Watch Benedict Cumberbatch Perform For THE HOBBIT: DESOLATION OF SMAUG

Watch Benedict Cumberbatch Perform For THE HOBBIT: DESOLATION OF SMAUG

When director Peter Jackson hired Benedict Cumberbatch to voice the dragon in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug the Sherlock star decided to provide an unnecessary motion-capture performance because as he says, it would help "characterize him (Smaug)."

By nailbiter111 - Feb 21, 2014 04:02 PM EST
Filed Under: Fantasy
Source: hollywoodreporter



The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug continues the adventure of the title character Bilbo Baggins as he journeys with the Wizard Gandalf and thirteen Dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield, on an epic quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain and the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor.

Having survived the beginning of their unexpected journey, the Company continues East, encountering along the way the skin-changer Beorn and a swarm of giant Spiders in the treacherous forest of Mirkwood. After escaping capture by the dangerous Wood-elves, the Dwarves journey to Lake-town, and finally to the Lonely Mountain itself, where they must face the greatest danger of all - a creature more terrifying than any other; one which will test not only the depth of their courage but the limits of their friendship and the wisdom of the journey itself - the Dragon Smaug.

Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey, with Martin Freeman in the central role of Bilbo Baggins, and Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield. The international ensemble cast is led by Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Ken Stott, James Nesbitt, and Orlando Bloom as Legolas. The film also stars (in alphabetical order) John Bell, Manu Bennett, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Ryan Gage, Mark Hadlow, Peter Hambleton, Stephen Hunter, William Kircher, Lawrence Makoare, Sylvester McCoy, Graham McTavish, Dean O'Gorman, Mikael Persbrandt, and Aidan Turner.
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Mrcool210
Mrcool210 - 2/21/2014, 4:09 PM
Smaug was the best part of that movie, he made the whole thing worth it, god he kicked ass
frova
frova - 2/21/2014, 4:13 PM
this better win best visual effects this year
frova
frova - 2/21/2014, 4:13 PM
Absolutely incredible film - a must see. Much much better than the first, and definitely on par with the LOTR trilogy
frova
frova - 2/21/2014, 4:14 PM
Benedict Cabbagepatch Kid
frova
frova - 2/21/2014, 4:14 PM
5th
SpiderFraud
SpiderFraud - 2/21/2014, 4:23 PM
Hobbit is dang sure not winning visual effects...that ending with the gold looked horrible.
MrCBM56
MrCBM56 - 2/21/2014, 4:25 PM
Smaug was FANTASTIC! Best villain of 2013.
THEDARKKNIGHT1939
THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - 2/21/2014, 4:29 PM
To motion capture a dragon is a bit pointless
marvel72
marvel72 - 2/21/2014, 4:29 PM
fantastic villain portrayed by a fantastic actor.
patriautism
patriautism - 2/21/2014, 4:31 PM
All this work going into Smaug and he still isn't even a dragon they made him a wyvern, Just like on Harry Potter AND Game of Thrones. What is with them changing all dragons to wyverns these days? Oh well I guess if they were REAl dragons would probably look more like wyverns.
Batmanofsteel
Batmanofsteel - 2/21/2014, 4:34 PM
Benedict did an amazing job as Smaug.
TopCat89
TopCat89 - 2/21/2014, 4:36 PM
I'd love to to do motion capture, what an experience....it looks like Benedict was having so much fun with it.

"Smaug was FANTASTIC! Best villain of 2013." - Agreed, he stole the show for me, the ending line to the film sent a shiver down my spine.
Eustace
Eustace - 2/21/2014, 4:37 PM
Benedict Cumberbatch was great as Smaug, but I would not have minded seeing how Idris Elba or Michael Fassbender would have approached the role of Smaug.
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 2/21/2014, 4:37 PM
Got to pull a Grif on this one. Shit movie.
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 2/21/2014, 4:40 PM
@patriautism, Thank you! You're literally one of the only people I've seen even bring this up. In Tolkien's book, he referred to dragons as "worms" sometimes, so Peter Jackson figured he'd make Smaug slither around like a snake/worm and literally change how he looked from the 1st movie to the 2nd, and make him a wyvern.

