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Benedict Cumberbatch Appreciation Thread


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I gotta admit, My meetings with Benedict evolved over the weekend. I was a bit non-plussed meeting him at first for the single photo on Saturday and having him decline to do a Dr Strange pose. (As that's my favourite of all the solo Marvel movies.) If that had been the only time I saw him, I might not have been impressed. Then came his talk, and he seemed to really like my question and gave a very eloquent and thoughtful answer. Next at the autograph table he brought up my question again after recognising that the photo I was having him sign was from that scene in the film and thanked me for the question. And then in signing the next item for my brother he seemed really intrigued by it. It was a San Diego exclusive recreation of the Book of Vishanti. If there'd been more time I would have flicked through the pages and showed him more of it. As I think he assumed there wasn't anything beyond the first couple of pages.(9/10 of it are effectively a fake book, as it originally contained figurines. But there are another few pages that explore magic in the Marvel comics universe.)

The reason I had it with me at the commiccon though was to borrow it as a prop for my duo shoots with him and Mads, and him and Benedict Wong. And it proved so memorable that upon seeing me with it at Mad's shoot on the Sunday he exclaimed, "Oh here he is, The Spell Man!" And then best of all in the shoot with Mr Wong, after the photo was taken he rushed forward and said to the photographer to take another photo, as he'd had a better idea. So he then did a lovely silly pose of him stealing the book from Wong much like Dr Strange in the film!

So yeah, by the end of Sunday, I'd completely revised my opinion of him. And realised that he is a truly great guy that does take the time to ensure his fans have a good experience. I guess it just goes to show you, that you really can't judge someone on an single interaction. So yeah, I very much enjoyed meeting him, and wish him all the very best for the future!

Edited by Jason S
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On 8/1/2017 at 10:56 PM, Michelle Zajac said:

I just wanted to drop in quickly to mention how phenomenal I thought Benedict was this past weekend. Knowing how many people he was going to be seeing, I really tried to go in with low expectations, but I was completely blown away.

He was so extremely kind and gracious during his photo shoots and autograph sessions and really seemed interested in each individual interaction even though each one was only a couple seconds in length. With me, he actually initiated conversation - and follow-up questions - a few times (even though his assigned crew ended up interrupting him mid-sentence to keep him moving :blink:), which was really lovely and confirmed to me how much he respects his fans. I never once felt like I was just a number to him, which isn't always the case in fleeting moments like these, so that was very much noticed and appreciated!

He was also incredibly goofy and just seemed to be having a great, relaxed time throughout the whole weekend (except when he got REALLY confused about why I was telling him to feel better on Sunday morning after the crew miscommunication about touching him LOL -- though even that ended up resulting in a fun bonus conversation with him, so hey!). My heart photo with him is one of my new favorite things of all time (I've now made it my phone lock screen and can't stop laughing every time I look at it now) and it alone was worth every second of insanity that was my 30-hour whirlwind trip to London from DC, and that's not even counting the other pictures, my brief chat with him during autographs, or his absolutely wonderful talk! 

I hope he knows how much we all appreciated him taking his ENTIRE weekend just to meet us all! And THANK YOU, SM, for doing whatever it took behind the scenes to get this deal done. Although there were definitely glitches to the weekend here and there, as others have covered in the feedback threads, this was one place where you really succeeded, way more than I could have ever hoped for. 

THANK YOU!

Quoting my initial post here for context...

I woke up this morning to the news that the digital downloads from LFCC were live (yay!). I went in and immediately went into Saturday to start poking around...when I happened to notice the number underneath Benedict's name. 2,009 photographsIn one day. I had obviously known that he was going to be 'top dog,' so to speak, but I don't think I had quite realized the extent to which that would be true... From a cursory glance at the other photo counts, John Cleese looks like he was the only one to even come close to taking that many photographs in a day. 

And when I added in Sunday's photo counts? That lovely, lovely man had his photograph taken with us 3,283 times:o I've done a bit of addition, and I can't find a single other person whose counts were that insane, no matter if I counted for two days or even three! 

As you can see above, I originally said that 'I hope he knows how much we all appreciated him taking his ENTIRE weekend just to meet us all'...  But somehow I suddenly feel like that sentence is utterly, wholly inadequate. And yes, I can just imagine the internet trolls saying, 'Oh, but I'm sure he got paid buckets and buckets to do that,' and yes, that's probably true. But I'm sorry - I really couldn't care less. I literally can't even imagine having my picture taken over three thousand times in two days. My brain just cannot picture it.  And based on comments here, and others I've seen on Facebook and Twitter, it wasn't just that he had his picture taken 3,283 times...it was also that he really tried to make each and every one a genuine and unique interaction - one that felt like it was real, like he was genuinely happy to meet you.  

And none of this even counts the amount of autographs, and the interactions that occurred there at the table...

I find myself completely humbled by his patience, generosity, and love for his fans - for us. Nothing else could possibly explain or describe those numbers - or those efforts.  

'THANK YOU!' just doesn't seem to cover it anymore. I genuinely can't think of anything that does.

<3

Edited by Michelle Zajac
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