Benedict Cumberbatch, Just as Lovely as You Think He Is
“卷福”：人見人愛的大眾情人

By Ann Hornaday 譯 / Norman Xin

Benedict Cumberbatch sweeps into an empty hotel ballroom, cutting a natty figure in a black-and-white glen plaid jacket, checked shirt and striped canvas sneakers. "I see you have your festival bag," he says confidingly, taking note of the crumpled Toronto International Film Festival tote at an interlocutor's feet. It's a substitute for the one that broke at customs, overstuffed with a laptop and sundry travel necessities.

"That's exactly what happens to me," he offers enthusiastically. "Because I'm packing all the time. I'm always killing really perfectly good bits of luggage by shoving loads of stuff in them, and then the seams break, handles drop off, you know."

A Cult Heart-throb

Sure, we know. But, let it be stipulated, no one can really know what it's like to be Cumberbatch, who has had a year that has been, well, especially packed. The 37-year-old Brit, who has been a cult heart-throb among the PBS-BBC-plummy-literary-adaptation set, played the Necromancer in last year's Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. But he truly burst into mass popular consciousness this past summer, when he thoroughly dominated the role of Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness. On Oct. 18, he will star as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate and has supporting roles in two high-profile films arriving soon: 12 Years a Slave, directed by Steve McQueen, and August: Osage County, adapted from Tracy Letts's Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

"A packed year, exactly," Cumberbatch says with a reflective sigh. "It's been amazing. It's been amazing. But two years really, because Trek we filmed the beginning of last year, and before that—God, it winds back quite a ways. I mean, literally, just sort of the height of what I could ever imagine myself being asked to do as an actor has been going on pretty much now for about four or five years."

"卷福"及其粉絲在多倫多國際電影節

Cumberbatch speaks at a breathless clip, his words spilling out in a joyous, oncoming rush that suggests he really is thrilled to be here, however tempting it would be to read his gee-whiz protestations as the practiced act of a canny ingenue. He is, quite simply—and this is for all those self-proclaimed Cumberbitches out there who have designated him an unlikely pin-up idol—just as chiseled, engaging, well-mannered and disarmingly modest as they imagine in their wintry, wind-tossed fantasies.

A Born Actor

He comes by it honestly. Cumberbatch is the son of two actors—Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham—who grew up in London and is as at home in the posh precincts of Burke's Peerage (an ancestor was a consul under Queen Victoria) as in the klieg-lighted world of Show People. (So how did Cumberbatch end up with his last name? It was his father's surname; Carlton a middle name turned stage name. So Benedict has simply reclaimed the family name.) But his career has followed contours that even his parents couldn't prepare him for. He's done high-profile work in such highly regarded films as Atonement, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and War Horse, as well as on television, in Hawking, Sherlock and Parade's End. He's a celebrated figure of the London stage: In 2010 he earned kudos for his performance in a revival of Terence Rattigan's After the Dance, and the following year he won an Olivier Award, for his work in an experimental version of Frankenstein, adapted by Danny Boyle. It was After the Dance, he says, that marked the turning point when the phone started ringing. It hasn't stopped.

"卷福"在《為奴十二年》中飾演奴隸主Ford（左）

"I knew when I started out that I wanted something very different from what Mom and Dad had anyway, but I didn't know quite what—I didn't know how it would manifest—but even they look at it and go, 'Whoa,' " Cumberbatch says. "It's beyond everyone's sort of expectation. But also the workload and everything, it's different to their game."

It's enough to turn a boy's head. But Cumberbatch, along with such contemporaries as Michael Fassbender, is forging the kind of career that actors covet these days, combining recurring roles in huge franchises like Star Trek and The Hobbit. His role model, he says, is James McAvoy (his one-time co-star in Starter for 10), who along with Fassbender appears in the X-Men movies.

A Practiced Shape-shifter

"Quite interesting" is an understatement when it comes to Cumberbatch's work, which has found him slipping into personae and physical types with the ease of a practiced shape-shifter. Nowhere are his skills in finer form than The Fifth Estate, in which he seamlessly masters Assange's signature Australian accent, lisp and fey, look-at-me-don't-look-at-me demeanor (admittedly with the help of a blond wig). Early in the process of making The Fifth Estate, Cumberbatch e-mailed Assange hoping that they could meet. He got no response until the day before shooting began, when Assange sent the actor an email begging him not to do the film.

"卷福"飾演的朱利安·阿桑奇

"I was just doing the last fittings for the wig and makeup and stuff, and this very erudite, charming and lucid and intelligent e-mail [arrived], imploring my better nature to step away from the project that he thought would be abhorrent and damaging to his cause," Cumberbatch recalls. "It was a very powerful thing to suddenly land in your inbox."

