Why Cumberbatch refused to give Grinch an English accent
It is one of America’s most loved children’s characters; he is one of Britain’s most loved actors. So, it initially comes with some surprise that Benedict Cumberbatch’s latest role is as the Grinch.
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It is one of America’s most loved children’s characters; he is one of Britain’s most loved actors. So, it initially comes with some surprise that Benedict Cumberbatch’s latest role is as the Grinch.
The Sherlock star takes on the famous grouch who tries to steal Christmas in a charming adaptation of Dr Seuss’s novel by Illumination, of Despicable Me fame, alongside Pharrell Williams, Rashida Jones and Angela Lansbury.
And he does so in an American accent.
“It was one of the reasons I jumped at the chance,” Cumberbatch says, as he relaxes on a sofa in a suite in London’s Corinthia Hotel. “I was like fantastic, you want me to play an American icon.”
He says producers initially asked him to do the voice in an English accent, but he refused. “It was the same with Dr Strange, I was like, no, this isn’t Sherlock with a cloak or a green gun. They are, as you say, very iconic American characters.”
As to whether The Grinch would have sounded even more miserable with an English accent, Benedict isn’t speculating.
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“We will never know. Why stereotype English accents just because they’ve got consonants in them instead of warm vowels,” he says.
But he says he was thrilled to play the legendary misanthrope who finally discovers the meaning of Christmas, and life.
“It’s the only book I think of Seuss’s where the villain is in the centre. It’s about the potential for good in bad which is a very timely thing to be exploring,” he says. “He’s someone who is an outsider and is isolated in loneliness, cut off from a community and going mad. And there’s a lot of that in the world.
“The fact that he realises what Christmas is actually about – it’s not about materialism, it’s not about bling, it’s not about stature or ego or hating something else, then, that’s a very positive message to put out to the world.”
It’s also an interesting juxtaposition to his previous release – the searing drama Patrick Melrose, about a man coming to terms with his childhood abuse and addiction.
“Yes. I do like to mix it up in my work,” he says. “I also think that in Melrose, despite some very serious issues, there’sa great deal of levity and humour and wit to it. But also, a profoundly hopeful message. It’s a story about someone speaking truth to power and seeking salvation and survival rather than being a victim of his abuse and that’s again a very timely thing to chime with what’s going on socially in our world.
“They both have elements of that. The Grinch is more a socially inept outsider who’s enraged and isolated, so it’s born out of different circumstances – but still a depravity. He’s an orphan, so Christmas is an anathema to a child who doesn’t havea family or loving or belonging to adhere to.
“Also, he gets it completely wrong, thinking that you can steal it because it’s material, which of course you can’t, which is the thing I love about Christmas,” he says.
Benedict, 42, is famously frank and funny and in person he is open and earnest. Clad in green combat pants, sneakers and a sweater, he is sporting a thin moustache, as he is in the midst of filming the Cold War spy thriller Ironbark. The actor lives in London with his wife Sophie and sons, Christopher, three, and Hal, 18 months, with another baby on the way.
So how will his children cope with the fact Dad is playing a character who wants to steal Christmas?
“Well to any children watching, the message is he’s got it really wrong,” he says. “Not only is stealing wrong, but he’s stolen something that doesn’t matter in comparison to what you can’t steal and that’s a great thing to remind people of in a time where we are pushing each other into a place where we desire things we want but don’t need.
“He gets it wrong and he realises that it’s a mistake and he asks for forgiveness and lo and behold there is enough love inthat town and in people in general I hope, that the message is to accept.”
So is he more Grinch or a happy Who when it comes to Christmas?
“I have ruined other people’s Christmases,” he says with a laugh. “Once I woke up at five am and ripped through the wholestocking on my own, which was not something we did as a family, it was a shared moment.
“It was so painfully early that when I got to the party poppers I decided to launch them point blank at my grandmother’s ceilingand great chunks of plaster came off. Not only did the noise of the party poppers wake everyone up, they came in to see allthe presents unwrapped and me covered in plaster as I’d ruined the ceiling as well.
“I was not very popular. I screwed up.”
Benedict, who later pulls on a beanie to head out into the cold London air, says he loves the changes in seasons and the run-up to Christmas. And while he’s never had an Australian Christmas, he has experienced a hot one.
“I have had a hot Christmas in Mozambique, with a friend of mine who was running a dive school there. I was in a Sherlock period of my life and had ridiculous long curly black hair and ended up on Christmas Day with this incredible memory of surfing with my old school friend and having a barbecue.
“It was fantastic,” he says. “It was really special. It’s not a tough life being in the sun at Christmas.”
Benedict, who previously admitted he began to take different roles after he became a father, is continuing the classic children’s literature theme with his next role as the voice of Shere Khan in Mowgli. So are there other classic characters he’s burning to play?
“My dance card is quite full at the moment,” he says, explaining his production company SunnyMarch has some options, including Rogue Male, the 1939 Geoffrey Household thriller, the first fugitive drama. “That would be very exciting,” he says.
Something tells us he’ll be dancing to his own tune for years to come, selecting an eclectic mix of roles that speak to the cerebral actor.
After all, in the words of Dr Seuss, “You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself in any direction you choose.”
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