In the Instyle magazine Benedict talked of his preparation for the part of Smaug, the dragon, in the forthcoming Hobbit movie. This interview has been widely quoted in other parts of the press on line.

Benedict visited London Zoo and studied the reptiles at length to prepare for this role which will be CG and will have body capture elements.

'It is an extrapolation of a performance into something other than an actor. But essentially you're still doing a scene.'

In the interview he also talked of how being the son of two working actors has helped:
'I grew up surrounded by professional actors so it stood me on good stead. I know what a sin it is to be late, I'm really hot (really! Sorry aside by moi) on those sorts of things.'
'It's very easy to burn bridges and many actors don't think it matters, but it does because people end up saying, 'Yeah but you don't want to work with him because he's a pain in the ass.'