Benedict Cumberbatch Says He Is Not Like Brad Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio While Discussing Sex Symbol Status: 'Weirdly Navel-Gazing'

Benedict Cumberbatch refutes the idea that he is a “typical movie star”.

Cumberbatch, 48, cited Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio as examples of the kind of actors – and celebrities – he doesn’t consider himself to be like as he talks to Diversity about his new movie, A thing with feathers, in an interview published on Wednesday, January 22.

“I’m not Brad, I’m not Leonardo, I’m not a typical movie star. People were like, ‘Why is he even attractive to us?’ ” he said when asked how he was viewed as a sex symbol after his star rose with a role in the BBC’s Sherlock series. “But for me to guess and try to understand it’s such fucking weird navel gazing. I’m not sitting there thinking, ‘Why am I hot?’ I worry about myself in the mirror as I get older, just like any other dick.”

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Benedict Cumberbatch December 10, 2024

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The Doctor Strange star — who has been featured in more than one PEOPLE magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive issue over the years — is also not a fan of the idea that he’s a “celebrity.” But the outlet noted that his fame is the reason his new indie drama was made in the first place.

“It’s so derogatory, and it just lumps everyone famous together,” he said of the term “celebrity.” The actor added: “Am I a ‘celebrated’ person? Well, for what? To sell cheese? To participate in a reality show? Because you did something outrageous? Because I’m an actor?”

Cumberbatch’s new film premieres at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on Friday, January 25 in Park City, Utah. In the film, Cumberbatch portrays a man grieving the death of his wife and struggling to care for his two young children; as Diversity states, his character begins to lose his grasp on reality and imagines “that he and his children are being terrorized by a monstrous crow”.

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Benedict Cumberbatch on October 11, 2021 in London, England.

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The film marks Cumberbatch’s first feature film role since 2023, when he appeared in the Clarence book. In the same year, he also appeared in a Netflix short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugardirected by Wes Anderson. The actor, who has three sons with wife Sophie Hunter, last played Stephen Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2022. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Cumberbatch also teased Diversity about the future of Doctor Strange in the MCU, confirming that the character will not actually appear in 2026. Avengers: Judgment Day due to changes after Marvel dropped actor Jonathan Majors and his character, Kang the Conqueror, from their 2023 story plans.

Doctor Strange, however, will return in 2027 Avengers: Secret Wars and for a potential third solo film, Cumberbatch said. “He’s very central to where things could go,” he noted.

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Source: HIS Education