“Everyone knows who won,” Benedict Cumberbatch declares in the first trailer for Brexit, the HBO film in which he plays Dominic Cummings—the political mastermind behind Vote Leave, the controversial campaign in part responsible for U.K. voters deciding to disentangle their country from the European Union. “But not everyone knows how.”
The film, directed by Cumberbatchs Sherlock collaborator Toby Haynes, hopes to enlighten viewers—taking them behind the curtain to show how Cummings “hack[ed] the political system,” exploiting peoples fears about immigration and race on social media.
The film premieres January 19—about two and a half years after the Brexit vote. Cumberbatch told The Spectator that he was drawn to the script, from playwright James Graham, which was so compelling that it “read like a thriller [even though] I know the outcome. Im being sucked into it—these characters, their intelligence, the wit of it, the emotional power of the drama.”
To play Cummings, Cumberbatch spent time with the real-life strategist. Cummingss wife, Mary Wakefield—deputy editor of The Spectator—recently wrote about Cumberbatchs visit to the family home and his uncanny portrayal of her husband. Wakefield asked the actor—who supports the European Union—what it was like to play someone who masterminded the E.U.s dissolution.
“I feel a natural empathy towards the [characters I play] and I [like] the idea of trying to inhabit part of their lives, intellectually and also physically as well,” Cumberbatch said. “I enjoy that process of transformation and chipping away from myself into a persons outlook.” On the subject of bridging the vast political divide, Cumberbatch added, “I am very wary of coming across as being wordy or preachy, but its really about listening to each other, all of us. And to inhabit someone elses point of view is part of the way of going towards that.”
Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Julie MillerJulie Miller is a Senior Hollywood writer for Vanity Fairs website.
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