OMG!!! This is terrifying!
Benedict Cumberbatch is counting his blessings after a truly scary experience in South Africa, more frightening than any film he’s ever been in!
While shooting the 2005 miniseries To the Ends of the Earth, Benedict and two of his buddies were driving through a dangerous area late at night. He explained moment for moment what happened next, saying:
“We were in South Africa, in KwaZulu-Natal, this amazing district north of Durban [but] notoriously dangerous.”
As they made their way down the road, suddenly their car’s front tire blew out, stranding them in the middle of nowhere! Benedict continued:
“We were like sitting ducks, adverts for — not prosperity necessarily but materialism.”
While he and his friends tried to fix their vehicle, six ARMED men emerged from the dark and demanded all of their money and any drugs they had on them! The actor remembers the men screaming:
“They were like: ‘Look down! Look down! Put your hands on your heads! Look at the floor!’ And they started frisking us!”
Benedict was then taken captive and thrown into the abductor’s trunk! He recalls how close to death he came, saying:
“At that point, this adrenaline of fight or flight just exploded in my body. I was like, ‘Oh f*ck, we’re f*cked!’ I was scared, really scared. I said: ‘What are you going to do with us? Are you going to kill us?’ I was really worried that I was going to get raped or molested or just tortured or toyed with in some way, some act of control and savagery.”
After what must have been the most unnerving ride of his life, the captors released Benedict and his friends and sped off! They were later rescued by a native of the area!
That is CRAZY! Talk about traumatic!
Luckily, the Sherlock actor is now alive and well, 8 years after this harrowing ordeal!
His next movie role won’t be quite as dangerous but it is placing him at the center of controversy as he prepares to play WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the upcoming film The Fifth Estate!
[Image via WENN.]