High profile flick after high profile flick, it seems like everything Benedict Cumberbatch does is going to catch a lot of attention. Whether it's his still-mysterious villain role in Star Trek Into Darkness, or playing Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate, he's definitely not someone to shy away from what's challenging. If all holds up, his next role is sure to turn a few heads.
Deadline reports Cumberbatch is in deep negotiations to star as mathematician and cryptanalyst Alan Turing in The Imitation Game. Turing helped the Allies during WWII by breaking the Enigma Code, but was persecuted for his homosexuality and lost everything. He committed suicide by eating a cyanide-laced apple in 1954. Graham Moore's script is based in part on Andrew Hodges' book, Alan Turing: The Enigma.
The film has had a rocky road to production but Cumberbatch is a big step in the right direction. Originally set up at Warner Bros. with Leonardo DiCaprio attached, J Blakeson (The Disappearance of Alice Creed) took over as director, only to be replaced by Morten Tyldum (Headhunters). Warner Bros. dropped the project altogether, and now it's being financed by Black Bear Pictures.
There's no firm start date, and considering Cumberbatch's schedule we probably won't see anything happen on it until late this year. S
