Benedict Cumberbatch has the kind of look which works well for period films. It’s kind of a wonder that he ever gets work to play modern roles, because he’s so completely suited to play World War II or post-war characters. After trying and failing to play American characters, Benedict returned to what he does best: a posh British accent and period costume. In The Courier, and Benedict plays a “normal guy,” a salesman who is recruited by British intelligence to work as an asset and spy, flying into Russia under the “businessman” guise during the height of the Cold War in 1960. Here’s the trailer:
What’s kind of crazy to realize is that Britain has so many of these stories which have never been told because of the Official Secrets Act, a catch-all for all kinds of huge secrets during World War II and the Cold War. MI6 did a lot of good and bad work during that time period, and I have no problem believing that they thought it would be super-clever to send an untrained businessman into Russia to work as a spy. As for Cumberbatch… I’m an old-school Cumberbitch and I love him in these kinds of roles, clearly. It looks like a great vehicle for everything he does well as an actor, plus it just looks like an interesting story.
GALLERY UPDATE: Five new stills featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as Greville Wynne in 'The Courier' https://t.co/FRaL0xZBKv pic.twitter.com/qVyYnpo7qU
— Benedict Cumberbatch Central (@cumberbatchcom) January 27, 2021
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Clearly he is more at ease here
Looks good but the last picture is giving me Voldemort vibes…..
and now i cant unsee it!
I had completely forgotten Cumberbatch existed. Remember when he was everywhere all the time?
Love a period film, so might have to check this one out.
Theatres? Streaming?
I still can’t believe I once found this man attractive.
That last picture…Jesus F*cking Christ!
Eve! Hope your doing well. Ah the glory days of the Cumberbatch, 300 comments a thread and now he hasn’t even got a dozen comments. How the mighty fall.
I’m still trying to understand what the hell happened: dude is just plain ugly.
I think I must have been high on meds.
😳
But, Eve, you weren’t alone in that. There was a large, devoted contingent here. I never got his appeal but those threads were hilarious.
The mustache makes him look like a serial killer.
Eve!! Cumberbitches! this is so fun to see him
again on this site. i had just had my son the year that BC was dominating everything and i remember nursing for hours in the middle of the night and reading these long threads. that got me into celebrity gossip. it was also the year prince george was born, and the minicoopering incident with k stew. what a great time for gossip.
i just rewatched sherlock and damn that show jumped the shark. in the beginning watson and sherlock were so good together and fun to watch.
It was the curls.
yupp. I saw Frankenstein in the National Theatre more than a dozen times and he had gorgeous hair then
smoking isnt good for your skin.
He’s also got quite boring to be honest. Hopefully his new Dr Strange movie will be good
BC has lost whatever physical appeal he had for me, but I”m sure he will knock this kind of film out of the park.
Whew! What was I thinking? Those days are over. But, he’s still a good actor even though he’s pretty much type casted (spot one or two non-typical acting gigs). I don’t know if I’ll watch this one. I tire of the same topics that Britain tends to go after in their films/t.v. (e.g. War, Royalty) when there are stories that desire recognition (Hello! Steve McQueen and Small Axe).
I still think he’s an attractive man … but only in motion, which is also what I thought during his Sherlock heyday. In still photos, he can look really weird.
Remember the uproar that ensued when he married Sophie? People went CRAZY.
I would love to see someone do a film about Peter Ustinov’s father: he was a Russian who worked for the British. There is a book out there about him, too.
I read Spycatcher way back when it came out in the 80’s. It was fascinating and it mentioned how Ustinov’s dad definitely preferred that his son go into acting/theater rather than follow him into the spy field.