After filming The Power of the Dog,Benedict Cumberbatch is more cigarette than man. The actor went hella Method on the set of the Jane Campion film: practicing the banjo, learning how to castrate a bull, and developing a powerful stink. “I wanted that layer of stink on me. I wanted people in the room to know what I smelt like. It was hard, though. It wasn’t just in rehearsals,” he told Esquire UK. “I was going out to eat and meet friends of Jane and stuff. I was a bit embarrassed by the cleaner, in the place I was living.” Part of that layer of stink was cigarette smoke, as the character of Phil Burbank is described as always puffing on a cig “perfectly rolled with one hand.” Cumberbatch dedicated himself to the art of smoking, like the characters of Cowboy Bebop or an Olsen twin. “That was really hard,” he said. “Filterless rollies, just take after take after take. I gave myself nicotine poisoning three times. When you have to smoke a lot, it genuinely is horrible.” According to the American Lung Association, the average cigarette contains 1 milligram of nicotine, and a fatal overdose would be 50 to 60 milligrams. Cumberbatch never OD’d on scarves when he played Sherlock Holmes. Something to think about.

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Esquire UK Benedict Cumberbatch Is an Expert at Method Smoking