Benedict Cumberbatch Recalls Terrifying Time He Was Kidnapped

Benedict Cumberbatch may be Doctor Strange on the big screen, but he recalls a terrifying kidnapping ordeal that he went through in South Africa years ago. Cumberbatch began his acting career in London’s theater scene before transitioning to films and TV. His work includes notable movies and series including BBC’s Sherlock, Atonement, and The Imitation Game, for which he was nominated for Best Actor at the 2014 Academy Award. Most recently, he starred in critically acclaimed dramas such as The Electrical Life of Louis Wain and The Power of the Dog.

In 2016, Cumberbatch joined the MCU as Dr. Stephen Strange in the eponymous standalone film. He has since reprised his role as the Sorcerer Supreme in the succeeding Avengers films and also voiced the character in the Disney+ animated series What If…? Cumberbatch will appear alongside Tom Holland in the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home before his second solo outing as the mystic superhero in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The film is scheduled to be released in 2022 as part of the MCU’s Phase 4 slate.

While Cumberbatch is known for playing the powerful Sorcerer Supreme, he definitely needed saving in real life when he was held at gunpoint during a kidnapping attempt in South Africa back in 2004. The 45-year-old actor recalled his harrowing experience while speaking with Marc Maron for his WTF podcast. Cumberbatch narrated that he was filming the BBC miniseries To the Ends of the Earth when he and two of his co-actors went on a trip to learn scuba diving on their weekend off. While heading back during the night, one of their tires blew off so they stopped by the roadside where they were suddenly ambushed by armed men. Read Cumberbatch’s chilling account below:

We stopped and out of the bush, these guys came and threw us back into the car, drove off the road, and plundered the car…There were intimations of a gun but I didn’t turn around to see it because at the time I was out of the car. I was then put in the boot of the car and at one point my shoelaces were bound to my wrists…They eventually left us alone once we gave them cards and money. But because of needing to take the card to a bank machine, it lasted for two and a half hours.

After their hijackers left with their belongings and vehicle, Cumberbatch and his co-stars were able to call for help. Despite being shaken and scared, the English actor called himself lucky to have gotten out of the traumatizing ordeal alive and unhurt. Cumberbatch’s account sounds like a scene from the movies but the real-life experience was a life-changing moment for the actor. He added that it inspired him to want to pursue “a life less than ordinary.”

While Cumberbatch rarely speaks about this incident in his interviews, his takeaway is apparent in his body of work. Whether voicing a fearsome dragon in The Hobbit or portraying a real-life enigmatic mathematician in The Imitation Game, Cumberbatch gets to live out his passion through his roles. Twelve years after the kidnapping ordeal, he was tapped to play a superhero with Doctor Strange, a role that’s certainly extraordinary and one that fans hope he’ll continue playing for many more years.

Source: WTF Podcast

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