EXCLUSIVE: Benedict Cumberbatch says he's not as smart as you think

He's known for being the "smart girl's pinup" amongst other fan nicknames, and it turns out Benedict Cumberbatch seriously lives up to at least one of his labels.

But when Be asked Benedict why he lands so many smart roles, he said it's not from a "great foundation".

“I think the reason why I get smart roles is that I come across that way sometimes, but it’s not from a great foundation," he says.

“But I’m very flattered.”

That’s right, Cumberbabes, your mate Benno is every bit as humble and down-to-earth as you’d think.

Benedict plays a neurosurgeon-turned-super hero in the upcoming Marvel blockbuster Doctor Strange. And from what we've seen of the footage so far, it's his most active role yet.

So how did he handle all those early morning wake-up calls from Hollywood personal trainers?

Well, the 40-year-old tells us that preparing for all those sequences wasn't actually as tough as you'd think, even with a newborn in tow.

"It wasn't really taxing," he told Be from the red carpet of the Hong Kong Doctor Strange fan event. "You have an awfully huge team to support you.

"So as long as you do your work, you're fine - you have a trainer to put you in a reasonably good physical condition to get you through the day and to look good if you need to do any shirts off stuff."

Oh, hello. Does this mean we're going to see Benedict get his shirt off as Doctor Strange? Brace yourselves, Cumberbabes.

He added: "We had some incredible stunt coordinators. Some of which were from Hong Kong for the fight sequences and they really know what they're doing.

"The hardest part for them was reigning in an actor who's not done an awful lot of that all the time - bits here and there - but I'm not an action star per see, so just bringing myself up to speed.

"But it's the same for the character," Benedict explained. "He's good with his hands and he's a surgeon - he's not an action hero at the beginning of the film. So, in a way, his learning curve was also mine."

Earlier that day, Benedict admitted that this action-based role was a step up from what he's used to.

"There were different demands for me doing a film of this scale,” the Sherlock star said of his first super hero role. “Whether it be the hours or the amount of live action involved.

"The physical side of things was a step up for me. But I think like a lot of actors, when you’re in a big film, you can’t think about that, you can’t think about what the preconceptions are going to be, you just try to problem solve moment by moment, day by day.”

“So [it’s] no different from any other role except more running around and physicality I suppose.”

Doctor Strange is out now in cinemas.

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Interviews by Yahoo 7 Be entertainment reporter Yasmin Vought.