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TVLINE | Do you have a process for getting into character as Sherlock, or do you just show up and wham — you’re him?
[Laughs] No, I’m much slower than him. I have to rev up an engine that needs a lot of oil and concentration and focus. There’s an elasticity to his movements as well. He’s ferociously expressive and I’m very still and content, so there’s different mood swings and temperatures and tones to experiment with in any given situation. But I take my time. I’m very good at switching it on. TVLINE | The awareness for the show is not as high here in the U.S. as it is in Britain, but that seems to be changing. Are you feeling that shift as you spend more time in the States?
I am a bit. We don’t have a massive publicity budget, and I’ve been in L.A. for three and a half months now [shooting Star Trek] and every other day I’m passing a billboard of Game of Thrones or The Killing or Mad Men — all shows I love. It would just be wonderful to drive down [Sunset Blvd.] and see one Sherlock poster. It would make me feel like we’re reaching out to the bored and confused Angelenos in their traffic jams and just making them think about it because there’s [so much competition] for the viewing audience now; there’s so much high quality. So for a PBS show to gain the kind of audience we’ve got is a huge testament to how popular we are. And you know, we’re not a period drama — and I don’t mean that disparagingly [against Downton Abbey], despite how my comments have been [misinterpreted in the past]. There’s a romantic association with British history and nostalgia, which fuels that across the generations, whereas I think [Sherlock] has encapsulated a younger audience. TVLINE | Speaking of your past comments, did you get any blowback from the perceived slam you made against Abbey’s second season in that recent New York Times article? (Editor’s Note: In the piece, Cumberbatch recalled an incident at the Golden Globes in January where Masterpiece exec Rebecca Eaton playfully taunted him with the statue Abbey had just won. “I just looked at it and went: ‘Begone, woman,’” he recounted. ‘Bring it back when it says Sherlock or Steven Moffat or myself — someone else who’s more deserving than the second (season) of Downton Abbey.’”)
Oh God, you would not believe it! I mean, honestly, it’s like people don’t have any sense of irony or a brain. First of all, I knew it was the first [season] that it was getting awarded for, so that was the first part of the joke. The second part is that Rebecca Eaton, the executive producer on Sherlock and Downton, is a friend. The third, and probably the most important, is that [Abbey creator] Julian Fellowes has known me since I was born. [Abbey leading man] Dan Stevens is one of my good friends — one of my closest friends in England — as is Michelle Dockery. There’s just no way I would say something like that without it being tongue-in-cheek. And I don’t walk around town saying ‘Begone, woman!’ And suddenly [I’m in the middle of] a PR disaster. Maybe I am a PR disaster because I talk too much or don’t filter enough. But I was kind of mortified. I play such a contemporaneous, vile and whiplash-smart [character] who doesn’t [tolerate] mediocrity or any type of bureaucracy or any stupidity, and yet as an actor — a misunderstood actor – you have to put up with a lot of it. So I just let that go. I can tell you I’m a huge fan of Downton, and what I said was quite, quite clearly – to most intelligent New York Times readers – a joke. TVLINE | It sort of brings up the point that there is an inherent competitiveness to awards.
2012年06月14日 16点06分