don't be dull, be fannish

Cumberbatch has reached out to The Hollywood Reporter to clarify what he characterizes as a "misquote."

The statement:

"I am both bemused and upset at this misquote. I never said that Johnny took the job for the paycheck nor did I ask him not to do it. What I said is I would have preferred not to be in the situation where we will again be compared because we are friends. I know for a fact his motivations were to do with the quality of the script and the challenges of this exceptional role.

"It is baffling because I have only been supportive of an incredibly talented actor who I am proud to call a friend taking a job I know he is going to enjoy immensely and be wonderful in.

"Over 70 actors have played this exceptional character before us. To say that there can be only one Holmes would be ludicrous. We're both thrilled to get the opportunity to play him in a modern context. The world of Sherlock Holmes and the world that we live in now is big enough to take more than one interpretation. As a genuine Sherlock Holmes fan I am greatly looking forward to his series."

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... Benedict Cumberbatch.

Star Chris Pine expands on that point, revealing that a major driver of Kirk's further growth is the villain, played by Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch:

"It is structured so that the antagonist brings out all of the qualities in Kirk that need to happen in order for Kirk to grow. As you know from Benedict, just watching him, vocally, he's fascinating. He's got this deep resonate voice. He's a fascinating face. He's a lovely guy and just super smart. You want to see something firing in his brain, so he's not just a blood-dripping-from-the-fangs bad guy. Benedict brings those kinds of smarts."

"He’s a genius," Kurtzman said. "There are certain actors who have the ability to take a line of dialogue and add a ring to it that you didn’t even know you put into the dialogue, into the line. And he’s one of those really brilliant actors. Just listening to him talk…you could enjoy him reading the phone book."

Going into how the villain will play into the larger story, the writer/producer then explained the importance of antagonist escalation, saying, "Sequels are about your bad guy. Because your first movie is always about the becoming of [the hero] and your bad guy has to test that hero in a very significant way. And he’s an incredibly formidable presence. He’s amazing. Are you going to be scared of him? Shit yeah!"

"Benedict Cumberbatch, I can already say with a certain degree of confidence that he is gonna give an iconic film performance and one of the best sci-fi performances that I've ever seen," Lindelof told Collider.

"And not even having seen the movie yet, just sitting there in video village with the headphones on," he continued. "So I'm really psyched."

Well, I see no reason at all why he shouldn't be sexual. Everyone recruited him to their perspective, their interpretation. I've had asexuals come up to me and thank me for representing asexuals. I don't know how that came about. I mean, the man's too busy to have sex. That's really what is it. Not every man has a sex drive that needs to be attended to. Like a lot of things in his life where he's purposely dehumanized himself, it's do to with not wanting the stuff that is time wasting, that's messy. That goes for certain relationships, as well as sexual intimacy.

And while Cumberbatch's friends provided a makeshift studio in their kitchen, the actor had to make sure not to wake their sleeping children...

“[My friend and his wife have] two children asleep - they’ve got enough on their plate without this actor in a crisis in their kitchen - and she’s balancing two chairs to get the right angle on me and desk lamps bouncing light off bits of paper, just trying desperately to make it look half decent. Because it’s going to go into JJ Abrams’ iPad."

Writing about their different, exceptional performances in Frankenstein, Official London Theatre commented: “Miller finds a child-like wonder in the young creature discovering his ability to move, clutching at his feet and laughing with unrestrained joy as he runs, while Cumberbatch imbues him instead with more animalistic, almost prehistoric tendencies.”

"He’s incredible," Kurtzman said. "What he does with language is incredible. His training is amazing and he’s so magnetic, he holds the screen in any size frame, he really is a joy to watch."