Benedict Cumberbatch hates English villain stereotype

BENEDICT Cumberbatch was reluctant to be cast as the bad guy in ‘Star Trek: Into Darkness’ because he hates the fact that the Americans also want to make English actors play villains on screen.

He told The Sun newspaper: “I am very aware of the English tradition of an actor being from a different culture coming over and they are being like, ‘[Oh], this guy does theatre. We’d better give him the bad guy role and a cape and just make him be really horrible.’“

‘The ‘Sherlock’ star also admitted he couldn’t identify with the franchise’s loyal group of fans – known as ‘Trekkies’ – because he has never been obsessed with anything.

Although he was aware of the TV series and films, Benedict admits ‘Star Trek’ didn’t mean a “huge deal” to him growing up.

He confessed: “I watched and knew of it. I’ve seen pretty much every generation of it and I’ve seen some of the films, but I have never been an obsessed fan. BANG!