The team behind the film was honoured at the Human Rights Campaign's NYC Gala. Here is a video including moving speeches by Joel Grey and Morten Tyldum as well as a video message by Benedict:

http://gosherlocked.tumblr.com/post/109984932791/cumbertrekky-cast-and-filmmakers-from-the

http://deadline.com/2015/02/the-imitation-game-alan-turing-joel-grey-human-right-gala-1201364812/

Last edited by SusiGo (February 3, 2015 4:52 pm)

I liked Alex Lawther a lot, he played the young Alan so very good.

And I was astonished to hear that he and Benedict did not really discuss what they were going to do before. To me it really seemed like the same character in different stages of his life. Amazing. 

And true. 

That scene broke me down in so many ways. Alex did some amazing acting. He's a real talent. I can't wait to watch him evolve. 

I just hate it was a true scene... I've been put through something similar when I was in school a few times, and it's one of the worst things you can experience. 
It made me want to rush to his aid and knock over those idiots!! 

This is a short video of Joan Clarke talking about Alan Turing. Quite moving:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB2e9R7bXCk&spfreload=10

This is nice piece by Sir John Dermot Turing (a nephew of Alan Turing) from the London Evening Standard that just came out Feb. 9/15 -

http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/sir-john-dermot-turing-the-imitation-game-tells-the-full-story-of-my-codebreaking-uncle-10033536.html?origin=internalSearch

I really like that he is clearly in agreement with BC's interpretation (and all associated with the film) of his own blood relative.  That's high praise as far as I am concerned.  I'm going tomorrow to see it again (it's playing in a city about an hour and half away from our hometown).  Can't wait...

Here is the artical reproduced in long form for those who want to read it even if the link doesn't work -I sadly never had the opportunity to meet my uncle, Alan Turing. We share some very basic similarities — we both attended Sherborne and King’s College, Cambridge, both have an affinity for mathematics, both have ties to Bletchley Park — but that’s about it. I couldn’t possibly claim to have achieved anything in the realm of what he did, but nevertheless I’ve always considered my relation to him a tremendous source of pride.

If we were to ignore his presence in our family background, we’d be turning our backs on a link to one of history’s truly great men. This was a man who was confident, and some might say eccentric, enough to put his name to a letter to Winston Churchill requesting his help in getting additional resources to his codebreaking team (Churchill answered swiftly and forcefully in Alan’s favour). It’s also been said that Churchill believed Alan Turing and the codebreakers of Bletchley should be credited with the single biggest contribution to Allied victory in the war against Nazi Germany.

Do a quick Google search into the public tributes that he’s received and you’ll find a wealth of reasons to think that my uncle has been remembered to the utmost extent; there are foundations, streets, awards, museum exhibitions, theatre productions, TV movies and countless books out there bearing his name.

The Imitation Game brings Alan to life in a rather different way — Benedict Cumberbatch and the team behind it managed not just to remind us about all his innovations and their magnitude: they also succeeded in making Alan a living, breathing, feeling human being who was complicated, strange, brilliant, caring and staunch in his belief that he would live life as he chose to. He was not afraid to challenge conventions, nor did he shy away from his identity as a homosexual.

The film paints a new picture of my uncle and, at times, it is a bit heart- wrenching. This is not, of course, to diminish the importance of talking about his genius or the fact that he spared countless lives with his work during the Second World War — and the film is sure to thank him for all of that.

There was time, not all that many years ago, when I’m fairly certain that no one who hadn’t been specifically schooled in computer science had ever heard of Alan. That began to change back in 2009, when Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued him a formal apology on behalf of the UK government for the treatment he endured before his death. It happened again four years later, when the UK Government secured a royal pardon for the same reasons.

These were opportunities not just to acknowledge the absurdity of Alan’s treatment for being a gay man but also the means of reviving the discussion around his vast accomplishments. The Imitation Game is a moving tribute and brings out a side of Alan Turing which doesn’t readily come across in a history book or an encyclopedia page.

-Val

Benedict has said several times in interviews that the approval of Alan Turing's family is the best reward he could get for the role and it's so nice to see some of that approval. Thanks for bringing it, Val.

Last edited by REReader (February 10, 2015 8:48 pm)

In case anyone is interested in numbers. Not bad - 151 million dollars at the box office so far a film that allegedly cost 9.5 million pounds to make. And even better, it shows how man people they reached. This is amazing. 

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=imitationgame.htm

Well, I got my chance to see it again the other day and I really enjoyed it all the more.

This time I could concentrate more on the performances of not just BC (because the first time I was just so thrilled to see him finally in this much anticipated part) but also the other actors.  I especially liked KK's performance. 

The first time I saw the scene of BC and KK when he breaks off their marriage and thus their friendship to protect her, I thought KK's acting was a bit jarring and OTT.  But I paid more attention this time to what had gone before with her performance and so when it came to that particular scene it fell nicely into place with her overall interpretation of the character.  KK certainly did infuse enough temper into her Joan Clarke beforehand to make the "monster" lines seem like something she would say as a reaction to his convincingly played "faux rejection" of her. 

I also think, after seeing it twice that all this nonsense about it trying to hide the gayness of Turing (there were certain critics who were distainful of the fact that there were no gay sex scenes shown in regards to Turing's lifestyle) is just that - utter nonsense.  

I thought the references to his sexuality were prominent enough to get the point across even with any titillating homosexual scenes (which I have no objection to at all if it fits well into the context of the film - it would not have done so in this film).  Like Cumberbatch's performance itself, dialogue concerning his homosexual behaviour was honest, poignant and well suited to the sophistication of the material and audience.  

And finally I do think they could have subtracted the "Sometimes it is the people who no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine" line at least once for my personal tastes.  Twice would have been my maximum number and would have made a more dramatic impact, I think. 

I can't wait until I own a DVD of this so I can enjoy it all over again!

-Val