Need To Audition for STAR TREK 2? Benedict Cumberbatch Says There's an App for That

In our world of microtechnology, it's not uncommon for actors to audition in front of casting directors with Flip Cams and other small video cameras. But "Sherlock" star Benedict Cumberbatch says he locked down his part as the "not-so-good guys" in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek sequel with a rather unusual method - he recorded his audition in a friend's kitchen using an iPhone.

In an interview with the NY Times, Cumberbatch detailed the story of his audition. A few interesting quotes:

I got a call before Christmas Eve saying that they’re very interested in you playing the not-so-good guy in the next “Star Trek” film. Can you get yourself on tape? So I rang some friends of mine – and when I say friends, I mean the top casting directors in England who were all on holiday because we observe this little Judeo-Christian cult holiday called Christmas...And the demands were coming in so fast, I was like, This is terrifying. And by the 27th, people were knocking on the door, literally, and saying I’ve got to put myself on tape.

My Flip wasn’t working, I couldn’t get any kind of recording device. I said, I’m going to do it on my iPhone. It’s high quality, it’s HD. It will be fine. And so I ended up squatting in their kitchen, at about 11 o’clock at night. I was pretty strung out, so that went into the performance. And his wife, Alice...she’s balancing two chairs to get the right angle on me and desk lamps bouncing light off bits of paper, just trying desperately to make it look half-decent. Because it’s going to go into J.J. Abrams’s iPad. So we did it, and then it took a day and a half to compress it. I sent it to him, and then I got told, “J.J.’s on holiday.” I was furious.

To see how the story ends - spoiler alert, it's positive - read the whole article at the NY Times website.

Are you pumped for Star Trek 2? I definitely am!