{"id":166523,"date":"2025-11-29T20:17:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T20:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/166523\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T20:17:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T20:17:07","slug":"benedict-cumberbatchs-adaptation-of-novel-that-inspired-james-bond-gets-promising-update-9-years-after-being-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/166523\/","title":{"rendered":"Benedict Cumberbatch\u2019s Adaptation Of Novel That Inspired James Bond Gets Promising Update 9 Years After Being Announced"},"content":{"rendered":"

Benedict Cumberbatch<\/a> still has designs on playing the lead in a new take on the 1939 man-on-the-run novel that helped inspire the character of James Bond.<\/p>\n

Rogue Male was first announced to be entering development back in 2016, but little has been heard about the project since. Recently, Cumberbatch updated the movie\u2019s status with an assurance that it is indeed still on, and will begin shooting in the near future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t got a filming date yet, but it\u2019s something we\u2019re trying to slate for next year,\u201d the Doctor Strange<\/a> star confidently stated (via Smartless<\/a>), adding \u201cWe will make it, definitely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding time to shoot Rogue Male continues to be complicated by, in Cumberbatch\u2019s own words, \u201cother huge commitments involving cloaks floating about,\u201d an apparent reference to his ongoing involvement in the MCU.<\/p>\n

Cumberbatch possibly confirmed back in January 2025 that he is slated to return as Stephen Strange in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday,<\/a> though he didn’t seem entirely sure. When asked in a recent interview with ScreenRant to elaborate on his involvement in the MCU<\/a>, Cumberbatch declined, saying, “Honestly, it’s just not worth the backlash, trouble, and the boring nature of any answer following me around forever.”<\/p>\n

When he finally finds the time to star in Rogue Male, Cumberbatch will play an English crackshot on vacation somewhere in 1930s Europe who seeks the unique thrill of getting the continent\u2019s most fearsome dictator in his sniper sight.<\/p>\n

The man succeeds in drawing a bead on the unnamed dictator only to be captured, tortured, and left for dead. The story then develops into a man-on-the-run thriller that Cumberbatch indirectly compares to Harrison Ford\u2019s classic The Fugitive, while also referencing the original novel\u2019s inspiration on the man who created 007.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the original fugitive novel and a huge inspiration for Ian Fleming for Bond,\u201d Cumberbatch said.<\/p>\n

But the star characterizes Rogue Male as something more than just a great old yarn, saying of its story, \u201cIt\u2019s fascinating how it plays into the political spectrum of what\u2019s going on in the world right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tale that was first published by author Geoffrey Household back in 1939, and was first adapted into a film by the legendary director Fritz Lang as 1941\u2019s Man Hunt<\/a>. Peter O\u2019Toole starred in a later adaptation made for BBC TV.<\/p>\n

Assassin\u2019s Creed movie writer Michael Lesslie was reported in 2016 to be penning the Rogue Male script. Cumberbatch can currently be seen in the U.K. and Ireland starring in the film The Thing With Feathers. His 2025 black comedy The Roses recently became available on Hulu.<\/p>\n

\"Headshot
\n Headshot Of Benedict Cumberbatch In The Doctor Strange Premiere<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tBirthdate \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJuly 19, 1976<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tBirthplace \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLondon, England<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tHeight \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t6 feet 0 inches<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benedict Cumberbatch still has designs on playing the lead in a new take on the 1939 man-on-the-run novel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,270],"class_list":["post-166523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}