Benedict Cumberbatch on Doctor Strange and being a superhero

HE’S just announced that his wife Sophie Hunter is expecting their second child, but Benedict Cumberbatch is giving little else away on his private life — except to say fatherhood has changed it for the better, writes Gemma Dunn.

“It adds — it never takes away,” says the 40-year-old actor, who became a parent for the first time last year, with the birth of his son, Christopher. “Lots of people, especially women, get told, ‘Oh you know, it’s going to really affect your career’, and it does, but for the better in most cases that I know.

“I am in a very privileged position in my career, but I think everyone — even if they’re in a challenging time in their life — draws strength from their children. They’re inspirations rather than hindrances.”

Meeting early morning, Cumberbatch — dressed in a simple navy jumper and jeans — flits between charming and impatient, starting the chat with an ice-breaking apology (“Sorry if I smell of breakfast”), before skimming over niceties (“We don’t have much time”). He’s a busy man, and don’t we know it.

He recalls a time when he was held hostage by armed carjackers while filming 2005 mini-series To The Ends Of The Earth in South Africa, at which point he poignantly told the media: “It taught me that you come into this world as you leave it, on your own. It’s made me want to live a life slightly less ordinary.”

He’s certainly kept to his word.

“I started out in this profession with two parents [Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham, both actors] to look up to, who’d had successful careers, who’d had the respect of their peers and who had a good time doing a job you know, at times, can be tough on family, because of timing, being peripatetic and the odd hours we work, as well as all over the place,” he says.

“I saw all of that and I thought, ‘If I do half as good a job as they’re doing, then I’m fine’. And things kind of snowballed.”

His latest bout comes in the form of Hollywood knock-out, Marvel’s Doctor Strange — the story of neurosurgeon, Dr Stephen Strange (Cumberbatch), the Master of the Mystic Arts, who made his first appearance in Marvel comics in 1963 — and whose life is transformed when a car accident robs him of the use of his hands.

“Sherlock Holmes is a bit of a superhero in a way, isn’t he?” quips Cumberbatch, in response to those who’ve questioned his superhero suitability for director Scott Derrickson’s trippy epic. “As far as the actors that Marvel use, if you think of anyone from Anthony Hopkins and then in other franchises, Patrick Stewart... We’re actors, we do jobs, and this has an appeal because it’s so utterly different.

“It’s a huge film and that has a draw. But it’s also about the idea of being an action hero, learning kung fu and stunt moves, transformation in my body and voice, and playing something I haven’t played before, like an American hero.”

Having spent time teaching English as a volunteer in a Buddhist monastery near Darjeeling at 19, he says he’s always had an interest in topics such as the blend of Western science and Eastern mysticism, that plays out in Doctor Strange.

As for what he’s doing next — “We don’t say ‘never’ on Sherlock” — he is quick to make his escape when the subject of Doctor Strange joining Avengers: Infinity War arises.

But with the cinematic Marvel Universe comes huge fandom — has he found peace with that side of the job?

“You get on with it,” Cumberbatch offers, ready to uproot from his chair.

“I am thrilled to be doing the work I am doing, and then you deal with the consequences.”

• Doctor Strange is out now