Okay! Squeezing in a few minutes to upload these photos because I really overestimated the amount of free time I was going to have today. I know I said I was going to upload a better photo of me from here but I don’t think I’m going to have time so, I’m just going to leave that as is. Sorry but this is a long post and photo posts don’t allow read mores so…I’m really sorry.
So my Sunday started at 5am though I didn’t have to leave to drive up to UNSW until 7am. I live a little closer than those times make me sound like I do but I did not want to be late.
Arriving there, the line was moving really quickly and it was very well organised- I was barely in line ten minutes! My seat was absolutely awesome, only a few seats from the front and the people on either side of me were really nice (and both from Perth, strangely enough). I then met up with batchofsherlocks (who is awesome) and we waited for the day to begin.
Photos were first and as I had an awesome seat I was in the second group called. As mentioned yesterday, they talked about people who had fainted meeting him and as I got closer, I could understand why. Even though it was really rushed he said “Hi” as I came up to him and then I got to wish him a “Good day” in return to his as I left. Looking at my photo, I don’t understand why I look so tall in it- I’m short and he’s much taller than I am so he must have been bending down else I would not have come up to past his shoulder.
There was a long break between photos and autographs so I went with batch to get lunch then to the library to wait for time to pass (the library at UNSW is awesome though, so many comfortable chairs! It’s a great place to talk to a cool person).
Autographs started a bit after 1:30 and once again I went in one of the first groups. I didn’t have anything for him to sign so I got one of the free photos- one of my favourite publicity shots for Sherlock. He had a little more time to talk this time, asking after my day and allowing me to ask after his. He then forgot the ‘i’ in my name so he had to go back and add it with a little “Oops, almost forgot the ‘i’”. Then he thanked me and I thanked him and I moved off. I didn’t realise until after he said my name- It slipped my mind I was too excited to be there.
The Q&A was supposed to start at 4:30pm but it didn’t start until just after 5pm as autographs ran late. While we were waiting they played loads of clips of interviews, as they had been doing all day, but only the video of Tom Hiddleston vs him in dancing (a bunch of clips edited to Sexy And I Know it) shut the crowd up for long.
Then he came out dancing and the crowd got up and danced with him. He mentioned that this was to give us ‘legal’ dancing as he must have seen the video that played which included the Thriller footage that was stolen from his then girlfriend’s Facebook page. The crowd made a noise that sounded vaguely positive so he went “No not yay, boo”.
Then the first question was asked and it had started! Just so you know, I’ve no memory for details and especially names so I’m going to only be giving general stuff and things might not be in exactly the right order.
I don’t remember everything asked but the first question was about his preparation for Third Star. As he was telling us about how he visited those with the disease and losing weight for the role a glass of wine was brought out. He cut himself off to go “Ooh yeah!” complete with an adorable face then continued on with the question (there’s a video of this moment here) mentioning that the director was an awesome person to work with.
Another question was asked, this time what was the weirdest thing a fan had done to him/given to him. He said he had no clue, to which someone heckled “Go to your mind palace!” He replied that “There are many doors in my mind palace marked not fit for public consumption.”. He told the person who asked the question that he would come back to their question.
There was a question about what book he would want to see made (with him starring). He did give a series he wanted to see done but I can’t remember either the title or author, only that it had five books in it. He then mentioned that there were a few others but he couldn’t talk about them because there are ongoing talks about them. He also asked after a book a fan had had him sign, because he liked the look of it and wanted to read it but had forgotten the title.
Someone asked a question about what it was like acting with his parents. He said that it had been the first day of shooting that the Baker Street scene was filmed so he was nervous, they were nervous so it was all “a bag of nerves really.”. But then by the time they filmed the Christmas bit it was much more relaxed- he said it felt like “Christmas dinner at my parents but with a bunch of actors from Sherlock hanging around with cameras.” He mentioned that it wasn’t much different to how his parents are though he said something about his father wearing different hats.
