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I Realised Quite Early On That, Although I Wasn't Trying To Make A Career Speciality Of It, I Was Playing Slightly Asexual, Sociopathic Intellectuals.

-Benedict Cumberbatch

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I Realised Quite Early

Benedict Cumberbatch

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I Realised Quite Early On That, Although I Wasn't Trying To Make A Career Speciality Of It, I Was Playing Slightly Asexual, Sociopathic Intellectuals.

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We Have A Lot More Unlikely Heroes Now. It’s Not Just The Guy With Guns—it’s The Guy With Brains.

[sherlock Holmes] Has Moved From Being Someone Who Was Sociopathic, Work-obsessed And Slightly Amoral, Into Being Someone Who Has A Certain Degree Of A Private Life, Which Is Very, Very Private, With The Woman, Or Irene Adler.

As An Actor, You Are Aware Of How A Role Can Seep Into Your Real Life.

I Got Live Tweeted Once By Someone Who Was Opposite My Home In Some Rented Accommodation. He Was Actually Describing On Twitter What I Was Doing. 'i Took A Shirt Off, I Went To The Window, I Put A Shirt Back On... ' And I've Got Blinds In My Flat!

[role Of Dr.strange] Gives Me An Excuse As An Actor To Be Learning With My Character, Which Is Something You Can Do Authentically - I'm Not A Martial Arts Expert, I'm Certainly No Sorcerer, So All These Things, The Movement Of The Body, The Physicality, The Changes He Goes Through Mentally And Physically, Obviously We're Not Shooting In Sequence, But It's A Great Part.

I'd Shift Disciplines, Whether It Was Musical Instruments Or Sports Or Whatever, And It's The Same With That.

It's The Same Thing, I Think, Whether It's Breathing Or Meditation Or Yoga. And Running Is A Great Way Of Doing It.

Sometimes Being Away, On Location, I Feel Like I'm Away For Much Of My Own Life. I Want To Be Better At Staying Connected.

I've Been Very Lucky At What's Happened In My Career To Date, But Playing Something As Far From Me As Possible Is An Ambition Of Mine - Anything From A Mutated Baddy In A Comic Book Action Thriller, To A Detective. If Anything, I'd Like Gary Oldman's Career: He's The Perfect Example Of It. I've Love To Have A Really Broad Sweep Of Characters - To Be Able To Do Something Edgy, Surprising And Unfashionable.

Not That I Had A Big Arse But Even That Was Toned.

Animations Are Really Powerful - It's Not Just Entertainment, It's A Very Cunning Way To Get Good Ideas Across.

[ Stephen Strange] Is Less Strange Than Other Characters I've Played. He's Lost The Power To Love, Which Doesn't Make Him A Nasty Person. I Just Think He's Closed-off.

[sherlock Holmes] Has To Understand The World. That's Very Much John's [watson] Influence On Him. But Like A Lot Of The Friendships And Relationships In That World, It's Born Out Of Necessity. It Makes Him Better. There's A Pragmatism To It. It's Not Whimsical Or Sentimental. It's Born Out Of Necessity.

New York City Is Crazy And Beautiful And Really Close To My Heart, And I've Always Had Dear Friends Here - Family, Actually, I Would Say.

I Am Very Flattered. I Have Also Become A Verb As In "i Have Cumberbatched The Uk Audience" Apparently. Who Knows, By The End Of The Year I Might Become A Swear Word Too! It's Crazy And Fun And Very Flattering.

I've Gone Up Two Suit Sizes. The Character I'm Playing, He's Strong, I Can Say That Much. I've Changed My Physique A Bit, So That Requires Eating Like A Foie Gras Goose, Well Beyond Your Appetite. Providing I Don't Feel Too Ill, I Then Work Out Two Hours A Day With A Phenomenal Trainer. It's The L.a. Way.

I Love Theatre, And You Learn Too Much As An Actor And Enjoy Too Much Of It Not To Want To Go Back A Lot.

You Come Into This World As You Leave It, On Your Own. It's Made Me Want To Live A Life Slightly Less Ordinary.

My Own Grandfathers Were A Submarine Commander And A 'desert Rats' Tank Operator In The Second World War.

It Does Get Strange When You Realize People Will Hang Around For Hours To Get A Glimpse Of You Doing Scenes Outside.

Conan Doyle Is Amazing In The Way He Has Watson Describe Sherlock’s Posture, Mood Swings, His Hand Gestures, And So Forth In The Novels.

I've Seen And Swam And Climbed And Lived And Driven And Filmed. Should It All End Tomorrow, I Can Definitely Say There Would Be No Regrets. I Am Very Lucky, And I Know It. I Really Have Lived 5,000 Times Over.

I Love Doing Impersonations Of People.

Because Reading Is One Of The Joys Of Life, And Once You Begin, You Can't Stop, And You've Got So Many Stories To Look Forward To.

