本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇：“卷福”的奧斯卡時刻

我更喜歡稱本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇為“卷福”，因為這里面代表了影迷對他以及這個角色的喜愛，而這個角色也必定是他演藝生涯的一個重要注腳。你看他那種略帶神經(jīng)質(zhì)的表演會禁不住疑問：他本人是這樣的嗎？如果不是，為什么能把這個角色演繹得如此惟妙惟肖？

康伯巴奇出生演藝世家，名校出身，一直得到不同程度的錘煉和賞識。如果你以為“卷福”之前的康伯巴奇一事無成、籍籍無名，那你就錯了，他在舞臺劇、電視劇以及電影都有作為，所以他可以在名利突然而至的時候不至于失態(tài)，可以在所謂的“無名小卒”時期不至于變態(tài)。他在健全人格形成之前并沒有在名利漩渦中被刺激得找不著北，這歸功于他的家庭，也可以歸功于他接受的教育，甚至于他自己本身。到目前為止，他的人生是成功范本中最具有可模仿性和可行性的例子，里面沒有太多偶然性和上天眷顧。厚積薄發(fā)，一鳴驚人—成功到來的時候，他以一種自然和舒服的姿態(tài)撥地而起，讓所有人都打心里為他祝福。

—Mac

I really， really love my job，” says Benedict Cumberbatch in the lush 1）baritone that is one of his trademarks. “I love sets. I love crews. I love theaters. I love audiences.”

And he has every reason to be feeling the love. After all， this is his time—the Cumberbatch Moment. Not only is his new film， The Imitation Game， a front-runner for the Academy Award（it won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival， a traditional 2）bellwether）， but he himself is a surefire Best Actor nominee for his touching， slyly funny performance as Alan Turing， a real-life genius who helped save England during World War II only to die alone and forgotten， a prophet without honor in his own land.

The Imitation Game is an exciting crowd-pleaser about Turing， a socially awkward misfit whom most everyone finds weird， arrogant， and offputting. But he’s also a cosmic genius. It’s Turing who cracks the so-called Enigma code， which 3）encrypted all of the Nazi military’s wartime messages. He’s ably assisted by a team of world-class 4）cryptanalysts， which includes Joan Clarke， a brilliant mathematician whom Turing champions despite the military’s sexist objections， and with whom he becomes intimate. She’s played with resourceful intelligence and warmth by Keira Knightley， who became mates with Cumberbatch one summer when they shared a communelike farmhouse while filming Atonement， and discovered a mutual pleasure in cooking and live music.

Although The Imitation Game is set 70 years ago， it still feels relevant. For one thing， the team’s codebreaking equipment， known as the Turing Machine， was the 5）prototype of today’s modern computer. “The algorithms Alan used during the war，” Cumberbatch says， “are still used in Google’s search engine.” Yet what gives the movie its sting is the heartbreaking fate of this lonely， decent man. Because his wartime work was marked top secret， the public never knew of his heroic achievements. More tragically， because he was totally unabashed about his homosexuality at a time when it was still illegal in Britain—Turing is today a gay icon—he was a target of police harassment.

“I felt a responsibility to show him properly，” says Cumberbatch. “Alan’s face should be on the back of banknotes like Darwin and Newton. It should be on the front of history textbooks and science books.”

In person， you grasp what a fine actor Cumberbatch is： He’s not remotely arrogant or fragile. Youngerlooking than on-screen， he comes across as sweetly boyish， a quality that may 6）belie his sophistication as an actor but helps seal the deal with his female fans. His words come in enthusiastic flurries—“God， I talk quick，” he says when I play back a moment of tape to make sure the recorder’s working—and you never quite know where his conversation may swirl. He exudes an aura of innocent， almost 7）star-struck pleasure in his good fortune， as when he talks about the “bliss” of hanging out with Depp： “We rolled cigarettes and sat around and talked and talked and talked. He’s a friend now， which is an amazing thing to think about.”

