Benedict Cumberbatch at the Laureus World Sports Awards: cute or fug?

Here are some photos of Benedict Cumberbatch at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Shanghai today. He’s the host of the event for the second year in a row, and he’s been enjoying Shanghai for days, as he did an event for MG (he became a brand ambassador) and he even got a nice massage (hm). I think this awards show is his last event in Shanghai and he should be flying back to London soon enough. But you never know. Any chance he gets to be away from the old ball and chain, amirite?

I haven’t seen anything about this event so far, so let’s just talk about how he looks. I’m surprised by how many people are okay with his haircut. Some of you even think he looks younger!! This is like The Dress debate to me – I don’t see how anyone could like this hair on him. He looks older, like an aging otter. I think he’s losing weight to play Hamlet too. I like when he’s a bit bigger and more “filled out.”

What else? Benedict also has made a call to support independent cinema. As in, independently-owned theaters in England, like the Phoenix Cinema. You can read more here.

Photos courtesy of Getty.

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102 Responses to “Benedict Cumberbatch at the Laureus World Sports Awards: cute or fug?”

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  1. Abbott says:

    Benny C kinda has the ‘my mom did this before church’ hair-do. I like it!

  2. Oy vey says:

    Cute. Even as the old, cranky, scrawny daddy with the generic husk of a wife. ♡ 5eva.

    • EscapedConvent says:

      That is about the best description of them that I’ve seen. Fabulous!

    • Pushkar says:

      I think they are lovely, nothing wrong with being old, we will all be one day, halfway there already, some days passion is alive as ever (reckon they still have it) and other days well……..lets just say….ever pulled apart a toasted cheese sandwich?

    • Oops! says:

      Why, thank you, EscapedConvent. No worries, Pushkar. I meant “old” in an endearing way.

  3. Beth says:

    Dear China,

    Can you keep him? Thank you.

    • nonnie says:

      This ^ x1000000

    • gg says:

      He’s not playing Hamlet for over three months, so it ain’t that he’s losing weight for that already. I think he looks pretty good today…maybe it’s the makeup? Maybe he’s finally over the jetlag?

      • J says:

        idk what’s up with his weight either, his clothes are loose

        he doesn’t even merit my top 100 of people id send away lol (1 is tie between the koch brothers and woody allen rn)

    • toby says:

      China is a terrible despotic state. There is no right to vote there and air and water are polluted.
      It is hell that people from other countries stays in China.

  4. taterho says:

    The haircut is the first time in many moons that I have pondered on Mr. Cubesteak and not wanted to hurl. Me likes.

    • MtnRunner says:

      Tho’ my boner is long gone, I’ll admit the new ‘do looks good on him and makes him look younger.

      I miss his Comic Con hair though — both San Diego and Australia. That was my favorite Bendy hair. I like curls.

      • taterho says:

        Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and a widdle bit drunk
        Over many a quaint and curious puddle of forgotten boners
        I nodded, nearly passing out, suddenly there came a wispy curl
        As of some one gently campaigning, an Oscar at my door.
        -Edgar Allen Potato

      • hermi! says:

        Taterho, I nearly choked on my cranberry juice. 🙂

      • MtnRunner says:

        One question, TaterHo:

        Could you, would you on a couch?

      • taterho says:

        Shall I compare thee to a couchclimber?
        Thou art more cushiony and more upholstered
        Rough springs do shake the darling throw pillows of May
        – William Shakespotato

        I hope Bendy recites my poetry at my funeral.

      • MtnRunner says:

        *stands and claps*

      • hermi! says:

        Let’s hope he doesn’t join a cult…. oh, wait… 🙂

      • Lindy79 says:

        oh my god! hahahahaha

  5. Dani says:

    Sophie must have told him that he looks sexy with his hair pushed back. But he doesn’t. Make it stop.

  6. MtnRunner says:

    Hiddleston!

    *scampers off to look at Torilla pics*

    • Lilacflowers says:

      Please keep my husband Tom off these Cumber threads. He finds this all very disturbing

    • koko says:

      Well thanks for the heads up, I scampered off to Twitter. Just can’t do Tumblr.

      • MtnRunner says:

        Koko, I feel ya. Torilla is the only Tumblr site I follow because it’s just pictures, no ridiculous commentary. She seems to have an insider link to his PR team too.

        His Pine is leaning towards the Coriolanus look, which I heartily approve of.

        *heads to the sink to empty her drool bucket*

      • Darya née Dara says:

        @mtnrunner, I say a quiet prayer every night that Torrilla never decides to transfer her affections to someone else, cuz then we’re all screwed!

        I can’t rule out that she may get an occasional tip, but we’ve traded messages a couple of times on Tumblr, and she (I’m assuming) comes across as a very nice, respectful, super-fan that has mad skills when it comes to scouring the net, rather than some PR rep that’s on the payroll.