I'm Very Proud Of The Work I Do, But I Genuinely Can't Involve Myself With An Audience As Early As Somebody Who's Not Part Of The Film Can. So There's That Side Of Theater That Appeals To Me, Where You Give Something And The Response To What You've Created Is A Communion Between You And The Dark That Contains However Many People. It's Thrilling Not Having A Reflection Other Than Through The People You're Communicating With. But People Ask, "what Do You Prefer?" And I Don't Have A Preference. I Love Them Both. I Really Do.

I Am Also Full Of Admiration For Chelsea Manning [formerly Pfc Bradley Manning]. Regardless Of Which Side Of The Argument You're On, He Stood Up For Something He Felt Wasn't Right. That Was An Extraordinarily Brave Thing To Do, And I Think He Was Unfairly Punished For It. It's A Really Big Deal What He Did, And He Did It For The Betterment Of All Us, Including The Soldiers On The Ground, As Well As The Civilians Caught Up In Those Conflicts.

This Is An Odd Profession, And Sometimes People Get Jealous, But I Haven't Really Experienced Any Of That. Everyone's Been Really Happy For Me, Which Is Really, Really Great.

I'm Not An Overnight Success. I've Been Doing It For 12 Years. It's Been Lovely And Varied So Far.

Overnight Success

I've Done A Bit Of Live Action Before But The Fight Sequences, The Wire Work And The Physical Regime Were Taken To Another Level [ In Doctor Strange].

I Think I'm A Very Good Driver. Apparently, The Cause Of Road Rage - As With Most Anger - Is Some Kind Of Superiority Complex, Which, God Knows, Cars Foster.

For Brain Surgeons It's Particularly Difficult To Deal With Failure. It Was Fascinating To Learn About That Whole World.

I Love The Idea Of Playing Something Stupid Or Romantic. I'm Not The Smartest Man In The Room. I Listen, And I Learn, And I Observe, But I'm Always Playing Characters With Intellects Profoundly Superior To Mine. That's Great Fun, Even Though It's As Much A Fantasy For Me As For The People Watching Me.

Doctor Strange Is Selfish But He's Still Saving Lives.

I Had A Real Yearning To Make Use Of The Opportunities I Had At School. When I Heard About The Gap Year Of Teaching English At A Tibetan Monastery, I Knew I Had To Do Something About It Really Quickly, Otherwise It Was Going To Get Allocated.

The Training Gave Me The Building Blocks To Get Through It. A Production Of That Scale, In A Theater That Big, You Are Going To Struggle To Keep Your Voice At First-run Perfectness. All That Work I Did - The Pull-ups And Pushups - Helped Keep My Body Fit. Hamlet, The Show, Is A Cardiovascular Workout Of About Three Hours, Never Mind The Mental, Soul-crushing Element Of It.

I Want To Be Able To Play Trailer-bound Fatties In A Judd Apatow Comedy.

I'm Always Keen To Use My Body In My Work, So I'm Looking Forward To The Motion Capture For Smaug. Both Gollum And King Kong Were Primates, Whereas I'm Playing A Serpent, So It'll Be Interesting - I'll Have To Tie My Legs Together, Possibly, Or Else They'll Be Kind Of Splayed Out To The Side As A Reptile's Should Be.

I'll Always Do 'sherlock' - It's Something I'm Not Going To Give Up On.

There's Still Nearly The Same Amount Of Slavery, If Not More, In The World Today, As There Was At The Height Of The Slave Trade.

When You See A Good Horseman, You're Unable To Tell Where The Instruction Is Coming From. It's Like Telepathy.

I Wasn't Born Into Land Or Titles, Or New Money, Or An Oil Rig.

I Drag A Lot Of Stuff Round With Me That I Don't Need.

Thus, A Vision Of The Whole Gradually Grew For Me That Was Nourished By The Various Experiences And Realizations I Had Encountered Along My Theological Path. I Rejoiced To Be Able To Say Something Of My Own, Something New And Yet Completely Within The Faith Of The Church. The Feeling Of Aquiring A Theological Vision That Was Ever More Clearly My Own Was The Most Wonderful Experience Of Those Years.

I Was Never Geeky About Anything.

The More Charming Person Is The Person Who Admits The Other Person Is More Charming.

I Can Feel Infinitely Alive Curled Up On The Sofa Reading A Book.

Why This Character [doctor Strange] Is Being Introduced, To Open Up The Next Chapter. A

You Have To Sometimes Just Run With The Problem Rather Than Trying To Solve It With Hi-tech Wizardry And Lots Of Planning.

I Struggle To Learn By Rote. I've Had Meltdowns On Set. Which Is Embarrassing And Shameful.

I Understand From Those Who Adore Him, He [julian Assange] Has A Great Sense Of Humor Which Rarely Gets An Airing Because He's Dealing With Such Serious Issues.

I Don't Call Myself An Expert Because I've Played Experts. I Know A Little Bit About Very Little. But It's Very Hard To Not Be Drawn Into Saying Something, Especially If It Has To Do With The Work.

Kevin Feige Said To Me: "i Don't Think We've Ever Put An Actor Through Quite As Much As This, Physically And Mentally." I'll Wear That As A Badge Of Honour. It Was Endless.

I Really Discovered [dr.strange] Through Hearing About This Film And First Meeting Scott [derrickson] And Getting Into It And Just Opening Up And Saying, "okay, This Is, Like All Comics, Very Much Of Its Era," And My First Question Was, 'how Do You Make This Film? Why Do You Make This Film Now?' And The Answers Were So Enticing That I Was Like, "i'm In."

My Dad Read The Hobbit To Me Originally When I Was Young. So, It Was The First Imaginary Landscape I Ever Had In My Head From The Written Word. It Gave Me A Passion For Reading, Thanks To My Dad's Performance Of The Book.

I Have Pitfalls. I Have Emotional Responses To Things That Are Really Not About Me. They're About Other People.

Even Though My Parents Experiences Were Different From Mine. I Wasn't A Child Actor Brat; I Didn't Travel With Them In The Circuit. But I Got A Look Into Their World, So I Did Know What I Was Getting Into, To An Extent. And They Are A Constant Source Of Grounding.

If I'd Had Fame Early On, I'd Have Been Able To Abuse It In The Way That A Young Man Should.

I Thought, Well, Why Am I Giving Up On My Primary Dream To Work Doubly Hard, To Do Something As An Alternative To What It Really Still Want To?

Marvel Always Make It Fresh So You Can Give It Your Personal Twist.

We're Living Through A Time Where We Are Fighting Wars Fostered By Politics, Admittedly Not On The Same Scale As The First World War, But With Equally Tragic Realities For Our Soldiers And Their Families.

Doctors And Nurses Do Crazy Hours And Keep An Ideal Afloat Through The Love And Care That They Have For Their Craft And Their Patients And The Institution Of The Nhs. We Should Be Very Proud Of It.

I Actually Do Mind Having A Photo Taken Because It's One O'clock In The Morning And I'm Off My Face.

When Auditioning, I Try To Imagine That I'm The Only Person That They [directors] Are Seeing That Day Because It Can Be Overwhelming, In The Same Sense That It Could Be Overwhelming If You Try To Fulfil Everyone's Expectations Rather Than The People Closest To You In The Creative Process, Be It Your Director, Or Fellow Actors And The Writers. So, That's Kind Of It - I Try To Trick Myself Into Believing That No One Has Ever Gone There Before.

I'm Aware Of The Power Of Looks. I've Wanted To Play Roles That Have Gone To Much Better-looking People And You Just Think 'oh Well, That's The Pin Up Guy's An Actor Like My Friend James Mcavoy, Who's Gorgeous On Screen. I'm Not That. But At Least I Don't Have To Worry About Taking Precious Care Of My Face Because It's My Commodity. That's A Great Freedom. I'm Not Afraid Of Being Heinous For The Sake Of A Part

It's Difficult Because Nothing's Preordained By Plan And You Can't Control It. That's One Of Those Joys And Thrills And Nerve-racking Realities Of Being An Actor. A Lot Has To Do With Luck, No Matter What Your Talent Or Contribution Can Be.

I've Realised Now That The Reality Of Children Is You Have To Be In The Right Place With The Right Person.

I Don't Live Beyond My Means. I Enjoy Luxury And I Enjoy The Privilege Of It, When I Can Afford It, And I'm In The Situation Where It's Been Given To Me, But I'm Very Conscious Of What Is Wasteful.

Sometimes When You Do Fight Scenes You Think, "oh, I'll Be Hit In The Face," Because People Get Carried Away With Their Vanity And Want To Look Too Cool To Care, But We Were All Really Careful With Each Other.

Pull The Hair On My Head The Wrong Way, And I Would Be On My Knees Begging For Mercy. I Have Very Sensitive Follicles.

Talking About Class Terrifies Me. There Is No Way Of Winning.

There's A Huge Amount Of Footage Of Julian [ Assange] Online, But He's Usually In Presentation Or Defending Mode, Talking About His Cause, Or The Revelations Which Wikileaks Have Brought About. There's None Of Assange Relaxing Or In Private Mode. There's None Of The Personality I Tried To Give Him Behind Closed Doors [in The Fifth Estate ].

I Had To Imagine Myself Into Certain Aspects Of [julian Assange] Character For Our Version Of Events. That Involved Extrapolating Based On Clues In His Biography, His Public Persona, Photographs, And Other Accounts Of Him By People Who Encountered Him During That Extraordinary Period From 2007 To 2010 That We Charted In The Film [the Fifth Estate]. So, It Involved A Lot Of Research But, Sadly, No Contact With The Man Himself.

I Want To Do It All. I Want To Climb Mountains, Go Through Jungles, Fight Wars In Space, Get The Girl, Shoot The Bad-guy Full Of Lead, Have All The Zippy One Liners, Bulge Muscles Out Of A Singlet, Drip Sweat And Blood On Screen, All Of That.

[season 4 Of Sherlock Holmes Will Be] Myopically Dark. You're Talking About The End Of The Universe Darkness. You Can't See In Front Of You And Would Walk Into Everything Dark.

I'm Interested In Art For All. I Don't Want It To Be Only The Sons And Daughters Of Tory Mps Who Get To See My Plays.

[doctor Strange] Gets Scraped Off The Floor And Then Thrown Right Down To Hell Again And Then Slowly Pulls Himself Back Up.

I Am Shortsighted. I Need Glasses For Watching Movies Or Concerts. It's Not A Hipster Affectation; I Do Have Poor Eyesight. This Is How Ridiculous My Life Is: I've Had The Test For Contact Lenses, But I Haven't Found A Half-day Where I Can Go To The Optician.

I Think It's Fair To Say That, Yeah, I'm Playing Doctor Strange, I Get There.

I Never Really Got Obsessed About One Thing For Long. I Was A Bit Of A Butterfly And A Magpie.

Do I Like Being Thought Of As Attractive? I Don’t Know Anyone On Earth Who Doesn’t, But I Do Find It Funny. I Look In A Mirror And I See All The Faults I’ve Lived With For 35 Years And Yet People Go Kind Of Nuts For Certain Things About Me. It’s Not Me Being Humble. I Just Think It’s Weird.

Doctor Strange Is An Origin Story So There's A Certain Room For Me Improving As Well As The Character Improving.

I Never Was Obsessive About Anything I Watched When I Was A Kid, Except Maybe 'the A-team' And 'airwolf' And I Loved 'knight Rider' And Then Later 'baywatch.'

That's Something I Have To Work On: To Separate What Really Matters, To Conserve Energy By Not Worrying About What Other People Think.

I'm Not Confident In Social Situations; Just Going Up To Someone In A Bar And Saying 'hi' Is Going To Be Even More Difficult Because They Won't Know The Real Me. They Will Just Know Me As A Fictional Person I Play On The Screen.

I Just Increasingly Enjoy The Quiet Moments When I Can Be On My Own With My Friends And Family, Or With A Book, Having A Live Experience. That's Really What I Crave, And I Always Have Done.

Family And Friends

It Is A Wonderful Thing To Get Married Young And Become A Father.

As An Actor, To Be Part Of That Story's [marvel Univerce ] Terrific. I've Enjoyed It So Much As A Fan And Now I'm Getting To Have A Go Myself.

I Had Parents Who Were Working Actors, Who Did Really Well In Their Careers, But It Was A Living. So It Was A Reality For Me Growing Up; It Wasn't A Fantasy. It Wasn't Sitting There Going, "i Want To Be Adored." It Wasn't That At All. Not To Say That The Screams Of Fans Aren't A Smile-raiser, But That Was Never The Pull For Me.

There's No Shame In Stealing - Any Actor Who Says He Doesn't Is Lying. You Steal From Everything.

My First Agent Dissuaded Me From Calling Myself 'cumberbatch.' I Had Six Months Of Not Very Productive Time With Her, So I Changed Agents. The New One Said, 'why Aren't You Using Your Family Name? It's A Real Attention-grabber.' I Worried, 'how Much Is It Going To Cost To Put My Name In Lights?' But Then I Decided That's Not My Problem.

The World Of 'sherlock Holmes' And The World That We Live In Now Is Big Enough To Take More Than One Interpretation.

Being A Posh Actor In England You Cannot Escape The Class-typing From Whatever Side You Look At It.

When I Was Young I Became Kind Of A Party Animal. I Had A Massive Crash. My Health Suffered. I Was Just Overdoing It. That Person Could Not Be Further From The One Who Emerged From That Earlier Experience. I Regressed Massively.

I Realised Quite Early On That, Although I Wasn't Trying To Make A Career Speciality Of It, I Was Playing Slightly Asexual, Sociopathic Intellectuals.

I Like To Think That We’re Revolving On This Planet And Revolving Through The Galaxy. I Love Having Context That’s So Much Bigger Than I Can Fathom. It’s Fantastic To Realise How Insignificant You Are.

What's Not To Look Forward To? It's Like All The Actors In All Of The Films. It's Difficult To Get Martin Freeman And I In A Room Together. Imagine What It's Like To Get Myself, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Elizabeth Olsen... These Extraordinary Actors Who All Have Careers Outside The Marvel Universe.