Now that Cumberbatch is riding so high， it’s easy to forget that， for nearly a decade before stardom hit， he’d already been a successful actor. Indeed， he was nominated for an award for his first stage performance， back in 2001. Before the show Sherlock became a certified hit， he had already starred as Stephen Hawking for the BBC and been cast in such big movies as War Horse， Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy， and 12 Years a Slave.

With Sherlock， which debuted in 2010， it did. Actor and role merged 8）alchemically. Cumberbatch instantly became identified with an irresistible hero who satisfies everyone’s fantasy of 9）thumbing one’s nose at the world， especially authority， yet always being right.

“The BBC liked the choice， too， but with one 10）proviso，” recalls Sherlock’s co-creator Steven Moffat. “They said， ‘Is he sexy enough？ You promised us a sexy Sherlock.’ Back then nobody thought of him as sexy—not even Benedict.” He laughs. “Who knew that he’d wind up being a sex symbol in China？”

He’s not kidding. When I was recently in Asia—where some Chinese people charmingly call Sherlock “Curly Fu”—people kept asking me， “Have you met Benedict Cumberbatch？” in the same awed tones with which they would’ve asked about Mick Jagger in the late sixties. He finds such 11）adulation enjoyable （“I’m tickled pink”） and occasionally 12）daft. Some fans ask him to sign pictures of otters， an animal he’s said to resemble—“It’s a great disservice，”he says dryly， “to a wonderful woodland 13）amphibious creature.” Others simply melt in his presence. “I have boyfriends coming up to say， ‘My girlfriend is obsessed with you，’ and I say， ‘I’m so sorry.’ ” He laughs in delighted 14）commiseration.

It was his range and versatility that impressed Dominic Cooke， who first directed him in Rhinoceros seven years ago at the Royal Court and is now helming The Hollow Crown， a far grander production， complete with battle scenes that show off Cumberbatch’s abilities as a horseman.

“Benedict’s one of those actors who really can transform into something different，” Cooke tells me. “I went to see him in two roles， back to back. One was in Terence Rattigan’s play After the Dance， a very English role， uptight on the surface and filled with emotion underneath. Then I saw him 15）buck naked on the stage doing something like modern dance in Frankenstein. I don’t know any actor anywhere who could do both things as well as that. They aren’t just different characters. They are totally different kinds of acting performance.”

Still， it’s one measure of his good sense that he tries to keep his success in perspective. Rather like George Clooney， who also didn’t get big until his mid-30s， Cumberbatch took off when he was old enough to appreciate fame without being undone by it. He can be tickled by Oscar speculation but not 16）enthralled by it. “I sometimes worry about the currency surrounding the furor—the Internet， the teens. I’m careful that it doesn’t obscure other things that I care about. When somebody says that I’m perfect for a role because it will get an audience， that immediately makes me cold on it.”

Indeed， when I ask whose careers he might like to emulate， he names actors who he feels have“gone the distance，” meaning they 17）rose through the ranks， did decades of great work， and keep going strong—Michael Gambon， Ian McKellen， Bill Nighy…

“The adoration thing is amazing，” he tells me，“but it won’t carry on forever， and I want my work to carry on forever”—he stops， laughing at such 18）grandiosity. “Or at least for the next 40 years.”

我真的真的熱愛我的工作，”本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇用其標(biāo)志性的渾厚男中音如此道來，“我熱愛片場、工作人員、劇場還有—觀眾。”

于他而言，這份熱愛合情合理，畢竟，當(dāng)下正是他事業(yè)的全盛時期—康伯巴奇時刻。不僅僅因為他的新電影《模仿游戲》成為奧斯卡大熱—該電影在多倫多國際電影節(jié)里贏得“大眾之選獎”，而多倫多電影節(jié)是傳統(tǒng)的電影頒獎領(lǐng)頭羊，還因為他本人憑借觸動人心、機(jī)智幽默的表演必將毫無爭議地獲得最佳男演員提名—他扮演的是阿蘭·圖靈是真人真事中的一位天才，曾幫助英國在二戰(zhàn)中取得勝利卻最終被世人遺忘，作為一名無冕先知在自己的國土孤獨離世。……