Benedict Cumberbatch.Photo: Monica Schipper/Getty
Benedict Cumberbatchis leaving little to the imagination in his latest film.
In one scene, Cumberbatch had to be fully nude while his character is taking a dip in a river. And as a true method actor, Cumberbatch stripped right down.
“I’m literally exposing myself in this film, and that’sinteresting,” he toldTHR.
Benedict Cumberbatch.P. Lehman/Barcroft Media via Getty
While onscreen nudity was a challenge of its own, learning to play his character’s instrument of choice was much more difficult. Cumberbatch told the outlet his character is a lifelong musician, whereas he had to learn to play the banjo in about a month.
“The most painful thing to me, if I’m f—— honest, is trying to pretend I can play the banjo,” he said. “[My character] is someone who has done it all their life, and I’m trying to master it in four weeks or something stupid. That’s tough.”
Cumberbatch also had to pick up Phil’s smoking habit, which came with its own consequences. The actor revealed toEsquirelast monththat he was constantly smoking cigarettes for the film.
“Filterless rollies, just take after take after take. I gave myself nicotine poisoning three times,” he admitted. “When you have to smoke a lot, it genuinely is horrible.”
He even wanted to embody Phil right down to his stench, telling the magazine, “I wanted that layer of stink on me. I wanted people in the room to know what I smelt like. It was hard, though.”
The Power of the Dogfollows Phil’s relationship with Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), the son of a widow (Kirsten Dunst) who moves to the ranch he and his brother (Jesse Plemons) own. The drama is based on Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel of the same name, and marks Campion’s return to filmmaking 13 years after his most recent directorial effort, 2008’sBright Star.
The Power of the Dogpremieres Dec. 1 on Netflix.
source: people.com