Laughing And Crying Are Really Similar - What Happens To Your Body. It's A Very Similar Process In Your Diaphragm. Like A Musician, You Have To Do Your Scales Once In A While And Warm Up Your Voice.

If I'm Playing Someone Who's Smart, Suddenly Every Character I've Played Is Smart. If I'm Playing A Bad Guy, Every Character Is A Bad Guy. I Suppose It's That Thing Where People Want To See A Through-line To Understand You. I Mean, You Know, I Have Played Pretty Ordinary People Too.

[on Bbc's Sherlock] It's A Rare Challenge, Both For The Audience And An Actor, To Take Part In Something With This Level Of Intelligence And Wit. You Have To Really Enjoy It. It's A Form Of Mental And Physical Gymnastics.

Look At You Lot, You're All So Vacant, Is It Nice Not Being Me It Must Be So Relaxing.

I Know He [julian Assange] Is A Man Of Fierce Determination, And Now Living Under The Strain Of House Arrest In The Ecuadorean Embassy As A "political Exile," As He Calls Himself.

I’m Very Excited About All The Offers And Interest And Support Pouring In Through Crowd-funding, And About Having A Lovely Gap Coming Up When I’ll Finally Be Able To Sit Down With Books And Scripts And Talk To My Partners About How We Take The Company Forward.

I'm Not Very Geeky. I'm Quite Homespun. I Would Say I'm More Modern Rustic Than Gadget-orientated. I Like Woollen Things And Log Fires And Whiskey

Only When Stephen Strange Has His Accident And Everything That He's Ever Had In His Life Falls Apart That He Becomes Pretty Monstrous. It's The Self-loathing Rage Of A Wounded Animal And He Doesn't Have A Coping Mechanism At All. It Ties In With The Discipline And The Magic Of This World.

Writing In French Is One Of My Ambitions. I'd Like To Be Able To Dream One Day In French. Italian And French Are The Two Languages That I'd Like To Know.

Mum Did A Lot Of Commercial Theatre And Farces In The 1980s And '90s To Make Sure The School Bills Were Paid.

You'd Have To Be Pretty Hard-nosed Not To Feel Some Sympathy For The Guy [doctor Strange].

The Generation Now Below Me Were Born Into A World Where If You're A Kid With Raw Talent Now, You Can Roll In And Land A Lead In A Scorsese Film. You Don't Have To Have Prove Yourself By Working Up The Ranks, Doing The Classics, And Getting The Canon Under Your Belt In The Way The Great Sirs And Dames Of Mom And Dad's Generation - The [ben] Kingsleys And [helen] Mirrens And [anthony] Hopkinses And People Of That Ilk.

It's One Of The Things That Attracted Me To The Role [doctor Strange] Is The Fact That It's A Really Widely Origin Story, I Mean This Is Part Of It, But Of Course There's The Whole Chapter Before Where He's The Neurosurgeon Who Has The Accident. It's Fantastic.

Sometimes During A Conversation With A Journalist - Where You Are Answering Things You Never Normally Talk About, Not Even With Some Of Your Closest Friends - You End Up Being Quite Confessional, And You Don't Think About The Amplification Of That. No Matter How Fancy These Journalists Are, They Have Editors Or Political Leanings Behind Their Publications, Which Means That, Basically, They're Going To Shape What You've Said Into An Article They've Already Written. So You Have To Be Really Careful With Your Words.

Those Are More Universal Things Than Some Of The Characters I Play, Who Are Slightly Sociopathic. I Keep Reminding People I Can Do Ordinary.

I Want To Be Better At Staying Connected.

'sherlock' Fans Are, By And Large, An Intelligent Breed, So They've Gone Through My Back Catalogue And Got What I've Done, Why And How I've Done It. There Is Some Obsessive Behaviour, But I Worry For Them Rather Than Me.

If People Ask, 'are You Sherlock Holmes?', It's Horribly Naff, But I Say, 'i'm Not, I Just Look A Bit Like Him' - Which Is How I Feel. There Are Bad Attributes Of His That I Really Don't Share!

I Don't Want To Miss Things.

I Think Playing Any Iconic Role When You're Stepping Into Big Shoes, Into The Shadow Of People Who Have Come Before You And You Can't Process That.

There Are Very Specific Demands, Though, In Television, And You Notice The Budget Constrictions. It's The Time Constraint And A Purse Constraint More Than Anything Else That You Notice. But The Ambition Of The Writing And, Hopefully, The Delivery Of It Gets Better And Better Because We Want To Outdo Ourselves To Keep Ahead Of A Very Expectant And Hungry Public.

Being Someone Who Is Of Our Sensual Reality, Stephen Strange Has A Lifestyle, He Has A Sexuality, He's Materialistic.

