New Company for Benedict Cumberbatch; ‘Little Favour’ Hits Web
The first short film from independent production company SunnyMarch has been launched, and one of the key people in charge is actor Benedict Cumberbatch. Along with Adam Ackland, Adam Selves and Ben Dilon, Little Favor, a short action film made for 87,000 pounds, was released recently in London and then hit the web (currently it’s at the top of the iTunes chart in the UK).
“We’re at an exciting juncture,” said Cumberbatch. “We’ve made our first effort as a team and we’re aiming to make a concrete statement in the next few months about what we’re going to do next. We want a varied slate. There will be a feature to announce in the next few months.”
Cumberbatch went on to add that scripts are currently in development and ready to option, and he also didn’t rule out TV work. Ultimately the goal, through access to agencies in the US, is to get a name. “It’s about building a reputation and slate off the back of this short.”
Ackland, an Assistant Director who met Cumberbatch on the BBC mini-series The Last Enemy, addressed the content. “We want to tell different stories via quality independent films. Action-thrillers are a direction we want to go in but it’s not the only direction.” Selves, meanwhile, is acting as one of the writers for the company on one of the first features.
Cumberbatch in Motion-Capture mode for The Hobbit
Cumberbatch, who this year played anti-hero (?) Julian Assange and rebooted villain Khan in The Fifth Estate and Star Trek Into Darkness respectively, was a little surprised with what he was capable of in the short, which is fairly violent and about a former soldier battling criminals as well as his inner demons.
“I don’t think I’ve done anything quite as violent but that’s purposeful,” he said. “It’s brutal and it should be shocking. My character has re-assimilated as best he can but he is deeply traumatized. The film also has an important message about child-soldiers. Many people don’t realize that 40% of child soldiers are girls.” And commenting on how different this person is than a Khan, “This character has seen real-world conflict. It’s definitely a direction I want my career to go in. Anything I haven’t done, I’d like to try. A romantic lead, for example.”
As for his future projects, such as a reputed role in the thriller Everest: “I want to do it all. I want to climb mountains, go through jungles, fight wars in space, get the girl, shoot the bad-guy full of lead, have all the zippy one liners, bulge muscles out of a singlet, drip sweat and blood on screen, all of that.”
Shot on the Sony F65 camera, the short is available as of yesterday. See the trailer below:
