Marvel – 2016(NEW YORK) — Benedict Cumberbatch’s baritone British accent shook theaters as the dragon Smaug in the Hobbit films, and has flipped many a wry line on the small screen in Sherlock.
However, to play Doctor Strange, the actor had to play an American — and he mastered the accent, except for one troubling word.
Much like Hayley Atwell told ABC News Radio about her character in the legal drama Conviction, Cumberbatch had a linguistic Achilles heel that was unfortunately very important to the role.
While Atwell has to tackle “murderer” — often, considering she’s in a legal drama — Cumberbatch, playing the surgeon-turned Sorcerer Supreme, had trouble with “sorcerer.”
The actors both tripped on the linguistic land mine: three “Rs” in a row.
“‘Sorcerer’ is really hard, for some reason,” Cumberbatch told New York magazine. “And that is a very important word for the character. There’s a lot of Rs going on in that one.”
The newest star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe slayed his dragon, so to speak, earning praise for his accent — which he said he modeled after director Scott Derrickson, mostly out of necessity, with a very famous assist.
“The majority of the crew were English. We had American producers and Scott, and that was sort of it,” the actor admitted, before adding, “You want a man like Harrison Ford in any film of this nature, but I don’t think it’s a Harrison Ford impression. But I think he’s just subconsciously a great influence on my childhood era.”
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