Benedict Cumberbatch (London, 50 years old) has participated in some of the highest-grossing films in cinema history playing the role of Doctor Strange, the supreme sorcerer of the Marvel universe. Next December, however, the British actor is not expected in the cast of the highly anticipated film Avengers: Doomsday, packed with superheroes played by other colleagues such as Chris Hemsworth, Pedro Pascal, or Chris Evans. Cumberbatch, on the other hand, has reserved his efforts to try to improve and save the world in his own way, presenting a documentary that explores our vital connection with nature and the consequences of climate change. “Living nature is much more valuable to us than dead nature,” he defended this Tuesday, August 15, in an interview with The Guardian.
How to Live on Earth will not be released in theaters, but on YouTube, where it will be available from September 20. The film, directed by Fredi Devas, combines Cumberbatch’s accounts from settings such as the Natural History Museum in London with images showing activists, scientists, or chefs “learning a new way to live on Earth” to prevent humanity from continuing to harm itself. “Let’s hope that what we are seeing now in this last fight against extractive industries shows that, in reality, we do not want to promote that, nor all the other unpleasant things of populism and nationalism,” the actor says in the interview with the British media.
Cumberbatch himself has been publicly showing his attempts to rethink his relationship with the planet in a better way for years. Almost a decade ago, he shared that he was vegan, something that, according to him in The Guardian, caused him a problem during the filming of The Courier in 2020. In this film based on a true story, the Emmy winner — in 2014, for Sherlock — plays a British spy languishing in a Russian prison, for which he had to lose a considerable amount of weight. “They told me: ‘You can’t consume fiber in the last two weeks. You have to eat lean meat [which contains less than 10 grams of total fat per 100 grams of weight].’ And I told them: ‘I’m vegan!’” he recalls. This sudden diet caused him a drastic drop in blood sugar: “People told me: ‘You should think about eating some meat now, because your body doesn’t work well under these conditions, you have lost a lot of weight.’” Now he occasionally consumes meat, but, according to him, he tries to obtain it ethically, opting, for example, for venison — whose population is being culled in the United Kingdom to curb its historic overpopulation —.
The actor participated in Extinction Rebellion protests in 2019 and also collaborates with the Green Rider movement, which seeks to “drive the film and television industry towards a fairer and healthier way of working,” according to its website. Among its supporters, besides Cumberbatch, are Bella Ramsey, Mark Ruffalo, Olivia Colman, and Emma D’Arcy, among many others. One of their main demands is that actors reduce pollution and emissions during filming as a condition to participate in it. “What we are looking for is for it to become a contractual agreement,” explains the actor. “We are currently working with Disney on their Avengers project in the UK [the film Avengers: Secret Wars, expected to be released at the end of 2027, is being filmed at Pinewood Studios in London]. So yes, the initiative is gaining momentum, and everyone around me with whom I talk about it agrees,” he states.
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Cumberbatch confirms to the British media that he would never buy a private jet, but avoids attacking other stars and celebrities who constantly use them. “We waste energy if we dedicate ourselves to criticizing and calling others hypocrites. The fashion industry pollutes more than aviation, and the food industry much more,” he maintains. He also confesses that he has a love-hate relationship with his mobile phone, which he says he pays less and less attention to — he doesn’t even have social media. “For half a year, I haven’t dared to look at the number of unanswered WhatsApps and emails. They are thousands. I can’t handle that,” he admits.
The documentary shows the viewer remote places such as the Amazon or Alaska, but also invites them to seek nature in their nearby environment and help cultivate it in cities. The actor, for his part, encourages incorporating the film’s message into each person’s daily life: “Now I make sure to spend much more time in nature when I’m in London. As a child, one has that capacity for wonder that, unfortunately, we lose. There are many factors that weaken it throughout our evolution as human beings. So hold on to it and realize how valuable it is.”
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