Ep. 32 BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

Explicit content warning

07/26/19 • 56 min

"Enjoy the journey of life and not just the end game".

He's played a dragon, a sorcerer, a detective, a whistleblower, a coding breaker and an inter-galactic evil genius - and in his first ever stage performance in the nativity as Joseph on at primary school, he pushed Mary off stage because she was taking too long.

So what makes Benedict Cumberbatch tick? What inspires him? And what creative skills can we learn from the characters he's played? This episode looks into all this and more.

SHOW NOTES

My slightly schizophrenic on-the-fly notes written not long after I woke up

Next on your reading list?

Sol Lewitt's letter to Eva Hesse

This episode's recording dashboard from Backpack Studio

Personality Insights Graph of Matthew McConaughey's Oscars speech via IBM Watson (not John Watson!)

Transcript of Matthew McConaughey's Speech

2 March 2014, Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, California, USA

Thank you -- all of these performances were impeccable. In my opinion I didn't see a false note anywhere. I want to thank Jean-Marc Vallee our director. I want to thank Jared Leto and Jennifer Garner who I worked with daily. There are three things that I need each day. One, I need something to look up to, another to look forward to, and another is someone to chase. First off, I want to thank God because that's who I look up. He's graced my life with opportunities that I know are not of my hand or of any other hand. He's shown me that it's a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates. To my family is to what I look forward to. To my father who I know is up there ri...

"Enjoy the journey of life and not just the end game".

So what makes Benedict Cumberbatch tick? What inspires him? And what creative skills can we learn from the characters he's played? This episode looks into all this and more.

SHOW NOTES

My slightly schizophrenic on-the-fly notes written not long after I woke up

Next on your reading list?

Sol Lewitt's letter to Eva Hesse

This episode's recording dashboard from Backpack Studio

Personality Insights Graph of Matthew McConaughey's Oscars speech via IBM Watson (not John Watson!)

Transcript of Matthew McConaughey's Speech

2 March 2014, Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, California, USA

Previous Episode

Ep. 31 MARK RONSON

"Take the things that you love and build on them."

What does Academy award-winning DJ and producer Mark Ronson have in common with marketing hustler Gary Vaynerchuk? Both of them believe that the future belongs to the DJ's.

"Life is not about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself". Bob Dylan

In this episode I take a look at inspirational advice from Mark Ronson about how you can write yourself into the story of something (or someone) you love, and contrast it with practical advice from Gary Vaynerchuk about how exactly you and I can do that. Featuring "cameos" from Bob Dylan and David Bowie, this show is for anyone to wants to re-create their own story by curating someone else's.

Mark Ronson's TED Talk
Everything is a Re-Mix (Brilliant short documentary by Kirby Ferguson)
Gary Vaynerchuk - "It takes 2 cents to grow a wine show"
Vaynerchuk Keynote at Web 2.0 Expo NY (2008)

Next Episode

Ep. 33 Sir DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

"Nothing stays the same and it can't remain the same".

He's been in broadcasting for over 65 years and is regarded by his friends as a 93-year old trapped in a teenagers body. He's the only presenter to win a BAFTA for shows in black and white, colour, HD, 3D and 4K. This episode is devoted to the man who taught us all about the natural world and how we need to take more care of this fragile blue marble that we find ourselves on.

In this extended special edition, I look behind the scenes at what makes him a great presenter and what he thinks are the secrets to his success.