BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH WINS STAR TREK 2 ROLE VIA IPHONE AUDITION

Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed to the New York Times that he won his evil bad guy role in the second Star Trek movie thanks to some quick thnking and an iPhone audition.

Cumberbatch is on the verge of becoming a hugely prominent player with not only the BBC’s Sherlock making him possibly the biggest TV star in the UK (and he will be hoping the same thing happens when the second season airs in the US on PBS next month from May 6) but also major roles in The Hobbit and now Star Trek.

Getting the Star Trek audition organised was no easy feat though.

Last December, on vacation in Gloucestershire, England, he got the call that Mr. Abrams wanted him to submit a videotaped audition for “the not-so-good guy” (in Mr. Cumberbatch’s words) in the “Star Trek” sequel — and could not find anyone to film it for him.

In a friend’s kitchen late at night, an agitated and weary Mr. Cumberbatch recorded his audition on an iPhone — “I was pretty strung out,” he said, “so that went into the performance” — and sent it to Mr. Abrams, only to be told the director was also on vacation.

(Director JJ) Abrams, who saw the recording a few days later and hired Mr. Cumberbatch, wrote in an e-mail that it was “one of the most compelling audition readings I’d ever seen.”

The new Star Trek promises to be just as action packed as the first movie. Cumberbatch is to play a Vulcan!

Source: NY Times