Cumberbatch wrote Assange back. "And my response was equally as considered and I hope as charming. I completely respected his point of view, but I really tried to illustrate for him two things: one is that this film is not a documentary; it's not a piece of evidence admissible in a court of law, not a factual entity that shifts perceptions or point of view of being the truth; it is a truth.

"Secondly—well, actually, there are three points. Secondly, it is just a film. It's not going to be able to shift perception. It's a film of its own genre [that's] not going to be The Hobbit or Star Trek. It's not going to have a massively popular tidal-wave effect. I really want people to see it, but his fear of it being some mass propaganda tool that's going to damage him was really overstretching the point. And thirdly and most importantly, it was never going to be antithetical to his point of view or vilify him. No one was interested in portraying something that was going to tell the audience what to think."

One result of the exchange was that Cumberbatch became something of Assange's advocate on the set, demanding that his point of view be aired when others had had their say. (The Fifth Estate is based on the accounts of two disaffected former Assange colleagues, Daniel Domscheit-Berg and Guardian investigative journalist David Leigh.) "It was great, because it was sort of like having Julian there," says The Fifth Estate director Bill Condon. "This was a movie where there was more conversation about the context of scenes than almost any I've done, which was really stimulating. Because it forced you to look for the 10th, 11th, 12th time at the validity of what you were dramatizing."

Cumberbatch admits now that he was "really kind of winded" by Assange's last-minute plea. Condon recalls his frustration at not being able to stop the correspondence, which was clearly rattling his leading man. "I realized what an unfair position it put him in, in a way he didn't even understand. Can you imagine? It's almost like being schizophrenic. Because you're walking around thinking like a person who's also saying, 'Don't be me.' I've talked to him about it and he said, 'I wanted to take that on because it's part of understanding his predicament.' I think he's right, but I still feel like I saw the torment that it put him through."

Now, a few days after The Fifth Estate made its world premiere as the opening night film in Toronto, Cumberbatch shows no sign of torment. Far from it. One minute he's fondly recalling how he danced with Fassbender (a.k.a. "Fassy") at the 12 Years a Slave party the night before; the next, he's sharing warm memories of living in Los Angeles while filming Star Trek, hanging with best friend Adam Ackland (grandson of actor Joss), lifelong mate Tertius Bune and Starter for 10 and Trek co-star Alice Eve. He'11 be flying back to London soon to begin rehearsals with Keira Knightley for The Imitation Game, about encryption specialist Alan Turing; he's also agreed to star in the action adventure The Lost City of Z, produced by his 12 Years producer Brad Pitt.

"I love it. I'm really enjoying it," he says of the red-carpet-let's-take-a-meeting-flavor-of-the-moment whirl. He loves L.A.; he loves Pitt and his production company, Plan B; he loves New York and wants to work there one day; and he really loves London, especially his neighborhood near Hampstead Heath. "I go running and swimming there; it's fantastic," he says, those words still coming in a bubbling rush. "It's a beautiful, neighborly part of the world as well—families, it's quiet, especially during the night, it's gorgeous. It's a really nice place to go home to."

As for the foreseeable future, though, Cumberbatch is cheerfully resigned. "I don't know," he says with a barely fatigued sigh. "Have suitcase will travel." Bursting seams and all.

身著黑白色格倫花格呢夾克和格子襯衫，腳踩一雙條紋帆布鞋，本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇昂首闊步地走進賓館哐當當的舞廳，顯得整潔時髦。他注意到某人腳邊放著一只弄皺了的多倫多國際電影節手提袋，便用信任的口吻對那人說：“我看到你的電影節手提袋了。”那是用來替換在海關壞掉的那只袋子的，里面塞滿了雜七雜八的旅行必需品，還有一臺筆記本電腦。

“其實我也遇到過這種情況，”他熱情主動地說，“因為我總在不停地打點行李。再好、再完美的行李箱都能被我撐破，里面總是塞得滿滿當當的，結果不是縫合線繃了，就是把手掉了，你懂的。”

大眾情人人人愛

我們當然懂啦。但有一點要講明，沒人能真正知道作為康伯巴奇的真實感受。在過去的一年里，他的日程一直被排得，呃，像行李箱一樣滿滿當當。在美國公共廣播公司和英國廣播公司最棒的文學改編圈里，這位37歲（編注：英文原文刊發于2013年10月）的英國人一直是人見人愛的大眾情人，他在去年拍攝的《霍比特人：意外之旅》中扮演了死靈法師的角色。但在剛剛過去的這個夏天，他非常成功地扮演了《星際迷航：暗黑無界》中可汗的角色，真正闖入了大眾的心中。今年10月18日，他將在《第五階層》中飾演主角——維基解密的創始人朱利安·阿桑奇。此外，他還在兩部備受矚目、即將上映的影片中扮演了配角：由史蒂夫·麥克奎恩執導的《為奴十二年》以及改編自特雷西·萊茨榮獲普利策獎的戲劇《八月：奧色治郡》。

