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June 28, 2015 5:51 am  #21


Re: Biography of Benedict Cumberbatch

This seems to be a publisher review/promo article for the Lynnette Porter unauthorised biography "Benedict Cumberbatch: Transition Completed"

What's All the Fuss About Benedict Cumberbatch?

What's All The Fuss About Benedict Cumberbatch?

You would have to have been living on a remote desert island for the last five years to not be aware of the rising career of Benedict Cumberbatch. He is yet to to hit forty (July next year if you're interested) and recently has played some pretty high profile roles. What's interesting if you look beyond the big budget movies and his undoubtedly most famous role in BBC's Sherlock, there have been many comments that Cumberbatch has had enough in his career to date to fill most actor's lifetime CVs a few times over - especially some powerful stage roles. Now, that sounds like exaggeration, but having been involved with publishing two very extensive biographies of his, I can testify to it as well.

In 2012 Lynnette Porter approached us with an interesting concept - a performance biography. Most actors that become celebrities have dozens of gossip led biographies but Lynnette wanted to provide fans with something very different. Benedict Cumberbatch In Transition is a detailed review of all his works, on stage and screen. The first book includes Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, War Horse, The Hobbit trilogy, Twelve Years a Slave, August: Osage County, The Fifth Estate; Hedda Gabler, After the Dance, Frankenstein; Hawking, To the Ends of the Earth, The Last Enemy, Parade's End, and, of course, Sherlock.

Porter comments "For most actors, these stellar cinematic, theatrical, and television events would be the highlights of a lifetime's work. On Benedict Cumberbatch's résumé they are only a few of many entries. Especially since 2010, his performances have garnered a plethora of best actor awards, both in the theatre (Evening Standard Theatre Award, Critics Circle Theatre Award, and Olivier Award), by playing the dual roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature in the National Theatre's Frankenstein, and on television (Broadcasting Press Guild Award, Critics Choice Television Award, Crime Thriller Award, and TV Choice Award), by starring as the titular Holmes in the BBC's Sherlock."

Add these and other accolades to nearly a decade's nominations and awards (such as the Golden Nymph as best actor in Hawking and of course the recent Academy Award nomination for The Imitation Game), and it's easy to see why Cumberbatch is often hailed as the actor of his generation. Cumberbatch's body of work further includes indie films, radio plays and series, television documentaries, live dramatic readings, multimedia advertisements, and even the occasional stint as a fashion model. I for one having read about him starring in the radio comedy series Cabin Pressure decided to check it out - it's brilliant.

He often shares an intriguing perspective on his profession, as evidenced in sometimes controversial interviews. He has become so much in demand that online box offices crash when tickets for his performances go on sale, and, before a Cheltenham Literature Festival Q&A session, fans overwhelmed Twitter when so many responded immediately to a call for questions. Cumberbatch consistently is a top name on lists ranging from sex appeal to global influence.In 2012 he beat David Beckham in the former and U.S. President Barack Obama in the latter. In 2014 Time magazine listed him in the top 100 most infuential people in the world.

We published the first book in June 2013 which was quickly followed by Japanese and Chinese - such was the interest from foreign fans. Interestingly we also licensed a Polish version as his fan base there is huge and two Sherlock fans offered to translate the whole book for the 1m+ Polish fans clamouring for a local version. For the Japanese version they insisted on including the review of Star Trek Into Darkness which just hadn't made it into the English verison as it came out the month before. By the following summer Lynnette had almost enough material for the second installment and in November 2014 Benedict Cumberbatch Transition Completed came out.

In the second book Lynnette takes a slightly different position that Cumberbatch had finally arrived on the world stage and was no longer 'in transition' as an actor. Porter argues that 2013 proved to be the final step in Cumberbatch's transition from respected working actor to bona fide worldwide celebrity and recipient of BAFTA Los Angeles' Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year.

So when we get asked, and we do get asked it a lot, 'What's all this fuss about Benedict Cumberbatch?' we usually refer them to the review from the Sherlock Holmes Society of London:

“Sherlock” is the turning-point, but it’s good to be reminded of the extent and importance of the actor’s career, before, during and after the breakthrough to stardom - acclaimed rôles in “Rhinoceros” and “Hedda Gabler” at the Royal Court, “After the Dance” at the Old Vic, and “Frankenstein” at the National Theatre; performances as Van Gogh and Stephen Hawking on television; leading parts in “Copenhagen”, “Neverwhere” and the continuing comedy series “Cabin Pressure” on radio; “War Horse”, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” in the cinema, and his emergence as a real film star in “Star Trek: Into Darkness”. Benedict Cumberbatch is a great actor, unpretentious, honest and dedicated. He’s also a genuinely nice man.”

That's what all the fuss is about.


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September 16, 2015 9:25 pm  #22


Re: Biography of Benedict Cumberbatch

Has anyone read both of the books "In Transition" and "Transition Complete"? Is the second just an update of the first, or do they contain completely different material?


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