(Bonus episode) Benedict Cumberbatch on the health toll of weight gain and loss as an actor

In the final bonus episode of season 4, Benedict Cumberbatch discusses his role in The Courier, and the toll it takes on actors' health to gain and lose weight for a part.

Ruthie's Table 4, made in partnership with Moncler.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You were listening to Ruthie's Table four in partnership with Montclair.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Well, tell me about being a vegan.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
I was a vegan for a while. Yeah, about being
a vegan or a vagan, I'm a vague vegan. I
was a vague vegan. I mean, I guess my friends
would love hearing that, because I sort of suppose I was.
I didn't give up eggs. I've been interested in ethical
consumerism for a while, so that's what made me go
for it for about eighteen months.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Which how did you feel? Did you feel? Well?

Speaker 1 (00:28):
It wasn't great, no for me, and I don't think
I ever got it quite right. I was pretty gassy, Ruthie.
I'll tell you that now because we're friends and I'm
not vegan anymore, so there's no excuse. But I was
pretty gassy, and I just the thing that tipped it
for me actually was weirdly. I had to lose weight
for a job called The Courier about a man who

(00:49):
is imprisoned in Russia and a gulag having been caught
trying to get a friend of his out. The highest
ranking Soviet official that ever turned informa during the Cold War,
called Penkowski, Conor Penkowski. Anyway, in that story, this real man,
you know, a salesman with a very portly appearance, went
into a Russian guleg for nearly two and a half

(01:10):
years and came out in the same clothes of his
show trial in Moscow, where he was looking scared but
still quite rotund, and he just looked like a different
human being. You wouldn't believe that it was the same clothes.
Obviously he had a shaved head, but he also just
looked skeletal. I thought, I've got to honor this, and
we didn't have the budget to SF exit, so I
just thought, I've got to honor that. The least I

(01:31):
could do. He went through a gooleg for two and a.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Half years, so I didn't have to. But it's amazing
that you did.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
And I was lucky enough to be producing that one.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
You did, thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
But I was lucky enough to produce it, so I
guess I had a little bit of a you know,
a leeway to make it work with down tools for
three months. And the vegan diet was perfect. It was
really perfect, but I did a lot. I did it
really healthy. I didn't stop eating. I didn't eat a
tiny bit less near the end. But the point is
there was a lot of exercise, cold water swimming, kind
of stenics and yoga and all that stuff, and I

(02:01):
just I did it the healthy way. And then the
last sort of two weeks is where it got weird,
and they went, you can't have any fiber now because
that's water retentive. So well, by my diet is entirely
fibrous because it's vegetables and fruit, and well, got to
eat some lean meat. I'm afraid if you want to
lose those final pounds. I was like, oh shit, so
I did. I had some steak and it was not
particularly nice. I had a few moments of leaning across

(02:24):
to a friend's plate in you know, vegan land for
eighteen months ago. I just had a little, one tiny
bit and didn't sort of throw up all all get
back on the meat wagon. But this was a pure
diet of meat for two weeks. And I was really like,
this is horrendous, such a complete kind of turnaround. And
then the last day was caffeine and skittles another sugar. Yeah,

(02:44):
which sounds great, but actually it's just horrible that Trucker's diet.
But it's what bodybuilders do it. It dehydrates your cells
so that they wrap around your muscle and your whatever
tissues left and your bones. Do not try this own people.
It's horrendous. But it gave me that really startling better
weight loss for what was literally four scenes. Anyway, So

(03:05):
I did that, and then afterwards, instead of going right
now back on the barbecue, I kind of craved salad
than fruit. That's all I wanted to eat. So I
went back on the vegetables, and then I couldn't put
the weight on and I wasn't feeling very healthy. Yeah,
and I was vegan for a bit after we wrapped
on the film, and then I went I think, I think,
I think I do need that art. I think I
do every now and again. So yeah, but it's you know,

(03:25):
it's good meat. It's well sourced quality stuff that I have,
and it's it's rare. It's rare.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
I was talking to Hugh Jackman who was coming over
and he's a friend, and so he was talking about
coming to the River Cafe and he said, you know,
I'm doing I can't remember what the film was said,
I have. I'm on this really strict, strict, strict diet
and so I'm not sure about coming, you know, to

(03:53):
the river cafe. I said, you know, we can help
you with that. We can do this, and he said, no,
reas that you don't understand. I have to gain a
huge amount of weight and I have something like a
six thousand calorie diet for day. I have to put
it's fair. You just cannat you know, the calories you
have to He had to do it so carefully, and
I thought, you know, what, what is this profession where

(04:13):
you have to know, you know, play gain and you do.
You know, you gain weight, you lose weight, you go
on a diet, you work out so you look muscular,
or you start you know, you don't work out so
you look emaciated. It's a very and you're an actor,
you know, is there.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
I think you have to take your your health has to.
It takes a bit of a kicking, and I think
we're learning more. You know, Tom Hanks has Type two
doses from weight gain and loss. It's oh really yeah,
and he's talked about that publicly. I think it's fine
to mention, but it is damaging. Thank you for listening
to Ruthie's Table four in partnership with Montclair