      • Allegra says:

        Check this tumblr too.
        The frenchfrostpudding got new pics.

      • MtnRunner says:

        God bless Torilla. She just posted new pics showing off his lovely arms. Love yourself and take a look, ladies.

      • Darya née Dara says:

        Oh lord, fangirl down… seriously, I may have to declare a Night Manager embargo. I’m beyond obsessed. I’m way behind at work and have burned through most of the monthly data limit on my phone in just a few days drooling over the set photos and checking Twitter for real-time updates. Gah!

        My only hope is that the photos stop when they disappear into the wilds of Morocco, but then they’ll probably start up again when they hit Mallorca. And somewhere along the way there may be a bevy of Cannes photos. Tuxedo Tom! Crap, I’m doomed…doomed I tell you.

        p.s. Apologies to those who are just here for the ‘Batch – didn’t mean to hijack the proceedings, but hopefully you’ll understand and indulge us.

    • Lilacflowers says:

      Is he wearing his own clothes to play Pine?

    • hermi! says:

      C*rist on a bike!!!!!

      • MtnRunner says:

        Well, it’s just Tom, but his return does seem messianic after the Bendy pre- to post-Oscar tsunami.

      • hermi! says:

        We need more of one and less of the other. My best friend, who’s coming with me to see Hamlet, is hoping Bendy gets stage fright a la Daniel Day Lewis and is replaced by Tom. 🙂 We loved him in Coriolanus. We really liked his trousers too. In fact, we maintain they were tattooed on his skin. 🙂

      • MtnRunner says:

        And you get another chance to see Coriolanus on the big screen again this year, thanks to NT Live bringing it back for an encore run:

        http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/ntlout12-coriolanus

    • Anne tommy says:

      Also on Bustle. Very nice.

  7. EN says:

    Pretty.

  8. PunkyMomma says:

    Maybe impending fatherhood is behind the haircut?

  9. Tiffany says:

    Dude just knows how to rock a suit.

  10. NeoCleo says:

    He’s never been the crumpet to go with my tea, but I do prefer him with shorter hair. It’s more youthful looking.

  11. J says:

    hope it went well. i like laureus’ kids programs, they’re a pretty decent charity

  12. loli says:

    About his hair only this: at least it’s better than the slicked back atrocity he used to have.

    But I still don’t undertstand how he is willing to hang out in Shanghai so late in his wife’s pregnancy? Even if they have an operation scheduled, the babies tend to have their own timing.
    Unless he actually has fixed a date to ”meet his child” sometime after the birth…

    • hermi! says:

      You are right; nothing can beat the slicked back horror of the Sherlock special. And he got married in that. Yuk.

    • Toodles45 says:

      They asked him at the awards RC what’s the next sporting event he looks forward to, he responded “the birth of my child!” and he said that he keeps checking his phone to see if anything has happened back home. Safe to say she’s due any moment now. I’m thinking late April, early May?

      • hermi! says:

        He should have stayed at home, shouldn’t he? Silly Bendy!
        Anyway, now we finally get to the truth they (he) so skilfully avoided up to now: she got knocked up like we said in August and they waited to get engaged to be sure there was indeed a baby. Desperate romantics 🙂

      • loli says:

        Well, exactly because she’s due any moment now, I’m wondering what he’s doing on the other side of the world!

    • Green Girl says:

      I haaated that hairstyle when he was doing press for STiD. I get that he probably doesn’t want the Sherlock curls in full force when he’s promoting his other work (and I think I heard that he hates them, anyway), but surely he could have done something else?

      I really like his short hair these days. It makes him look a lot younger.

  13. Pushkar says:

    Wonder if it will be announced when the child is born…..

    I love that hair, looks younger I think. It’s funny because when I first saw him on Sherlock I said “whoa they didn’t use a looker then”, and then suddenly bang it clicked and I have never found him odd looking since then. Makes me wonder if he was just a bloke from the pub but with a great voice whether we would look at him twice.

    Tateho your little ditty was bloody funny , wine spat down my front! Go girl!

    • hermi! says:

      Really? I just loved Sherlock the second I clapped eyes on him. Maybe because thin, freckled, pale, and cheek-boned is totally my thing.
      With this hair he could be a city banker. And I don’t look at them twice. Not even once.
      And yet. 🙂

  14. Pushkar says:

    I think the Sherlock hair was fine because it suits the character but he is so pale it looked like a wig. If you’re going to go for the dark brooding look you need darks eyes and naturally dark brows, like Aidan Turner but more mean.

    • hermi! says:

      I don’t know why, but it really works for me. I find Sherlock a million times sexier than Poldark could ever be. He’s like Byron or a genius vampire or a cross of both.

