Benedict Cumberbatch will go from Star Trek to The Imitation Game. Deadline reports that the Sherlock Holmes actor will play English mathematician Alan Turing in the film, which will be directed by Morten Tyldum (Headhunters). The screenplay was penned by Graham Moore about the math genius. Cumberbatch is still in talks, but looks close to signing on for the role of Turin.
Turin is best known for being "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. In what seems shocking today, the hero was forced to make a radical choice, and he chose chemical castration over prison. He was so demoralized that he eventually committed suicide by eating a cyanide-laced apple."
The project has jumped around a bit, starting out on the 2011 Black List and then moving to Warner Bros. with Leonardo DiCaprio expected to star. The rights reverted back to the screenwriter, and DiCaprio has since moved on to play a serial killer in The Devil In The White City for WB. The Imitation Game will be financed by Black Bear. It has yet to find a distributor, but that will likely change because this could easily be primed for an Oscar.
Cumberbatch is fantastic as Sherlock Holmes, and I am looking forward to seeing him in the new Star Trek movie. He is a great character actor, and is great at turning himself into the character he is playing.