Benedict Cumberbatch Interview For ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ – Out December 9th In The US

John Le Carré’s classic tale of treachery and espionage, directed by Tomas Alfredson, features a stellar cast including Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Kathy Burke, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciarán Hinds, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Simon McBurney, David Dencik, Roger Lloyd Pack, Stephen Graham, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Konstantin Khabensky and Mark Strong. The must-see big-screen version of Le Carré’s best-selling Cold War novel, ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,’ set in the 1970s, finds George Smiley (Gary Oldman), a recently retired MI6 agent, doing his best to adjust to a life outside the secret service. However, when a disgraced agent reappears with information concerning a mole at the heart of the Circus, Smiley is drawn back into the murky field of espionage. Tasked with investigating which of his trusted former colleagues has chosen to betray him and their country, Smiley narrows his search to four suspects – all experienced, urbane, successful agents – but past histories, rivalries and friendships make it far from easy to pinpoint the man who is eating away at the heart of the British establishment. ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ opens in the US December 9th.

There’s so much layers to your character in this film, I can imagine taking on this role was a no-brainer?

Benedict Cumberbatch: Certainly. It’s a fantastic role, there’s a lovely character arc to play with him. At the start he’s pretty innocent, then by the end of the film he’s almost as equally corrupt and compromised as the masters he’s serving. There’s a very interesting relationship with Smiley, which is almost paternal, this real admiration for this man. The script was fantastically tight, there was an awful lot of brilliant suggestion and subtext to play. Playing a spy is a fantastically thrilling thing to do anyway, because you’re constantly having to shift masks depending on what company you’re in – and what a company of actors! When I heard Gary Oldman was playing Smiley, I just couldn’t believe my luck at being asked to play his right hand man. Also, it’s a phenomenal thing to work with a director like Tomas Alfredson, he’s a master at perversing the obvious, there’s no cliché in his work – that was a huge draw.

There’s so much subtext with the characters, how difficult was that to bring to life? Your character sacrifices an awfukl lot with his job.

Benedict Cumberbatch: I think in many ways the film is an essay on being male in a work place, in a very extraordinary work place at that. I think it’s about male loneliness in that world. It’s quite loveless, the sacrifice means you’re alone, you’re alienated, all your left with is the trust of your colleagues, and whatever morality is driving your work in that landscape. Specifically for this film, it’s beautifully drawn out by the script, an adaptation of a masterpiece all the subtext, the back-story. Also with conversations with Tomas, I tried to carve out some kind of a back history for my character, to understand why there was that loyalty in place to Smiley, for my character to make those sacrifices. I think what’s brought out in the film beautifully – in every characters arc and journey through the story – is that sacrifice, that level of personal sacrifice. I have it on very good authority that we touched nerves that are quite true to the lives that are involved in that world.

How was that working alongside Gary Oldman and then the rest of the cast, especially considering all the duplicity and hidden agendas on display in the film?

Benedict Cumberbatch: It was inspiring, Gary Oldman has been an acting hero of mine and my generation since as long as I can remember being able to watch films he was in. He’s unique, and we got on incredibly well. There’s no sides to Gary, in that he’s not precious, he’s an actor who began in the theatre, like a lot of us do in England. We have a lot in common, I’ve made a friend out of this experience of working with him, which is a really treasured thing.

I was a novice at the high-table of talent in this film (laughs). John Hurt, Mark Strong, Gary, Toby Jones, Ciaran Hinds, Kathy Burk, Stephen Graham, Tom Hardy, Colin Firth, I could go on and on, the list is amazing. I was hugely flattered to be asked to be apart of the film. It’s the kind of role, in the kind of film, that you crave to have as an actor because it involves subtle shifts, it’s not about everything being on enormous display, whereas I suppose the pyrotechnics of ‘Sherlock,’ fun that they are, there’s a lot less subtlety to it.

Like you said before, there’s an almost paternal relationship between Smiley and Peter – there’s a great reverence your character displays towards Smiley….

Benedict Cumberbatch: I think they’ve got a past as well, in a past operation they maybe relied on each other. I think Peter looks to Smiley as somebody who defines the ethos and morality of this very slippery terrain that these people work in. He seems to be on the side of the angels, even though he may not be one, he’s doing the right thing. I think it’s born out of a loyalty to him which is both clearly fighting the right cause, but also probably to do with their past history as people who have worked with each other very closely together before Smiley was ousted from the Circus – that loyalty is tested to the full in this.