As any fan of “The Hobbit” knows, Benedict Cumberbatch is no stranger to voiceover work – though his latest animated character feels a little less familiar to him than Smaug the dragon.
“It's odd because it doesn't look anything like me. And not because it's a wolf,” joked Cumberbatch while promoting his role as wolf leader Classified in the forthcoming “Madagascar” spin-off “Penguins of Madagascar.” “I could see bits of [myself in] Smaug cause I did lots of facial captures…so even being a dragon, despite being a biped mammal, I saw myself in that fire-breathing serpent of how many hundreds of years old…but yeah, being a wolf, it feels a little bit sometimes when I'm watching it like I'm dubbing someone else's performance.”
Luckily for the “Sherlock” star, he didn't have to change up his natural speaking patterns too much for the role.
“I wanted to give him a sort of serious Englishness and pomposity,” said Cumberbatch winkingly, “so yeah, I kept my voice for that.”
Want to hear more from Cumberbatch? Watch the full interview above.
“Penguins of Madagascar” hits theaters on November 26.