Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch wants a 'really dumb' role

The British actor wants a change from playing intellectual characters

Benedict Cumberbatch wants to shake up his acting roles and play someone 'really dumb' (Getty Images)

Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed his longing to be cast as someone "really dumb".

“I always seem to be cast as slightly wan, ethereal, troubled intellectuals or physically ambivalent bad lovers,” the British actor told T, the New York Times magazine. “I am so ready to play a really dumb character.”

The Sherlock star has played a series of more serious characters, from a slave owner in 12 Years a Slave, to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate and, most recently, World War II codebreaker Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.

Cumberbatch, 37, also shared his views on Sherlock Holmes, calling the genius detective “an absolute bastard”.

“I always make it clear that people who become obsessed with him or the idea of him – he’d destroy you,” he said.

Cumberbatch won an international fanbase following his appearance on the hit BBC drama, with Sherlock co-writer Mark Gatiss describing the actor as “irreplaceable.”

“If Benedict went under a bus tomorrow it would be the end of the show,” he told The Mirror. “Benedict and Martin (Freeman, who plays Watson) are our stars.

“We do three episodes a year and although people want more, that’s all we can do. They are both so famous now it’s increasingly difficult to get them.

“They are both major stars but they both want to carry on. We just have to try and make the days work, that’s all.”

Cumberbatch has spoken of the “invisible” life he is forced to lead because of Sherlock’s popularity. “There is a way of just shadowing through,” he said.

“The higher the walls, the more dark the windows, the bigger the sunglasses – the more people are going to look. The greatest disguise is to be invisible in plain sight.”

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