The vice guy
What made dysfunctional literary anti-hero Patrick Melrose a passion project for Benedict Cumberbatch?
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH FIRST encountered the Patrick Melrose novels after a friend’s recommendation. “I was just absolutely captivated from the first book in,” admits Cumberbatch, who is now both starring in and producing a television adaptation. Edward St. Aubyn’s five semi-autobiographical books follow the sharp-tongued playboy Melrose across five decades, as he suffers horrific ill-treatment from his family, becomes consumed by substance abuse, and then later, settles into recovery.
“They’re so funny, and coruscatingly witty,” Cumberbatch tells Empire of the five-part book series, with the TV adaptation covering a book an episode. “It’s a real masterpiece of English literature. It touches on universalities of what it is to be a son, a father, a human being, what it is to survive abuse and become somebody who can live beyond anger and self-harm, and go into a place of love, positivity and sincerity.”
In 2013, during an online Q&A on Reddit, Cumberbatch was asked which literary character he’d most like to play. He said Melrose, naturally, thinking nothing of it; almost immediately, the phone rang, and he was in talks. That’s showbiz. Keen to develop the project, he quickly came onboard as a producer, giving feedback to the screenwriter David Nicholls, and discussing potential directors, cast and crew. He’s all over it, yet it’s only his second producing credit.
Empire joins him on set for part of book two, concerning 48 hours during Melrose’s hellraising twenties in New York. Playing a man addled by speed, heroin and coke, Cumberbatch worries he is too high-energy rather than stoned and inebriated; it’s a delicate balance. But this role clearly thrills him.
The Melrose books skewer the upper class, and Cumberbatch likes that this show might offer a different window into that world. “I don’t want to frighten people, but it is, I suppose, like offering a nice biscuit tin, and then opening it and there’s a whole load of wasps in there.” He pauses. “That’s a horrible thing to say, isn’t it? That’s not gonna sell it!” Yes, it is.
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