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Culture
Street Roots • June 1-7, 2018
Time which aired last September, for the first
time Cumberbatch is in full control of his own
artistic destiny.
So far, most of the films and TV shows
SunnyMarch has announced will star
Cumberbatch. But how does it feel to be
involved in the creative process from page to
screen, using his star power to shape the
culture?
“Oh, god, that sounds terrible,” he says.
“Like I’m deciding what TV or movie you
watch.”
Well, next up he’s making us watch Patrick
Melrose, which explores issues around class,
addiction, abuse and survival. It’s fear and
loathing in the aristocratic set - and
Cumberbatch is perfect for the role.
He describes the series as offering a
“scalpel-like post-mortem of an upper-class
system that’s crumbling”.
And Melrose himself, whom Cumberbatch
will play in his early 20s
in the opening episode
right through to his late
40s in the finale? “He’s
addicted to drugs and
near suicidal, but also
"H ie type of person who
incredibly funny and
straggles w ith addiction,
brilliant,” he says.
the type of person who has
For the role, he spent
time with the Liverpool- experienced abuse, sadly
ranges across a ll class
based 3D Research
divides and so there Is a
Bureau to learn more
about addiction and
universality to this that I
abuse. . >
think w ill translate."
“Most important was
- BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH
the drive beyond the
the psychological need
Money, debauchery and drugs
Benedict Cumberbatch’s Patrick Melrose
‘cuts to the heart of a rotten class system’
BY ADRIAN LOBB
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
enedict Cumberbatch’s recent
achievements are quite dazzling when
spoken out loud.
Saving (or potentially destroying) half the
universe as Doctor Strange in Marvel’s
record-breaking box office smash Avengers:
Infinity War, finishing Sherlock - for now at
least, getting an Oscar nomination for The
Imitation Game, starring in a sell-out run of
Hamlet at the Barbican, being made a
commander in the Order of the British
Empire, performing on stage with Pink Floyd,
marrying theater director Sophie Hunter and
becoming a parent And now he’s playing his
most extreme character to date - damaged,
drug-addicted, debauched high-society playboy
Patrick Melrose, in a TV adaptation of
Edward St Aubyn’s high-octane .novel series.
“I have, squeezed quite a bit of life in, you
are rig h t Who would have known?” he says.
“It is extraordinary. I’ve been a very lucky
man. I have a lot of people to thank, because
it has been a wonderful time. It really has.”
It’s not all luck, though, right, Benedict?
You’re allowed to take a bit of the credit
“Of course. Of course it takes hard work
B
and all of it is the result of something, but I
often just stand back and go: ‘How? Why?’ It
is extraordinary that all this stuff keeps
happening to me,” he sputters.
“And yeah. It reminds me, every step, how
lucky I am.”
Visiting Comic-Con in 2017, where he
signed thousands of autographs and posed for
pictures with hardcore fans, was, he says, a
reminder of how far he’s come.
“People dress up as all sorts of things.
There is a lot of Star Trek and Strange and
Sherlock, of course,” says the 41-year-old,
who recently defended the hardcore fandom,
describing Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman’s
comments about them taking the joy out of
the show as “pathetic.”
“What I love about what I get to do is that I
don’t have to sit in a role for long. But then
you put your arm round someone to pose for
a photo and they go: ‘I really loved you in
Stuart: A Life Backwards.’ That is lovely.
There is a huge amount of emotion attached
to so many of these roles for me and I am
quite sentimental about some of them.”
But where is he going next? Well, having
launched production company SunnyMarch -
the brains behind BBC One’s The Child In
these destructive drugs
create,” he explains.
“What are they
replacing? With heroin, pretty much everyone
I’ve spoken to says it’s about the warm
embrace you never got from your mother.
The relief from the suffering of existence.
“The type of person who struggles with
addiction, the type of person who has
experienced abuse, sadly ranges across all
class divides and so there is a universality to
this that I think will translate.”
It’s not all money and debauchery and
damage and destruction, says Cumberbatch
(although some might dispute this after
watching episode one). “This story is about
how the true wealth is love, and how true,
pure, good, innocent love can win through.
But boy does it struggle to get there.”
The actor lists Big Little Lies and Twin
Peaks among his own recent television
highlights, plus A1 Pacino in The Panic in
Needle Park, which he watched as part of the
mood music for Melrose.
But it’s the role as executive producer that
has captured his imagination just as much as
the on-screen hijinks.
“It has been a big learning curve and a
blissfully happy experience for all concerned.
It really worked. It really is a people business
and if you get that alchemy right, and choose
a good, industrious, challenging and kind
team, you make for a really good working
environment which is very productive,” he
says.
“What is exhilarating is the chance to be
creative in different ways. We are making the
land of content I would like to see and I am
proud of - that is really thrilling.”
Courtesy o f IN SP .ngo/ The B ig Issue UK
bigissue.com @BigIssue
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