Happy birthday Benedict Cumberbatch: Five splendid lesser-known performances of British actor
Phil Burbank in 'The Power of the Dog'
Benedict Cumberbatch in The Power of the Dog
The Imitation Game
This American historical drama film is based on the life of Mathematician Alan Turing, who gave major contributions to the computation theory of mathematics which further contributed to the development of modern-day Computer systems. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role.
Patrick Melrose in 'Patrick Melrose'
The only TV show in the list, 'Patrick Melrose' had Cumberbatch's titular character playing the role of a man who has turned into a drunkard wreck due to the abuse he suffered from his father in childhood. The series is sad and funny by turns and Cumberbatch is eerily believable in the role of "narcissistic, schizoid, suicidal alcoholic" as he describes his character in the show.
Stephen Hawking in 'Hawking'
10 years before Eddie Redmayne portrayed the great English Stephen Hawking, Cumberbatch had done it in 'Hawking'. Redmayne said that he did not watch the Cumberbatch movie as it was so good that he unwittingly would have taken a leaf out of it. And indeed, Cumberbatch is great in 'Hawking' and at the same time it is a performance distinct from Redmayne's so if you feared it was repetitive, it is not.
Dominic Cummings in 'Brexit: The Uncivil War'
In 'Brexit: The Uncivil War', Cumberbatch, transformed into a balding, slimy man character Dominic Cummings who was the political strategist and later Chief Advisor to ex-PM Boris Johnson. He is often credit for kickstarting the Vote Leave organisation that was behind the 2016 referendum for Britain to leave European Union. Cumberbatch is excellent as a duplicitous individual eager to build an entire campaign on falsehoods and exaggerations. 'Brexit: The Uncivil War' features a highly underrated Cumberbatch performance.
)
)
)
)
)