Benedict Cumberbatch appears to have found his next role playing English mathematician Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.
The screenplay for the film by Graham Moore appeared on the 2011 Black List of best unproduced screenplays, and was originally set up as a Leonardo Dicaprio vehicle at Warner Bros. before Cumberbatch became involved.
Deadline‘s Mike Fleming broke the news, writing:
Headhunters helmer Morten Tyldum recently signed on to direct, and I hear it will be Cumberbatch (he’s in deep conversations but hasn’t yet signed a deal) who plays the genius most responsible for cracking the German “Enigma Code” during World War II that helped the Allies stave off defeat, and who would later be prosecuted by Britain in the early 1950s for being a homosexual.
Black Bear is fully financing the project, which should garner distribution attention given Cumberbatch’s involvement and a subject matter that screams “Oscar.” Cumberbatch has a packed schedule, with Star Trek Into Darkness, The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, The Fifth Estate, August: Osage County, and Twelve Years A Slave all on the horizon, not to mention the third season of Sherlock.
It’s certainly exciting to hear Cumberbatch involved in such a great project, and we’ll be following production on the film closely as it nears its shoot.
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