Benedict Cumberbatch talks ‘Hobbit,’ Smaug and his first appearance on screen
In the new Total Film magazine “Sherlock” star Benedict Cumberbatch talked about playing Smaug in the upcoming “Hobbit” trilogy. While the article promises to discuss more about “Star Trek Into Darkness”, the few details released on Sunday focus on his “Hobbit” role.
The racy excerpt begins with Cumberbatch explaining his experience with the motion capture technology to bring the CGI Smaug to life.
“It’s very freeing, once you put the suit on and the sensors. I’ve never felt less encumbered, actually. And you have to be. You have to be free.”
This process is similar to Andy Serkis’ portrayal of Gollum, which involves a body suit of sensors, few actors and four cameras. Of course, the actor’s description a little more brutally intense.
“You just have to lose your s*** on a carpeted floor, in a place that looks a little bit like a mundane government building. It was just me as well, with four static cameras and all the sensors. Then the boys at Weta work their magic,” Cumberbatch tells Total Film.
Smaug is a powerful dragon in Middle Earth, voiced by Cumberbatch. Bilbo Baggins steals one of Smaug’s possessions and unleashes the creature’s fury on the region.
Director Peter Jackson confirmed that the series was expanding to a trilogy and the second film being renamed to “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” the actor was asked about his appearance in the first film, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”
He said: “I think my eye will open at the end of the first film, and then you’ll get the rest of me in the second.”
As a prequel to the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, the “Hobbit” films begin this winter with “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” opening in theaters on December 14 and “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” coming the following year on December 13, 2013.
The series will conclude in the summer of 2014 with “The Hobbit: There and Back Again,” which is slated to open on July 18, 2014.
Richard Armitage in “The Hobbit” photo