I Had The Privilege Of Being Able To Choose, Or At Least Have The Opportunity To Work At, Being Anything But An Actor.

The Story [in 12 Years A Slave] Serves As A Metaphor For The Fear Of Having Your Family Taken Away, And For Being Abused In Such A Horrific Way. I Lost It A Lot Of Times Watching That Film, Particularly When Seeing The Grace Of The Man When He Finally Makes It Back Home Aged, Changed, Forever Brutalized, And Yet He Apologizes To His Family For His Long Absence. That Was Such A Profoundly Moving Moment Capturing The Triumph Of Dignity Over The Disgraceful Behavior Of Those Involved In The Slave Trade.

There Was A Moment Of Extraordinary Humbleness And Humility And Pride, As Well, With My Father When He Turned To Me - And I Think It Was After I Played Salieri In "amadeus" At University. And He Said, You're Better Than I Ever Was Or Ever Could Be, You Should Do This For Profession. You'd Have A Good Time.

My First, Big, Silly Role At School Was As Arthur Crocker-harris In Rattigan's 'the Browning Version,' Where My Job Was To Make School-masters' Wives Weep With Recognition.

I've Been Quite A Late Developer On The Clothes Front, But I've Suddenly Realised It Is One Of Life's Joys.

There's A Heroic Amount Of Effort That Goes Into Making Him [doctor Strange] A Superhero By The End Of The Film.

Maybe It's Because I Was An Only Child, But I've Always Wanted Kids.

I'm Quite Sensitive To People Noticing Me. There Are Times When I'm Relaxed, Then Others When It Does Make Me Self-conscious.

Live A Life Less Ordinary.

We Should Have A Conversation When We Hang Up.

I Think With Any Characterization There's A Point Where You Empathize, No Matter How Much Of A Deviance His Or Her Actions May Be From Your Understanding Of Humanity.

I Haven't Done Period Dramas Back-to-back, Or Really Anything Back-to-back. You Get Asked To Do What You're Most Recently Famed For, So I'm Careful Of Not Repeating Myself.

I Think Anyone Who Works In Medicine Has Superpowers.

I'm Always Playing Characters With Intellects Profoundly Superior To Mine. That's Great Fun, Even Though It's As Much A Fantasy For Me As For The People Watching Me.

I'm Quite Surprised By How Many People Grew Up With This Character [doctor Strange ].

I Drive A Motorbike, So There Is The Whiff Of The Grim Reaper Round Every Corner, Especially In London.

If You Have An Over-preoccupation With Perception And Trying To Please People's Expectations, Then You Can Go Mad.

I've Said For Quite A Long Time I'd Like Him To Have A Different Haircut. I Quite Like My Hair Being Short. You Know, We've Been Away Two Years, Let's F*** Around With His Outfit, Let's F*** Around With His Haircut, Let's Do Something Different.

Mystique Is Rare Now, Isn't It? There Aren't That Many Enigmas In This Modern World.

I Don't Wear A Mask, I Don't Have A Suit. It's Not Some Cg Double Or A Stunt Double. The Suffering The Character [doctor Strange ] Goes Through Is Immense!

People's Hands Fascinate Me. It's Tempting To Look At A Businessman's Left Hand And See If There's An Indentation From A Missing Wedding Ring. Or Maybe There's A Tan Line And The Skin Is Pressed Down Where's He's Worked A Ring Off His Finger.

I Was The Boy That Turned A Girlfriend Into The Most Celebrated Lesbian On Television. I Got So Much Stick For That.

There Are Moments When, Like All Of Us, You Get A Bit Self-conscious And You'd Rather Not Be Living Any Of Your Day In Public. Those Are The Awkward Times, But You've Got To Have Fun With It.

I Wanted To Take The Audience On A Journey Where That Transition Was Funny And Awkward. It's The Same Cynicism That [strange] Has.

I'd Love To Meet Julian [assange], And Time Permitting, And His Will Permitting, I'm Sure It Will Happen At Some Point. Even Though He's Been Very Critical Of The Film [the Fifth Estate], He's Been Very Polite About Me And My Work, And I Feel The Same Way About Him.

When You're A Kid, 'star Trek' Is A Slower Burn. It's Funny, It's Entertaining, But It Also Has A Maturity About It - Which Is Its Universal Appeal, I Think.

I Would Love To Just Have The Work Do The Talking. We're In Positions Where People Ask Us Questions; They Want To Know About More Than Just The Work. And It Can Go Into Areas Where I've Completely Shot My Mouth Off, Whether It's Too Much About My Private Life Or Being Too Opinionated About Things In The World. I Think The Better Thing To Do - I've Learned This From People Far Wiser Than Me - Is To Do Very Good, Quiet Work Behind Closed Doors.