Little does Jackson know that Medieval writers constantly referred to dragons as worms. That didn't mean they're literally worms or wyverns. Smaug's supposed to be a DRAGON. I wouldn't mind that so much, but Game of Thrones does it 10 times better.
AC1
AC1 - 2/21/2014, 4:40 PM
Smaug was incredible, Jackson, Cumberbatch and of course Weta did a phenomenal job with him.
Reasonnnn
Reasonnnn - 2/21/2014, 4:41 PM
You guys are delusional as [frick] if this series is on par with LotR. GIVE ME PRACTICAL SETS INSTEAD OF GEORGE LUCAS GREENSCREEN SETS ALL DAY
ALegendaryPanda
ALegendaryPanda - 2/21/2014, 4:44 PM
Amazing villain! Awesome movie! I can't wait for There and Back Again.
BatmanHeisenberg
BatmanHeisenberg - 2/21/2014, 4:47 PM
Awesome shit! And JesseHeisenberg, this is a small message for you.

ALegendaryPanda
ALegendaryPanda - 2/21/2014, 5:17 PM
Well if he felt like he could give a better performance through motion capture then I don't see what the big deal is. It obviously turned out well in the end.
TonyChu
TonyChu - 2/21/2014, 5:53 PM
@blackandyellow I'm dying laughing over here!
MightyZeus
MightyZeus - 2/21/2014, 6:00 PM
The highlight of The Hobbit 2 was Smaug.

SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 2/21/2014, 6:00 PM
Oh shut up LastAvenger99. Judging by your first comment (which nail deleted, thank God) and now this one, you're ridiculously immature and ignorant. "Unnecessary" wasn't a word nail picked out of thin air, it really WAS unnecessary because they weren't planning on having a motion capture performance for Smaug. Cumberbatch insisted, and so they let him.

If anything, the phrasing of the article praised Cumberbatch's work ethic as an actor. Getting your panties in a bunch over a single word in a teaser is ridiculous. So no, he's not the reason why this site gets a "bad rep." It's ignorant, uninformed, mindless users like you. Looking forward to your latest comment getting deleted as well!
InfinityGauntlet
InfinityGauntlet - 2/21/2014, 6:03 PM
Cool, Cumberbatch did a great job,
putting a bit more effort into something is a good thing.
Also would be nice to see Cumberbatch as Strange.
Greengo
Greengo - 2/21/2014, 6:13 PM
Hmmm you must be new here lol.
Greengo
Greengo - 2/21/2014, 6:14 PM
Up your nose with a rubber hose!
soberchimera
soberchimera - 2/21/2014, 6:24 PM
See Smaug had a snout and they made his facial features convincing when he was delivering his dialogue, why couldn't the do the same with The Lizard in TASM instead of giving him the goomba look?
NicolausCopernicus
NicolausCopernicus - 2/21/2014, 6:26 PM
Awesome CGI and FX, alltough the use of GoPros cameras in the Barrels Scene was weird
Dmon
Dmon - 2/21/2014, 7:38 PM
So many people on this site on this guy's cock and always wanting to fan cast him in shit. It gets really old and is very unimaginative.
superotherside
superotherside - 2/21/2014, 7:39 PM
Everyone did a great job in this film.
kisama
kisama - 2/21/2014, 8:16 PM
[frick]ing beautiful
Facade
Facade - 2/21/2014, 8:20 PM
Not sure how anyone could criticize how Smaug looked in Hobbit...probably find fault in your own penis size.
MrCameron
MrCameron - 2/21/2014, 10:06 PM
Once again Peter Jackson set a new benchmark for CGI characters. Just seeing Smaug was worth the price of admission alone.
MrSundayMovies
MrSundayMovies - 2/21/2014, 10:17 PM
Like this movie or not, that's an amazing dragon.
Varanus
Varanus - 2/21/2014, 10:32 PM
Smaug was awesome.
GUNSMITH
GUNSMITH - 2/22/2014, 2:49 AM
WETA IS TOPS FOR ME
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