Benedict Cumberbatch landed Star Trek role with pitch filmed on iPhone

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This article titled “Benedict Cumberbatch landed Star Trek role with pitch filmed on iPhone” was written by Henry Barnes, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 27th April 2012 10.56 UTC

Benedict Cumberbatch made his bid for the role of the baddie in JJ Abrams’ Star Trek sequel by filming his audition on an iPhone, according to The New York Times.

The Sherlock star holed up in a friend’s kitchen to film the iPitch that won him the part of the as-yet-unnamed villain. The video was shot late at night with Cumberbatch “agitated and weary” according to the NYT. “I was pretty strung out,” he said. “So that went into the performance”

Abrams, who described the performance as “one of the most compelling audition readings I’d ever seen”, is currently filming the followup to the 2009 franchise reboot, which showed Captain Kirk, Spock and the crew of Enterprise in their younger years as Star Fleet cadets. The film was a box-office hit and received good reviews, with the Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw calling it “fast-moving, funny, exciting warp-speed entertainment”.

Cumberbatch will be joined in the sequel by Star Trek cast members Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Zoe Saldana (Uhura) and Simon Pegg (Scotty), though the actor remained tight-lipped about the details of his role. “You could stick a knife in my thigh, and I wouldn’t tell you,” he said. Trekkies desperate for news should aim higher if they ever bump into the ‘Batch. “Pull the hair on my head the wrong way, and I would be on my knees begging for mercy,” he said. “I have very sensitive follicles.”

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