I'm Sort Of Focused On My Long-term Goal Of Carving Out A Career That's For Life, Rather Than Being A Flash In The Pan.

It's Always Important To Have The Blessing.

I've Always Wanted To Play A Spy, Because It Is The Ultimate Acting Exercise. You Are Never What You Seem.

One Of The Best Things About Being An Actor Is That It's A Meritocracy.

We Look At Science As The Ultimate Answer For Everything Yet We Are Really Messy Organisms And When The Two Collide In The Upper Echelons Of Medicine You Think Science Will Prevail But It's Not Always That Way.

Even The Cerebral Characters I Play Seem To Have Physical Quirks. They're All "physically Inhabited," For Lack Off A Better Expression. For Instance, Sherlock Holmes Has Very Particular Physical Gestures Which Are Drawn Out In Such Detail.

Landing The Role Of Stephen Hawking Was The Most Positively Surprising Thing That Has Happened To Me.

I Try To Work Hard. I'm Really Proud Of What I Get To Do As A Living. I Still Pinch Myself. But I Also Know It's A Craft, And I Can Get Better At It And Learn Every Time I Do It. So I Try To Work Hard No Matter What The Task Is.

I Think What I Loved In Cinema - And What I Mean By Cinema Is Not Just Films, But Proper, Classical Cinema - Are The Extraordinary Moments That Can Occur On Screen. At The Same Time, I Do Feel That Cinema And Theater Feed Each Other. I Feel Like You Can Do Close-up On Stage And You Can Do Something Very Bold And Highly Characterized - And, Dare I Say, Theatrical - On Camera. I Think The Cameras And The Viewpoints Shift Depending On The Intensity And Integrity Of Your Intention And Focus On That.

Do I Like Being Thought Of As Attractive? I Don't Know Anyone On Earth Who Doesn't, But I Do Find It Funny.

There's A Huge Raft Of Roles That Actors In Our Culture Perform, And You Can See Any One Of About Three Hamlets In A Year. It's Not Something To Be Completely Daunted By.

Anyone Who Works In The Nhs Has Superpowers. It's A Miracle, It Is Magic.

To Get A Horse To Hit A Mark Without A Rider, To Get It To Stand Up, To Get It To Rear, To Get It To Pick Up A Bucket And Bring It Over Is Amazing. It's Hard Work And Very Rewarding But Can Be Dangerous.

I Really Cannot Get Over The Generosity Of Our Tibetian Teacher. He Said, "don't Punish Yourself. You're Going To Be A Student At A University In The North Of England. You Need To Have Your Experiences And Have Your Fun, And Not Judge Yourself. Don't Live In Guilt And Regret."

I Feel Like I'm Away For Much Of My Own Life.

I Still Find To Give An Interview To Be Difficult, As Any Person Who Deals With The Press Will Tell You. That's Why It's Nice, With This One, To Talk To A Friend. But Sometimes With A Coffee And A Friendly Smile, I Suddenly Start Talking Without Thinking About How It's Going To Be Read.

Every Job Is Incredibly Different, And I Love It Because You're Picking Up Skill Sets And Experiences. It's The University Of Life.

The Armoury Of Having Any Academic Education Does Not Necessarily Set You Up For Being A Good Or Better Actor.

That's Something I Have To Work On: To Separate What Really Matters, To Conserve Energy By Not Worrying About What Other People Think. When I Walk Through That Door, It's About Home. If I Didn't Do That, I'd Become Consumed By One Thing Only And Damage The People Who Love Me. And It Would Damage The Work.

There's So Much In The 21st Century That Is Stymied By Bureaucracy And Mediocrity And Committee.

Do Awards Change Careers? Well, I Haven't Heard Of Many Stories Where That's The Case. It's A Fun Excuse To Meet Colleagues And Celebrate People Who've Done Well That Year In Certain People's Eyes, And It's Nothing More Than That.

I Was Very Keen To Work On The Script With Scott Derrickson And [c. Robert] Cargill, And Working Out The Important Story Beats, Changing Lines, Upping The Comedy, Changing The Pace, All Of That Was Great Fun.

I've Been Broody Since I Was 12, But I Can't Just Get Anyone Pregnant. It Has Got To Be The Right Person.

Lines Are Very Difficult To Learn.

I Think I've Had Very Knee-jerk Emotional Reactions To Things, And Sometimes I've Said Things Without Thinking. Being Overly Emotional Clouded My Judgment.

Even Though Doctor Strange Is An Established Character, When You're Doing An Origin Story There's A Lot Of Room For Manoeuvre.

Sherlock [holmes] Is On The Side Of The Angels, But Don't Think He's One Of Them. He Uses Similar Means, But It Seems To Be For A Better Purpose, One Would Hope.

When You Freefall For 7,000 Feet It Doesn't Feel Like You're Falling: It Feels Like You're Floating, A Bit Like Scuba Diving.

