At some point, we're all going to be Benedict Cumberbatch fans.
It doesn't matter whether you like the Cumberbunny or not. It doesn't matter if you're a hardcore Jeremy Brett fanatic. If you keep yourself connected to the Sherlockian data streams at the levels of the average internet user, you're just going to find your brain filled with facts about the photobombing otter of the thespian world. In our omnivorous hunger for more and more Sherlock-related data, the Sherlockian community has whole-heartedly accepted Benedict Cumberbatch as one more collectable icon of Sherlock Holmes.
In other words, if an article is about Benedict Cumberbatch, it's about Sherlock Holmes.
While actors sometimes despise type-casting, or being over-identified with a character, there's also a reverse upside to it . . . at some point, the fans of that character will add you to their eternal playlist from here on in. At some point, a hyperactive Holmes fan starts having an interest in every movie Basil Rathbone did, or going back and watching My Fair Lady just to see Jeremy Brett seem to sing. It's the marker of a truly iconic Sherlock Holmes actor, that point at which Sherlockians adopt them whole-heartedly as a part of Sherlockian culture.
And I'd say good ol' Benedict has arrived.
Comparing him to Robert Downey Jr. and Jonny Lee Miller especially illustrates the point. Downey is Downey is Downey, playing Holmes or not, and his fandom is a separate thing. Miller . . . well, Miller is yet to make that impact, to cross that line . . . is it in the future? His chances are definitely lessened by Benedict's presence, but there are always those niche Sherlockians who will adopt the odd Holmes actor as a specialty, so he won't be left completely in the cold.
But as for Mr. Cumberbatch, I don't think I'm over-estimating things to say that line has been crossed. And if you're a Sherlockian, you may not be a fan of his now, but one day you will be.
Or at least seem like one to any outside observer, despite any protestations to the contrary.
Welcome to Cumberland. Gap or no.
The ongoing investigation of Sherlock Holmes, reported from the Peoria, Illinois outpost of Baker Street's dirtiest half a dozen.
"While actors sometimes despise type-casting, or being over-identified with a character, there's also a reverse upside to it . . . at some point, the fans of that character will add you to their eternal playlist from here on in. At some point, a hyperactive Holmes fan starts having an interest in every movie Basil Rathbone did, or going back and watching My Fair Lady just to see Jeremy Brett seem to sing."
ReplyDeleteIf an analogy is possible between the actor and the author with regards to the above situation, I have been an ardent Holmes fan for many years but I have never felt the urge to read Doyle's non Sherlockian works.
And clearly CBS has felt the impact of the arrival as well, with 2 Broke Girls getting in on the action.
ReplyDeleteUnlike the hordes, I've never warmed to Cumberbatch. I wanted to, but he's just too smug, just too smarmy. Miller is psychologically closer to Holmes the any of the contemporary portrayers.
ReplyDeleteI was blindsided by the Cumberbatch Effect after just one episode of Sherlock! I had only been dimly aware of him--I think--until then. But, like Harrison Ford's sudden launch into the stratosphere as Han and then Indy, Benedict seemed like a bit player (I know he was more than that, of course), and then suddenly...he was everywhere! But as you rightly pointed out, when I think of BC, it's as Sherlock, and the reverse. Also, not to insult Ford, but Cumberbatch is a far better actor.
ReplyDeleteAs for Miller, I wouldn't call him "smarmy" (I certainly don't think that of Benedict; he's just confident and happy!), but he IS smug. Anyone remember his self-aggrandizing, pouty-teen performance as Zero Cool in "Hackers"? Ugh. And his acting leaves me cold.
And as Sherlock in Manhattan, he is, physically, SO rigid and tightly wound, one is afraid that he may one day shatter like glass if he makes a wrong move. He has none of the grace, cat-like athleticism or suave sleekness that Conan Doyle had Watson write about so rapturously! I'm glad we don't see Lucy Liu try to convince that he DOES have it. She's almost as wooden as Miller anyway.
No, no, no. There is now and only will be ONE Sherlock of the Modern Age: Benedict Cumberbatch. And I'll add that Martin Freeman's Watson is far more adorable, as well as adoring, than Liu could be; look what he has to work with!