      • Pushkar says:

        Oh no I do agree with that 100 %, Poldark far too pretty and obvious, I think what I meant was that when you first see Sherlock, the impact I find is “oh really?” but if it was some brooding dark actor you wouldn’t think anything you would expect it. Then after a while you think he’ll yeah! Obvious good looks go out of the window and Ben has captured you. Soooo if he were down the pub with dyed black hair would we look twice? Is it Sherlock or him we fancy? This has been debated time over I know.

      • hermi! says:

        We would look twice (or thrice) the moment he opened his mouth. Frankly, it’s 80% of his appeal. If he had Beckham’s voice, we wouldn’t be here discussing haircuts and due dates. 🙂

  15. Pushkar says:

    Keep wanting to hit like on comments but keep forgetting you can’t, some comments are stunningly good.

  16. loli says:

    Due date confirmed!
    ”Ms Hunter’s Happy Days commitment comes only two months after she is due to give birth to the couple’s first baby in late May. “I have a very good team,” she said at the launch.”

    http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/happy-days-beckett-festival-2015-samuel-beckett-play-all-that-fall-to-be-performed-in-the-dark-10179583.html

    • MtnRunner says:

      Well THAT will add a lot of stress to her life (and their marriage) unless she’s planning to hand the newborn to a wet nurse / nanny and go about her work…

      • hermi! says:

        Well, he starts rehearsing Hamlet in June and she’s off directing a play? What about the baby?????

      • PrettyBlueFox says:

        Since there are only 24 hours in a day I’m guessing that either the baby is handed off to a nanny (or a super obliging relative – run, Emily, run!) and trotted out twice a day for the parents to pat it on the head, or she’ll be the type of director where the “very good team” does all the work and then she signs off on their choices, taking all the credit. Or a choice of half-assing two things (while sleep deprived) instead of whole-assing one.

      • hermi! says:

        And I still think it’s not late May, more like early May (which makes sense with him being worried now and ‘checking his phone’). We’ll see…. 🙂

      • MtnRunner says:

        Well I can tell you from personal experience of having a babe with a May 24th due date, if her due date’s around that time, she was knocked up in early Sept. Based on her belly pics at the Oscars and the honeymoon howver, I think she’s probably due late April/early May.

      • hermi! says:

        That’s what my friend said too (and she has a baby whose birthday is early June). By the way, my friend is as thin as SH, same build, so easier to make comparisons (although I know it varies from woman to woman, but still).

      • EN says:

        Sorry, I just can’t read words like “knocked up” and not say anything. So demeaning. They had sex which they both wanted. And probably not just once. And they made a baby. And they are both responsible for the consequences.

      • MtnRunner says:

        “Knocked up” denotes an unplanned pregnancy and that’s why I used the term. It has nothing to do with whether both wanted sex (YES) or whether they are both responsible (YES).

      • EN says:

        There should be no shame in sex or pregnancy, planned or unplanned. But the term “knocked up” is associated with shame , that is my objection to it.

      • Darya née Dara says:

        @En, you’re right about no shame, that’s what I don’t get about all this. It just seems so pointless these days to rush to the altar (if that’s what they did) when I wager very few people in their social or work circles actually give a flying fig if the baby was born before or after they tied the knot. Heck, embracing less traditional life choices is practically a requirement in the arts community. Caving to family pressure maybe? Then again, Helena Bonham Carter is from a much more storied family than either Sophie or Ben and I don’t think she ever got around to marrying Tim Burton. I don’t think anyone is giving them or their children any grief for that. So why bother unless they really are looking forward to settling in for the happily ever after?

      • MtnRunner says:

        EN, I hear what you’re saying, but for heaven’s sake, this is a gossip site and to pillory bad choices is commonplace. What you consider shaming, I consider throwing shade. On an irreverent site such as Celebitchy, using the term “knocked up” hardly seems offensive to me. I respect your opinion however, and will try not to use it here as I don’t desire to offend you.

        In regards to shame I think it can be good or bad. Good shame is the guilt and regret over something we shouldn’t have done. We can learn from those mistakes and become better as people. Babies are wonderful, but the timing and circumstances of conceiving them can be piss poor. I think there are plenty of instances in which someone *should* regret an unplanned pregnancy, and I think it’s entirely appropriate in Ben’s case.

        The reason we’ve been talking about this pregnancy for nearly 5 months is because most of the posters here think those two little blue lines turned Ben’s world upside down and not for the better. If I were in their circumstance I would feel guilt over my responsibility in the matter, embarrassment as to how it appears to others and regret over the effect it would have on my life. Maybe you wouldn’t and that’s fine — people are different in how they would react under the same circumstances. But I don’t think this baby is a *good* thing for them, unless time shows that they have the maturity to grow up and grow closer as partners as a result. Most couples in their situation don’t manage to do it, so the odds aren’t in their favor.

