Weinstein praises Cumberbatch as Alan Turing

Harvey Weinstein has praised Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, the forthcoming biopic of the recently-pardoned World War Two code-breaker.

The famous movie mogul acquired the rights to the biopic, directed by Norwegian film-maker Morten Tyldum, earlier this month (February) for a reported fee of $7 million (£4.2 million).

Speaking to Deadline, Weinstein explained his decision to buy the rights to the film after it was made instead of providing funding upfront.

“Alan Turing is not outwardly very sympathetic,” he said. “He’s brilliant, but the way that Benedict Cumberbatch played him showed us these guys found the right level of vulnerability, genius and the arrogance of the character, too.

“We felt after reading the script that you could get this wrong, from the tone to the casting. The reason we didn’t make it ourselves was, it felt like a near impossible walk on a tightrope. Morten walked the tightrope.”