“真是滿滿當當的一年啊！”康伯巴奇若有所思地嘆了口氣說，“不可思議，不可思議啊！不過其實應該是兩年，因為《星際迷航》是我們在去年年初開拍的，而在那之前，天哪，這要倒回到很久以前了。我是說，毫不夸張地說，我所能夠想象的自己作為一名演員能被要求達到的那種高度，迄今持續了差不多四五年的時間。”

康伯巴奇說起話來語速飛快，似乎都不用喘氣，一串串單詞歡快地噴涌而出，連綿不絕，這表明他此時此刻的確非常激動，雖然人們常忍不住將這種夸張的言辭解讀為一個精明的初出茅廬者訓練有素的行為。那些自封為“康伯碧池”的粉絲們把他定位為另類的海報偶像，對她們來說，他非常簡單，就是那么棱角分明，那么瀟灑迷人，那么文雅有禮，那么謙虛有度，足以讓任何人放下戒心——一切都宛若她們那在寒冷冬日里隨風飄擺的幻想。

天生我材會演戲

這一切都是他腳踏實地得來的。康伯巴奇的父母蒂莫西·卡爾頓和旺達·文森姆都是演員。從小在倫敦長大的他，既能自在地身處《伯克貴族名譜》中記錄的上流貴族圈（他的一位祖先是維多利亞女王治下的領事），又能習慣演藝圈那強弧光燈下的世界。（那么“康伯巴奇”這個姓是怎么來的呢？這是他父親的姓氏，“卡爾頓”是中間名，后來成了藝名。所以本尼迪克特只是重新加上了家族姓氏。）但他在事業上卻一直按自己的路線發展，這甚至是他父母也無法為他準備的。在一些廣受贊譽的影片里，他都有著引人注目的表現，如《贖罪》《鍋匠，裁縫，士兵，間諜》和《戰馬》等；還有電視劇，如《霍金的故事》《神探夏洛克》和《隊列之末》等。在倫敦的戲劇舞臺上，他是一位頗有名望的人物：2010年，特倫斯·拉提根的《舞會之后》重新搬上舞臺，康伯巴奇憑其在劇中的出色表演贏得贊譽；之后一年，在由丹尼·波義耳改編的實驗版的《弗蘭肯斯坦的靈與肉》中，他又憑其表演榮獲了勞倫斯·奧利弗獎。他說，《舞會之后》是他的轉折點，自那之后，電話鈴就一直響個不停，再也沒停下過。

“從一開始我就知道，我想要一些和我父母所有的完全不一樣的東西，但我并不知道那究竟是什么，我不知道那會如何體現，但他們看了以后甚至都會說‘哇！’”康伯巴奇說，“這有點出乎所有人的意料。不過壓力什么的也蠻大的，和他們那會兒的情況不同。”

這足以沖昏一個年輕人的頭腦。但康伯巴奇，還有像邁克爾·法斯賓德那樣的同輩演員，正在演藝生涯上大放異彩，在諸如《星際迷航》和《霍比特人》等鴻篇巨制的系列電影中扮演了一個又一個角色，令許多演員垂涎不已。據康伯巴奇說，他的榜樣是詹姆斯·麥卡沃伊（曾與其聯袂主演《戀愛學分》）。麥卡沃伊還同法斯賓德一起出演了《X戰警》系列影片。

百變星君顯神通

用“很有意思”來形容康伯巴奇的演技實在是輕描淡寫，他更像是一位經過千錘百煉的百變星君，輕輕松松就能變換成各種性格、各種體型的人物。他的演技在《第五階層》中達到了爐火純青、無可超越的地步。影片中他對阿桑奇的模仿簡直天衣無縫，包括后者那招牌式的澳大利亞口音，含混不清又十分古怪，還有那讓人捉摸不定、無所適從的舉止（當然也是多虧了那個淡金色的假發套）。在《第五階層》籌備初期，康伯巴奇曾給阿桑奇發過一封郵件，希望兩人能見上一面，結果卻石沉大海。直到拍攝前一天，阿桑奇才給他回了一封信，請求他不要演這部電影。

