Benedict Cumberbatch has downplayed
early Oscar talk surrounding his performance in The Imitation
Game.
Cumberbatch plays gay code breaker Alan
Turing in the film, which is scheduled for a November 21 U.S.
opening.
Turing was a brilliant mathematician
who helped crack the German Enigma machine code – a triumph of
computer science and a turning point for the Allies in World War II.
After the war, Turing was charged with and
convicted of gross indecency for participating in a sexual
relationship with another man. He received a sentence of chemical
castration and later committed suicide.
Oscar speculation began in earnest
after Imitation Game won the Toronto International Film
Festival's Grolsch People's Choice Winner, the festival's top prize.
Speaking to Hello!, Cumberbatch
dismissed the talk as premature.
“It would be amazing, but to be
honest it's so premature that it would almost be futile to talk about
it,” he
said.
“I understand why it always happens
at festivals, but I just got my suit back from the dry cleaners from
this year's Oscars. … There's lots of films to see before we start
going, 'Oooh, blah, blah,'” Cumberbatch added.