There was a question about what makes a good director and what were the good experiences he’s had with directors. He described what it was like to work with a few of his directors- I remember his description of Danny Boyle in particular because Cumberbatch mentioned how he made him want to give more, particularly on bad days when he had to use public transport as it was raining so he couldn’t bike. Then he said that he wanted to be a director but he’s not quite there yet.
The person sitting next to me got to ask a question. As they were dressed as Khan, Cumberbatch greeted them as such. But they gave him their actual name and said “I’m better.” He replied “At what?” to which they said “Pretty much everything” and got a laugh. Then they asked a very good question on how he researched Aspergers and autism when preparing for the roles of Sherlock and the Creature. There was a very good and sensitively worded discussion (because the question asker did respond to some points) and while he admits there is a connection between the Creature’s experience and Autism, he is reluctant to call the Creature Autistic. He ended up with a lovely quote that “Everyone is different in different ways, which basically means we’re all the same.”
Someone else asked after his favourite song, which he found on his phone and played it for us. He even got us to wave along to it while he discussed the song. I can’t actually remember what song it was or who it was by but the oz comic con tag has informed me it might have been by Elbow? Whoever they are. It was good.
There was a question on what projects of his we should look out for which lead into a talk on the Alan Turing movie he’s in along with a talk on Alan Tuning. It’s very clear he admires Alan Turing and that Cumberbatch deeply dislikes the circumstances that led to his death. There was also talk of a film that should start filming in June, though I can’t remember the title of it.
One person asked something about his work in relation to the rising popularity/acceptance of geeks which caused him to ask in Khan’s voice “Is Khan a geek?” then in Smaug’s “Is Smaug a geek?” and then like Sherlock “Sherlock’s a geek.” which was very cute. He stated that geeks have “always been secretly running the world.” and waffled on about how great it was that “Brainy is the new Sexy.” as if intelligence is made to be good and is used to make the world better than that can only be good. I got the impression he’s passionate about making the world better, maybe?
There was a question about how come he always seems to be wearing the same shirt in con photos. He snarked that it was a product of “..having access to hotel dry cleaning.” But then he said that it because he didn’t want fans to see photos of him with a different shirt to the one in their photo and like that one more and thus be disappointed so he tries to rotate the same shirts for con appearances.
I think I might be missing some questions but maybe not because he waffled on a lot. Anyway, it was about this point he was told it was the last question to which he responded by asking if an orchestra needed the hall or if someone had left their parking meter running. Then he asked for more questions.
Someone asked what the most embarrassing question on his iPod was, causing him to spend the rest of the Q&A looking through his phone for embarrassing songs. He didn’t find any, stating that he has very good taste in music. But when he first started looking he sung “Puff the magic dragon.” under his voice which got a laugh.
About then, there was a heckle about how he was supposed to go back to the earlier question of what the weirdest thing a fan has done was to which he replied that he hadn’t been thinking about it and stuck by the “I don’t know” he had given earlier. He mentioned that soon after Sherlock season one had aired he had gotten a riding crop in the mail and assumed a fan had sent it- even said so on national television- until Tom Hiddleston had admitted he had sent it.
The MC was really pushing for an end here so the crowd started to just call out questions. Someone asked for him to out dance Hiddleston to which he said “No, I’m not a performing monkey” while still looking for that embarrassing song. Someone else asked what the best part of Australia was to which he replied “All the rude Australians asking these questions” but then he said that no, it was the scenery and the people while describing some of the things he’s done while here (including jumping from an aeroplane!). He only mentioned Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide as being amazing so people called out to include Brisbane to which he said “I get you’re from different places but I’ve not been there!”. He didn’t seem too annoyed by the heckling as he kept stopping his search to answer any question asked that he understood or ask for clarification for those he didn’t.
By now the MC was basically trying to drag him off and he still hadn’t found that embarrassing song (he mentioned that a few artists on his phone were Aussies and good which got a cheer) so he just played a few and said something vague about it being posted for us later. Then he left, to a major cheer.
And that was the day. It was amazing and well worth it.
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