10 Things You Didn’t Know About Benedict Cumberbatch
7. He Was Kidnapped In South Africa
With his striking features and obvious talent, it didnt take Cumberbatch long to start finding acting work, and his early career included appearances in Nathan Barley, Heartbeat and a Bafta-nominated turn as the lead in Hawking in 2004. His early successes led to him being cast as Edmund Talbot in TV miniseries To the Ends of the Earth, and he set off for a four-month shoot in South Africa that came perilously close to being his last. On a weekend off, Cumberbatch and two friends headed for Sodwana Bay to complete a diving course, but on the journey back their car suffered a puncture. Unable to change the tyre and stranded on the highway, they were soon accosted by a group of six men, who, disappointed by the absence of any significant sums of cash or valuables, took them into the bush and tied them up with their own shoelaces. As Cumberbatch recalls: I was on my side with my eyes closed and my ear to the ground. I was frozen in stillness and cold. I could feel the blood on my face and hear the insects scratching around in the dark. I thought of home and how, despite being near other people, we all die utterly alone. Possibly fearful of the consequences of killing British nationals, their captors eventually fled and the three victims found their way to safety, and Cumberbatch resolved to live a life slightly less ordinary from then on.
I watch movies and I watch sport. I also watch movies about sport, and if there were a sport about movies I'd watch that too. The internet was the closest thing I could find.