“當時我正在進行最后的試鏡，試假發、化妝什么的，然后[就收到了]這封知識與魅力并存、言辭清晰而又十分睿智的郵件。他懇請我良心發現，不要再摻和這部電影的拍攝，因為他認為這部電影對他的事業而言是極為不利、極具破壞性的，”康伯巴奇回憶道，“這郵件就像一枚重磅炸彈，突然落入你的郵箱里。”

康伯巴奇給阿桑奇回了信。“我的回復同樣是經過深思熟慮的，我希望我的回信也能具有同樣的魅力。我完全尊重他的意見，但我嘗試著向他說明以下兩點：其一，這部電影不是紀錄片，不是法庭上可以接受的呈堂證供，不是能改變人們對真理的認知或看法的真實存在，而是真相本身。

“其二，呃，實際上應該是三點。其二，它只是一部電影，無法改變人們的認知。它是一部具有自己獨特風格的電影，不是《霍比特人》或《星際迷航》那樣的。它不會引起大規模、大眾化的浪潮效應。我確實很想讓人們看到這部電影，但他卻擔心影片會被用作某種大眾宣傳工具，并對他造成傷害，這種擔心真是反應過度了。其三，也是最重要的一點，這部影片永遠不會跟他的觀點對著干，也不會詆毀他。沒有人熱衷于刻畫一些東西，以告訴觀眾該怎樣思考。”

這場交流的結果是康伯巴奇在某種意義上成了阿桑奇在片場的支持者。他要求公開阿桑奇的觀點，因為其他人都能表達自己的意見。（《第五階層》改編自阿桑奇以前的兩位同事——丹尼爾·多姆沙伊特-伯格和《衛報》調查記者戴維·利的敘述，他們對阿桑奇心懷不滿。）“這樣做很棒，因為這就相當于我們把阿桑奇請到了這里，”《第五階層》的導演比爾·康頓說，“這部片子關于場景背景的對話比我拍過的任何一部片子都要多，這樣做的確很刺激。因為這會逼著你10次、11次、12次地去尋找你所拍攝內容的真實性。”

康伯巴奇現在坦言，阿桑奇最后時刻的請求讓他“真的有點喘不過氣來”。據康頓回憶，兩人的通信明顯給他的男主角帶來了煩惱，他也因為無法阻止兩人的通信而感到沮喪。“我意識到，此事已將康伯巴奇置于一個多么不公平的境地，甚至他自己都弄不明白是怎么回事。你能想象嗎？幾乎就像是患了精神分裂癥。因為你不管走到哪兒都在想著自己是另外一個人，而那人卻說：‘不要成為我！’我和他談過這個問題，他說：‘我想帶著這種矛盾演，因為這樣能更好地理解他的困境。’我想他說得對，但我仍然覺得我好像看到了他所經受的折磨。”

現在，僅在《第五階層》作為多倫多電影節開幕之夜影片進行全球首映的幾天后，康伯巴奇身上就再也沒有那種飽受折磨的痕跡了。絲毫沒有了。他一會兒深情地回憶起前一天晚上，在《為奴十二年》晚會上和法斯賓德（也叫“法西”）一起跳舞的情形；一會兒分享自己居住在洛杉磯時的溫馨記憶。那時他正在拍攝《星際迷航》，整天和好友廝混在一起，有他最好的朋友亞當·阿克蘭（演員喬斯的孫子），終生的伙伴特爾蒂烏斯·比納，以及和他聯袂主演《戀愛學分》和《星際迷航》的愛麗絲·伊芙。很快他就要飛回倫敦，開始和凱拉·奈特利一起排演《模仿游戲》——一部關于密碼專家阿蘭·圖靈的影片。他還答應出演由《為奴十二年》制作人布拉德·皮特制作的動作歷險片《迷失Z城》。

“卷福”（右）與好友詹姆斯（左）

紅地毯，老友會——在談到當下這種令人眩暈的生活時，康伯巴奇說：“我喜歡這一切。我真的樂在其中。”他喜歡洛杉磯；喜歡皮特及其制作公司B計劃；喜歡紐約，并希望有朝一日能在那里工作；也非常喜歡倫敦，尤其是他所居住的位于漢普斯特希斯附近的社區。“我常在那兒跑步、游泳，那真是個好地方，”他說，仍然是一串串單詞噼里啪啦地噴薄而出，“那也是世界上非常美麗、和睦的地方——居家的地方，特別安靜，尤其是在夜晚，感覺棒極了。那的確是個回家的好地方。

不過，談到可以預見的未來，康伯巴奇既興奮又有點無奈。“我不知道，”他嘆了口氣說，話語中幾乎沒有疲倦，“帶上行李，踏上旅途。”或許還有繃斷的邊縫線之類的吧。