Benedict Cumberbatch: Bosses said “no” to Eric’s original voice

Benedict Cumberbatch has revealed that Eric’s bosses said “no” to the original voice he invented for his role.

While promoting the brand new Netflix series, the actor exclusively told Digital Spy how the sound of the 1980s puppeteer Vincent had to “belong to my body”.

“I wanted to push it a little bit and create something more surprising than the lower register that I can produce, because it limits the range. It limits the possibilities of adding characterization and color to the expression when you have a voice with my pitch and then push it lower,” he said.

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Apparently, the team behind Eric rejected his initial efforts.

“I’m pretty happy with it,” Cumberbatch added, finally settling on a voice that everyone liked.

“I’m one of the worst critics of my own work. I don’t read reviews, so who knows. But for me, I agree that it had to come from something that was closely connected to Vincent. And that’s why it was a playful thing. We wanted him to be working class.”

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The “Doctor Strange” star was looking for a certain “roughness” that would then “transfer to the person he is at the end of the series.”

“I mean the show within the show, the actual puppetry that he’s made for – which is someone who’s been in a dark place and is trying to get into the light and is scared of it because he doesn’t know what light is.

“In his recent versions, there is a certain slight vulnerability in his voice. But yes, make him humorous too, make him funny too, make him dangerous too,” he concluded.

In the six episodes of Eric, Cumberbatch plays a man desperately trying to find his missing son Edgar, clinging to a series of drawings by Edgar depicting a blue monster named Eric. The creature becomes his only ally as those around Vincent begin to turn away from him.

Eric is now streaming on Netflix.

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