      • Beth says:

        @MtnRunner

        You shouldn’t have to feel bad about using the phrase “knocked up”, much less swear off using it. I don’t have a dog in this fight but from what I read here, plenty of people think ” knocked up” is exactly what the situation is. And yes, you are right, it is throwing shade and to me hardly offensive but just because we cannot control how people feel (and folks are certainly entitled to feel offended) doesn’t mean we need to pussyfoot around our words. Sorry, I’m usually a peaceable creature but I enjoy CB and its snark and think this place would be the poorer for it if posters have to feel circumscribed and hemmed about what they can or cannot say each time they comment (barring obvious cases like hateful racist or homophobic statements).

        Peace out ladies! 😀

      • Beth says:

        @MtnRunner

        I don’t think you need to feel bad about using “knocked up”, much less swear off using it. I don’t have a dog in this fight, but from what I read here plenty of people think “knocked up” is exactly what Bendy’s situation is. And yes, you’re right it is throwing shade and to me hardly offensive, but just cos we cannot control how others would feel (and folks are certainly entitled to be offended) doesn’t mean we need to pussyfoot around our words. Sorry, I’m usually a peaceable creature but I enjoy CB and its snark and think this place would be the poorer for it if posters have to feel circumscribed and hemmed in each time they comment (barring obvious cases like hateful racist or homophobic statements of course). Snark away, I’d say.

        Peace out ladies! 😀

      • Darya née Dara says:

        @Beth, well said. And @EN, I think there is a big difference between using judgmental language to describe a circumstance versus the people in that circumstance. Does that make sense? I’m not sure I’m describing it very well. The situation may have aspects of shame or regret but that doesn’t mean the person is a shameful human being.

        Knocked up and shotgun wedding deride the situation, not the people. Sophie and her beloved have had some really terrible things said about them as people, here and elsewhere, and I find that goes too far. I may snark and bitch about someone’s actions, but it takes a special level of awful-ness for me to go to the next level and say they are a horrible person.

      • TotallyBiased says:

        @MtnRunner
        You be you!
        “It is just what it says on the tin!” — i.e. Cele*bitchy*
        🙂

      • MtnRunner says:

        “there is a big difference between using judgmental language to describe a circumstance versus the people in that circumstance.”

        Dara, precisely. It’s the situation, more than the people I’m throwing shade at. I actually want them to make it work, despite the low success rate for couples that procreate before there’s a good foundation of partnership in place.

    • **sighs** says:

      Late may my @$$. Early may at the latest. And what the hell is she doing with directing a “piece” 2 months later? The directing takes place before the actual show, so she’s likely going to be working on it when? The day after she gives birth? What if she has complications? Hope they screen those nannies.

      I also laughed at that “I have a good team” bit. She better. Though, she always seems to be part of a team. I bet they do most of the work anyway.

      *basically everything you said, prettybluefox*

      • hermi! says:

        In an old interview, he said his future wife should be good at team work. She must have read that memo. After all, she hasn’t had much to do up until now.
        🙂 🙂

      • Oops! says:

        Yeah, **sighs**. I agree with you, hermi! & MtnRunner. The next Sunny March Production is going to drop mid-May at the latest. I think they might be starting to give up on trying to make this look like it wasn’t shotgun? But I do think they are trying to hide that he waited to see if the baby was viable after 12 weeks before putting a ring on it. I don’t blame him. Some of the info out there…. Clearly, this woman was just supposed to be recreational and not a wifey candidate.

      • hermi! says:

        Well, they have to give up now the child is actually coming into the world (as their child). 🙂

      • askar says:

        What info do you have in mind? The one where she’s an escort? That sounds like libel to me.

      • hermi! says:

        It’s only libel if it’s untrue.

  17. Pushkar says:

    When she waddled in front of me I thought mid May, they could say the baby came early.

  18. Jazzyj says:

    The smack of the rude awakening Mr. & Mrs.C will experience when baby Batch enters their workaholic worlds may be so loud that it breaks the sound barrier.

  19. Pushkar says:

    Got to the stage where I am happy to look at him but not listen to his interviews, nowhere near as excited to see Hamlet as I was.

    • J says:

      that’s just a normal fan, pushkar, lol (i mean in general. most people don’t follow interviews and stuff)

      but by all means look forward to hamlet. great cast and i like how so much of the production team is women. im still trying to get tickets for the livecast here. 2 theaters went on sale and sold on within a day 🙁

    • hermi! says:

      Same here. Not as excited is an understatement. I don’t fancy the cast (except for Ciaran Hinds) and as for Bendy: meh!
      I am looking forward to The Trial with Rory Kinnear and Bakkai with Ben Whishaw a lot more. And I am pretty sure no one can out-perform McAvoy in the Ruling Class.