption based on the fact his long term girlfriend was blonde.
Jojo – it was a joke, based on many comments above about the blondes, the Ibiza thing this summer, etc. I wouldn’t take it personally…
Aah, I see..
😉
day light savings is killing me!!!!! I finally fall asleep, you write a Batch post, and I miss out on all the fun 🙁
Would i hit it??? HELL YES… over and over again…..
Long time reader first time poster, yes I’m another Cumberbatch convert. So glad to see a Cumby post. God this man just look SO good in a tux.
ew