When Emmy nominations were announced two weeks ago, I had a great chat with Benedict Cumberbatch, during which he gushed about Matt Damon more than a little. He also asked me a favor — “to pass along a message” and tell Damon “that Benedict is a big fan and would like to hang.” So I was honor bound at last night’s Elyisum screening hosted by the Peggy Siegal Company to try to make this happen. Luckily, Damon had been informed earlier in the day of Cumberbatch’s man-crush, but he wasn’t quite as effusive as I wanted him to be. So I brought it up again.
Congratulations on your Emmy nomination, by the way. I was talking to one of your fellow nominees Benedict Cumberbatch about his Emmy nomination and he could not stop talking about you, he is such a big fan.
Somebody just told me that today!
Are you a fan of his as well? Are there things of his that you’ve loved?
I just want to sit down and have a beer and talk shop with him. I’m just kind of looking forward to that. I think he’ll be one of the guys who lasts, that’s my take. It’s what George [Clooney] said to me ten years ago: If you can pull off ten years in this business, then you’ve done something, and we both kind of agreed that that was kind of the benchmark. And I think [Cumberbatch] is of the new crop. The New York Times did that thing like a year ago — where is the new crop [of leading men]? — and this year we’ve got Channing [Tatum] and a bunch of guys, Chris Hemsworth, who just showed up.
Did you ever see Benedict in Sherlock?
Yeah. I haven’t seen all of the Sherlocks, but I’ve seen some of the Sherlocks, probably half of the Sherlocks, on my iPad. Is that a bad thing to say? Because I’ve been traveling. I’m a little behind. But he’s also somebody other younger actors like Emily Blunt and people like that have talked about. When you start hearing a name all the time, you go, “Okay, I’ll download this, let me see,” and then you start to pay attention, and he’s at that kind of breaking point now.
He wants to have more than a beer with you — he wants to go dancing, to party, stay out all night, maybe at the Emmys, maybe another night.
He may not know how old I am! [Laughs]
Well, he thought out of all your fellow nominees in that category …
… I got the best shot at staying up late? Michael [Douglas], Michael can burn the candle at both ends, too, so maybe the three of us will go out sometime.
