BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses (was "Richard III")

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** May 3, 2016 1:05 pm

Amazing interview, he looks handsome, and nice to see more clips of this!

**Posted by SusiGo** May 3, 2016 1:08 pm

Wow, this looks disturbing and amazing at the same time:

http://trained-cormorant.tumblr.com/post/143788741928/cumberbatchlives-benedict-as-richard-iii-the

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** May 3, 2016 1:12 pm

Holy cow.

How the hell did he manage to ride and all? My condition is barely visible and some days I can barely walk!

**Posted by gently69** May 3, 2016 1:17 pm

Comment of my friend:
"I will be glad if he leaves his clothes on, for once."

**Posted by SusiGo** May 3, 2016 1:20 pm

It is indeed astonishing that he was a skilled fighter who died on the battlefield. Not sure how realistic this condition is but Benedict says in the interview that Richard's scoliosis got gradually towards throughout his life.

**Posted by This Is The Phantom Lady** May 3, 2016 1:29 pm

Untreated scoliosis usually does that...

I saw a picture of the 'real' Richard III's spine and it looked very disformed... and I imagine horse riding etc. would worsen the curvature in a way too...

**Posted by Yitzock** May 3, 2016 3:48 pm

I just saw the gifs come up on Tumblr and then came to see if you guys had seen it yet. I was surprised, and it wasn't until the part where he starts saying the speech that I realised that this was Richard. It did look rather shocking and uncomfortable, but the prosthetics are impressive. It looks real.

**Posted by SusiGo** May 3, 2016 3:49 pm

I love the idea of showing him naked, of confronting the audience with his deformity. I have not seen this done before and it looks shockingly real.

**Posted by Yitzock** May 3, 2016 3:52 pm

I haven't seen that before either, it is a surprising move. But since in the text he mentions his deformity and its relation to what he is going to do in that opening speech, I can understand the choice.

**Posted by besleybean** May 3, 2016 4:12 pm

Wow, he looks amazing.

**Posted by Russell** May 4, 2016 4:39 am

This Is The Phantom Lady wrote:
*bows down to her knees*

Heck, I'm bowing down to the floor…!
And.. holy, cow, yes…. those gifs! Alarmed amazement, to see those visuals used for emphasis, too. And also wait a minute… seeing -that- in comparison to everything on horseback so far, and wondering how… except yeah, probably the passage of age, like you mentioned.

**Posted by nakahara** May 4, 2016 7:12 am

**Posted by SusiGo** May 4, 2016 7:21 am

This is amazing.

Russell: Richard fought in battles on horseback until his death which is quite astonishing regarding his disability.

**Posted by miriel68** May 4, 2016 8:39 am

Well, one can understand why he could be ill-tempered. I am wondering whether B. wore the full prostethics in all the scenes, though. Surely there was no need for it when he was fully dressed?

**Posted by SolarSystem** May 4, 2016 9:33 am

Maybe he wore a different kind of, less detailed prosthesis when he was dressed. But even then you need to see the deformation, so he surely wore something. I don't think you can show this just through acting and the way you move your body.

**Posted by Russell** May 4, 2016 4:40 pm

Right, okay, and yes… definitely. Not well-versed on Richard. And from all the other pics we'd seen, he hardly looked hunched at all, hence wondering how fast progressed, and how they were choosing to show him (like the others said, seeing it physically even with clothes/armor). Still…. wow.

**Posted by besleybean** May 4, 2016 4:52 pm

Years ago my parents saw Anthony Sher in the role, in live theatre...he performed the entire piece on crutches- I think he won awards.

**Posted by Liberty** May 4, 2016 5:39 pm

I gather that in real life it wasn't particularly evident and wouldn't have been very noticeable in clothes/armour. Obviously Shakespeare's version refers to it, so I suppose the audience need to see it, and I wonder if they're thinking about the "real" son of York when showing it clearly when he's topless, but not so much when clothed.

**Posted by SusiGo** May 4, 2016 5:50 pm

We know that because of Tudor propaganda Shakespeare painted him worse than he was. And the insistence on his deformed back may have been related to the belief that his disfigured body reflected his disfigured would.

**Posted by besleybean** May 4, 2016 6:26 pm

(And I say this as a Yorkist)
At the end of the day, he's the prime suspect in murdering 2 young boys.