Benedict Cumberbatch on a podcast, discussing his grueling Doctor Strange diet and denouncing Hollywood’s resource waste.
In an interview with Ellen, Benedict Cumberbatch candidly described the diet he followed for Doctor Strange; he referred to it as "horrific." According to the actor, he needed five heavy-calorie meals per day supplemented by protein snacks such as boiled eggs, cheese, crackers, and almond butter in quantities he says could fill a family.
Benedict Cumberbatch, a British actor, is accustomed to drastic physical alteration. The 49-year-old actor opened up about the difficulties of sticking to the strict diet and exercise regimen needed for his role as Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as the wider environmental costs of working in Hollywood while promoting his next movie, The Roses, on the Ruthie's Table 4 podcast.
“For me, the exercise is great. And the end result is that you feel strong and you feel confident you hold yourself better. You have stamina through the exercise and the food that makes you last through the gig,” Benedict said. He acknowledged, though, that the dietary requirements of these positions have a negative impact. However, it is horrifying. Personally, I dislike it. It's terrible, in my opinion, to eat too much. Going back to accountability, ingenuity, and sustainability, it's like, "What am I doing?" With how much I'm eating, I could feed a family," he remarked.
Naturally, the increase in calories fuelled his strength, stamina, and confidence; but he wasn't too happy about having to eat beyond natural hunger. Cumberbatch actually said that the combination aided him in shaping a superhero body but made him feel that it was not the most realistic way of living. Hollywood valorizes noise thus ruining Benedict's own individual horror story among others. So as a personal anecdote, he made a statement about consumption: it was then that he managed to define what portion of Hollywood is really "grossly wasteful."
Examples include energy-intensive set construction, single-use plastics for set design, transportation emissions, and excessive lighting. He did encourage the industry to go greener, saying he was also pushing for sustainability as a producer. Cumberbatch doesn't stand alone in the condemnation. Many Marvel actors, including Paul Rudd and Danny Ramirez, have told of similar struggles while training: bland diets, limited food choices and emotional drain under extreme regimes.
Cumberbatch's remarks would indicate growing recognition of the personal and environmental cost associated with blockbuster filmmaking. Celebrities advocating climate action would now turn advantage of such revelations to clarify the tension between intense physical readiness and its longer-term sustainability.
