Benedict Cumberbatch dismisses Oscars speculation for The Imitation Game as 'premature and futile'

The Sherlock star is tipped for an Academy Award for his role as Alan Turing

Benedict Cumberbatch attends The Imitation Game premiere at the Toronto Film Festival 2014 (Getty Images)

Benedict Cumberbatch has brushed off speculation that he is on track for his first Academy Award, insisting it is too early to start discussing winners.

The Sherlock star, 38, has been tipped for the big prize after earning rave reviews for his new film The Imitation Game.

Cumberbatch plays English World War II codebreaker Alan Turing in Morten Tyldum’s biopic, alongside Keira Knightley and Matthew Goode.

The modest actor told Hello! Magazine that although winning an Oscar would be “amazing,” it is “so premature that it would almost be futile to talk about it”.

“I understand why it always happens at festivals but I just got my suit back from the dry cleaners from this year’s Oscars,” he said. “There are lots of films to see before we start going, ‘Ooh, blah, blah’.”

For Cumberbatch, doing justice to a great story is his number one concern.

“The most important thing is that any kind of buzz creates an interest in the film, which means people will see it hopefully and that means the Alan Turing story will get to a broader audience,” he said.

“And that, as a storyteller, is all I am concerned about. And if I have done a good job as him as well, that’s great.”

Cumberbatch became a talking point at the 2014 Oscars after photobombing U2 on the red carpet as the band lined up for photographer outside Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater.

He is currently filming The Hollow Crown: War of the Roses, in which he stars as Richard III, before returning to hit BBC drama Sherlock for a fourth series in 2016.