He says: “I’m not confident in social situations, just going up to
someone in a bar and saying ‘hi’ is going to be even more difficult
because they won’t know the real me. They will just know me as a
fictional person I play on the screen.”Benedict’s knack of
portraying a certain vulnerability in his characters stems from genuine
insecurity. He has said the most hurtful thing he ever read about
himself was in a blog describing “the talentless wooden acting of
arse-named, horse-faced twot Benedict Cumberbatch”.And he says
the part of his body he dislikes the most is “the size and shape of my
head,” adding, “I’ve been likened to Sid the sloth from Ice Age”.Steven
Spielberg suggested him for the Star Trek role after they had worked
together on War Horse when Benedict had played Major Stewart.He was hired on the back of an audition video which was shot in a friend’s kitchen on an iPhone.He says: “I was pretty strung out so that went into the performance.”Details
of the new Star Trek film are a closely guarded secret and for Benedict
it was his first experience of working on big-budget blockbuster.He says: “I literally got off the plane and went straight to the studio.“They
were due to start shooting the film in five days and I walked into a
room full of designers, artistic directors, editors, directors of
photography and about five producers. I was terrified.“I was
jet-lagged and must have looked as white as a sheet with dark rings
round my eyes but it was an amazing, amazing experience working on the
film. "We did crazy hours but it was wonderful to work with people my own age, all sharing an experience. "I
was the Brit abroad but everybody was incredibly supportive and
welcoming. I had a really good time and I think it’s going to be a
phenomenal film.”