Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Thursday's Children - Inspired by Benedict Cumberbatch


This post could go in a few directions, but I’m going to stick to a direction that’s 1) clean and appropriate for all ages and 2) actually has to do with writing.

I’ve been a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch (I’m sorry, you can’t just call him Benedict – it’s all or nothing) since I first saw Sherlock on Netflix.  I’m a bit of a Sherlock purist, so I was skeptical.  Set in modern times?  Pffft.  But, I loved it.  It’s so true to the original stories and he is the perfect Sherlock.  Arrogant enough that you want to punch him, but still with a quality that makes you like him.  I’m digressing; this is not supposed to be a post about Sherlock.

I’ll be honest, while I consider myself a fan, Sherlock was the only thing I had seen him in until about a week ago when I saw Star Trek Into Darkness.  I was pretty geeked about his movie in general – Star Trek, JJ Abrams, B.C. (I guess I can abbreviate) and a whole bunch of other actors I really like.

I loved the movie, I thought it was great.  But, I was really blown away by the villain played by B.C.  (I think the fact that he is the villain is pretty much common knowledge so I hope that’s not a spoiler.)  He was intelligent, he kept you guessing at times, he used a psychological approach, and he was absolutely brutal.  Surprisingly so, in some regards. 

That’s not something that he had really done before, from what I understand, but he mastered it in my opinion.  If it's possible to be poetic and brutal in the same action, his character was.  He also has one of the best lines in the whole movie…  



Chills, I tell you.

I feel like my villain worship might be starting to sound a little disturbing, but this has a point.

Watching this movie got me thinking about boundaries, and pushing boundaries; about villains that are terrible beyond anything you could imagine.  There is a story I am working on that has a true villain in it.  However, I tend to have a hard time putting my characters through too much, I want to protect them.  This bad guy has potential though.  He has goons, there are physical confrontations, a kidnapping, even a bit of torture for information.  But I don’t just want the physical aspect, I want to get into the psychological side, too.  This is nothing I’ve ever tried before, but I’m inspired to try it now.  Because I think, if you have a villain that is the stuff of nightmares, it only makes the triumph at the end that much more meaningful.

So, I guess you could say Benedict Cumberbatch has inspired me to explore my inner villain...I'm off to see what kind of evil I can conjure up.


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7 comments:

  1. My most recent book has a villain and there is really nothing good about him. When my CPs first started reading the book, they all advised making him less awful as a way of making him more somehow more 3-dimensional and complex. But his complexity lay in his cocktail of evil - base and brutal impulses, obsession, psychological warfare. Bad to the bone. He was lots of fun to write.

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  2. I think villains are the hardest to write... mostly because you really have to flesh out their motivations and backstory so their evil deeds make sense. Bad guys don't come out of the womb heinous and terrible (maybe some would disagree), so they almost have to be the most complicated of our characters to make sense.

    Good luck getting into your bad guys head. And yes, ramp up the psychological torment and make your good guys suffer. That's worse then physical torture, if you do it well. <-- creepy paragraph

    Have fun with it, too!

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  3. I, too, am a huge B.C. fan. I adore him in Sherlock, but holy cow was he absolutely AMAZING in Star Trek! I was blown away by his sheer (but understandable) evilness!

    I cannot wait to read your villain! I'm super excited for your new story!

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  4. "explore my inner villain...I'm off to see what kind of evil I can conjure up." Lol. The first villainous actor I ever fell for was Alan Rickman. You hated him, and loved his vulnerability. I think that's the secret--that, and some really interesting quirks.

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  5. I'm with you. I'm also a fan. When I saw Star Trek, I had chills, too.

    http://www.miaceleste.com/?p=341

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  6. I've not seen any BC's work, but my that is an awesome name to try to use without stumbling. My villains are almost always my favorite characters. How better to torture your MC and raise your stakes? And now I have some new movies to add to my summer list. :)
    ~Dannie @ Left to Write

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  7. He's had some brilliant roles for sure - so I can see why you're inspired! Best of luck bringing your villains to life. They're always so satisfying.

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