Emma-Lee Moss at Comic-Con 2014 

Benedict Cumberbatch dominates DreamWorks panel at San Diego ComicCon

Event had been intended to promote the upcoming film Penguins of Madgascar – but Sherlockmania took over
  
  

Benedict Cumberbatch Comic-Con
Benedict Cumberbatch during the DreamWorks Animation presentation at Comic-Con 2014. Photograph: Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images

DreamWorks animation opened the biggest presentation at Comic Con on Thursday, offering a sneak peak at Penguins of Madagascar, its upcoming film about a group of penguins out to save the world. But despite some very funny scenes that parodied Werner Herzog, and a panel that included popular Comic Con veteran Craig Ferguson and Oscar-nominated actor John Malkovich it was Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch, who makes his voice acting debut in Penguins as a Wolf named Agent Classified, who dominated the event.

Here's how Cumberbatch's takeover went down.

Sherlock fever threatened to cancel the event

Members of the audience had been lining up since 6am to get into Hall H, largest exhibitor hall at San Diego's Comic Con with a capacity of 6500, and a significant number of those who had arrived dressed in Sherlock costume (despite this being a presentation that had nothing to do with the show whatsoever). This was the first sign that Sherlock mania had taken hold. As the panel began, Craig Ferguson, the moderator, threatened, "If anyone mentions the S word, Comic Con will be cancelled."

The panel's Q&A became a one man show

Six of the eight questions in the Q&A portion of the Penguins of Madagascar panel were directed at Cumberbatch, who politely batted a few over to Malkovich. One audience member mentioned that she was studying media in the UK and Cumberbatch was happy to engage in a conversation. "How's it going?" he asked. On finding out she studied at Queen Mary University in Twickenham, Cumberbatch said, "Lovely part of the world, we film Sherlock near there, you know."

...and yet John Malkovich held his own

Malkovich and Cumberbatch had never met during the filming of Penguins of Madagascar, but they spoke during the panel of their mutual admiration. If the Oscar-winner was surprised to be overshadowed, he didn't show it, but when Cumberbatch was asked about the method of acting for animation, Malkovich jumped in with an impassioned speech about emotion in text. He also drew laughter for his answer to the question "Which superhero would you most like to play?', to which he answered "Lois Lane".

But Cumberbatch laughed last

When asked how he prepared for his role as the smooth-talking wolf named Classified, Cumberbatch responded with an answer that took down the house. "I worked in Yellowstone park as a wolf for awhile. I was accepted by the pack quite quickly. It got a bit hairy, no pun intended, when I became the alpha male. Eventually I realized that two of the other wolves were Christian Bale and Daniel Day-Lewis.”

• This article was amended on 25 July 2014 because an earlier version referred to "Oscar-winning actor John Malkovich". Malkovich has not won an Oscar, but has been nominated twice.

 

Leave a Comment

Required fields are marked *

*

*