News Exercise #60

How Benedict Cumberbatch handles fame.

1) The interviewer described Cumberbatch as “one of” in two ways. What were they?
“Now you are possibly one of the most famous people on the planet; certainly one of the most pursued men.”
2) Why does the interviewer think this?
“I mean, there are people sleeping overnight outside this hotel because of the rumour that you’re inside it now.”
3) His first question, at 0:15, asked what? (He actually combined two questions together)
“Does it drive you crackers eventually? Have yo got ways of dealing with it?”
4) How does Cumberbatch handle the fame?
“You try to normalise it as much as you can, I mean I know that you must have experienced a version of this.”
He uses “you” to mean “anybody in this situation”, and the second part is directed at the interviewer, who is very famous in the UK.
5)He mentions something that “is hard”, mainly caused by the media. What is hard, according to him? 0:26-0:32
“The amount of speculation, and the crossover between anyone who live a public life in their profession and their private life is hard, so…”
6) What does he mean by “this nonsense” at 0:38?
“This nonsense” means “fame”. He thinks people adoring him and the media pestering him is all nonsense, because he feels he is nothing special at all; he’s just doing a job.”
7) At 0:40 he mentions “nature” as something he uses to deal with fame. How does nature help him?
By being in nature (forest, mountains etc.) he moves away from being observed in that manner.
8) The interviewer thought Cumberbatch did painting, but he actually does drawing nowadays. What did he say about painting?
“I do a little bit of planning, but canvas work has been a while off; I need the space and a bit more time, but yeah, I love sketching stuff.”