When You Start Getting Jobs, And See Your Mates From Drama School, You Don't Really Want To Talk About It, Because You Have This Innate Sense Of Guilt That It's Not Fair That Others Aren't Doing Exactly What You're Doing. I Do Have That.

I'm Sad In A Way That The Character [doctor Strange ] Leaves [neurosurgery] Behind. It's An Amazing Discipline.

I Can’t Stop Traffic On Fifth Avenue, Not Unless I Walk In Front Of An Oncoming Cab.

[while Voicing Cartoons] You Have To Lose Your Sanity And Inhibitions And Any Kind Of Dignity And Just Throw Yourself Around A Bit.

One Of The Fears Of Having Too Much Work Is Not Having Time To Observe. And Once You Get Recognised, There Is Nowhere For You To Look Any More. You Can't Sit On A Night Bus And Watch It All Happen.

I Know That Might Sound Perverse Because I Played Julian Assange But, Honestly, I Don't Think It Would Be Fair For Me To Judge The Man. I Realize That Makes Me A Bit Of A Hypocrite Because I Was Portraying Him A Certain Way, But We Were Always Open To The Fact That This Was An Interpretation, Not Any Kind Of Exact Evidence Of Who The Man Was.

Any Irrational Fears?no, I'm Quite A Rationalist. I'm Not Superstitious, I Think Life Is Too Full Of Natural Wonders And Logical Complexities To Worry About Illogical Things.

Irrational Fear

I Was Brought Up In A World Of Privilege.

I've Been Reading The Books. It's The Origination, It's The Primary Source. You Should Always Go Back To The Books.

My Massive Motivation In Life Is To Make Parents Proud. But Even That Has To Stop At A Point.

I Have Actual Acting Scars.

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.

I Suppose My Bodily Proportions Are Quite Flattering. I'm Ripped, Doing Something I Wouldn't Normally Do With My Body, Or Having Done To It, Involving Watson.

I'm Really Not Sherlock Holmes. I Look A Little Bit Like Him And Sound Like Him.

There's Another Weight Of Us Being In The Public Eye, Which Is This Presumption That, Because Your Work And Your Promotion Work Is Very Public, Your Private Life Should Be, Too.

It Will Be Obvious To Anyone Who Sees It That He [doctor Strange] Earns That Cloak. You Think He's Doing All Right And Then You Realise That There's One Massive Lesson To Learn.

It'd Be Really Nice To Wake Up Looking Like, I Don't Know, Jake Gyllenhaal And Think "let's Try This On For A Day And See How It Feels.

Looking For Happiness Is A Sure Way To Sadness, I Think. You Have To Take Each Moment As It Comes.

I Think Now With Fundamentalists, People Who Treat Belief With A Total Lack Of Humor Or Empathy For Any Other Viewpoint Than Their Own - They, To Me, Are The Enemy. And Those People Are Born Out Of Desperate Extremes.

Honestly, It's Very Satisfying, And I'm Very, Very Happy About How Successful The Last Few Years Have Been... It's Great For The People Who Supported Me Early On To See The Success I'm Enjoying Now.

People Always Want To Knock You When You're Up.

Enjoy The Journey Of Life And Not Just The Endgame. I'm Also A Great Believer In Treating Others As You Would Like To Be Treated.

Treating Others

One Of The First Roles I Had On Stage Was With A Brilliant Director In A Brilliant Play With A Brilliant Cast, But I Just Couldn't Find My Way Into The Heart Of The Character. I Found Myself Straining A Lot. When It Started. I Felt Lost. That Was The Eugène Ionesco Play Rhinoceros. I Don't Think I Was Prepared For That. I Don't Think I Had The Full Tool Kit To Do It Justice. It's A Very Difficult Play, It's An Extraordinarily Difficult Part, And I Never Felt I Really Got It Right. Far From It. To A Degree, Hamlet Was The Same.

I Think The Characters Are Supposed To Be An Open Book, Blank Canvas.

[doctor Strange] Is Still Quite Cocky By The End Of The Film. No, I'd Say The Major Curve For Him Is That He Learns That It's Not All About Him, That There's A Greater Good. But What He Thinks He Was Doing As A Neurosurgeon, That Was Good Because It Benefitted People's Health Was Really Just A Furtherment Of His Attempts To Control Death And Control His Own Fate And Other People's, But That's Still Driven By The Ego.

I Am A Pr Disaster Because I Talk Too Much.

I'm Still Very Sensitive And Wary Of People Recognising Me The Only Thing That Really Annoys Me Is People Trying To Surreptitiously Take A Photo On Their Phone Without Asking. I Feel It's Cowardly And A Bit Pathetic. Just Ask Me If You Really Want Me To Have A Photograph With You.

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Benigno Aquino III

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