JEDDAH
British actor Benedict Cumberbatch was in the spotlight at Jeddah’s Red Sea International Film Festival on Tuesday afternoon, delighting a packed audience with an “In Conversation” session.
Fans crowded the auditorium at Culture Square in Al-Balad as the two-time Academy Award nominee recalled growing up with actor parents and discussed his career.
“My parents are both actors, wherever they go or what they do, I was there with them and I learned from them. My father gave me the push to follow my passion,” he said of Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham.
He later went into depth about his own career, telling anecdotes from the sets of some of his biggest successes including Marvel’s “Doctor Strange,” the lauded TV series “Sherlock,” “Star Trek into Darkness,” “The Power of the Dog” and “The Imitation Game.”
“It has been a great journey for me and I have enjoyed every minute of it,” he said. “I’m permanently looking for challenges and experiences outside of my own to engage my imagination and craft.”
Cumberbatch has twice been nominated for Academy Awards, the first for 2014’s “The Imitation Game” and the second for “The Power of the Dog” in 2021.
“It’s nice to be nominated, but for me, it’s just about the quality of the work, the value for me is that it brings me into close contact with my collaborators and with the people whose shoulders I’m standing on or have stood on,” he said of the industry recognition.
Cumberbatch has worked in theatre, television, film and radio. Asked if he missed treading the boards, he said: “Oh yes, that’s the real thing. It is where I started my career and theater was my turning point.”
The actor’s other forays into the world of theatre include starring in the UK’s Royal National Theatre’s “After the Dance” (2010) and “Frankenstein” (2011). In 2015, he played William Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the Barbican Theatre in London.
Cumberbatch also talked about his work as a producer, particularly as an executive producer on “We Live in Time” with Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield. He connected with its universal themes and humor, he said, adding that “financing and budget structure are very, very difficult to do in this climate.”
He also had words of praise for his “Sherlock” co-star Martin Freeman, who plays the pragmatic Dr. John Watson. The Emmy and BAFTA-winning Freeman is “a funny actor and also a technical artist,” he said.
Cumberbatch left the stage to prolonged applause and cheers, with some audience members screaming: “We love you!”
