Benedict Cumberbatch Says One Main Part Of Being Doctor Strange Is 'Mortifying'

Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed one 'mortifying' part of playing the character of Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The Sherlock star first appeared in the role of Dr Stephen Strange in 2016 and over the last six years has appeared in six Marvel films to work his magic and help save the world.

As a master of the mystic arts, the character has some impressive powers to show off, with his magic typically coming in the form of golden symbols cast into the air from his hands.

Obviously Cumberbatch himself is not a sorcerer, so the spells are added in post-production. But in order to make them look realistic, the actor must perform the hand gestures as if he really is making magic.

The actor was questioned about his hand movements during a Twitter Q&A in honour of his most recent film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with one person asking: "How do you make all of those magical hand-movements without laughing or making sound effects?"

Cumberbatch admitted performing the gestures was 'difficult' and said that after six years in the role he 'no longer find[s] it funny any more'. In fact, the actor said, he finds it 'kind of mortifying'.

He said: "I realise that very cool stuff will manifest ultimately with them, so as you do as a kid in the bedroom just kind of making stuff up, you just have to believe in it.

"However, making sound effects is a bigger problem, especially when doing fights... some of which is needed, but most of which is not."

Fans of the franchise will know that Cumberbatch isn't wrong in saying that 'very cool' stuff comes from his acting, though his spells have also been known to cause a lot of chaos.

The Marvel star shared more details about his performance as Strange during an interview with Jimmy Fallon earlier this week, when he revealed he had been 'endlessly' trained on how to act out the gestures and that it was 'very hard' to get them right.

Fans can expect to see a lot of spell-casting and therefore a lot of Cumberbatch's hand gestures in his latest film, which sees Strange set off an adventure across the multiverse with America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez).

Directed by Sam Raimi, the film also stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff as well as Chiwetel Ejiofor and Benedict Wong.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is in cinemas now.

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Topics: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Celebrity, Twitter, Film and TV

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is UNILAD Editorial Lead at LADbible Group. She first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route - before graduating with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University. Emily joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features. She went on to become Community Desk Lead, commissioning and writing human interest stories from across the globe, before moving to the role of Editorial Lead. Emily now works alongside the UNILAD Editor to ensure the page delivers accurate, interesting and high quality content.