Benedict Cumberbatch Talks About The Lack Of Gay Sex In The Imitation Game

In the past there’s been a bit of a problem with mainstream movies de-gaying any gay characters or themes, so even if it’s acknowledged it’s made safe and straightened up. Nowadays there’s a little more diversity in cinema, but there’s still no defined boundary that says when a gay character is gay enough and not just homo in name only.

Unsurprisingly that subject has come up in relation to The Imitation Game, the new film about gay computing pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing. Indeed it’s been a bone of contention since reports surfaced that early versions of the script were essentially a romance between Turing and a woman.

While Turing is undoubtedly gay in the finished film, there isn’t any sex, something Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Turing, defends in an interview with TheWrap.

He says, “He’s [Turing] chemically castrated because he admits to being a homosexual; he talks about entreating a young man to touch his penis. I mean, it’s pretty explicit. If you need to see [sex] to understand that he’s gay, then all is lost for any kind of subtle storytelling. The conversations are so naked in themselves that the idea of having to see two naked men wasn’t something I ever thought was missing in the script.”

The actor elaborate with NME, “His sexuality is something contained that is expressed in the film but not shown explicitly. There is no heterosexuality expressed in the film. So what we show in his behaviour is sadly true to his story. He had to suppress his sexuality, make it private, make it something secret.

“When he talks about his sexuality in the film it shows his complete honesty, guilelessness, innocence. He was aware of the risks but at the same time wasn’t willing to cave in to the intolerance and potential permutations of confessing such a thing. Some people own him as martyr or as standard-bearer for a cause. I think he was just very true to himself, which is a form of martyrdom, but he didn’t make a political statement out of it.”

There is also disagreement over how much sex Turing had anyway, so to paint him as a highly sexual person may have been inaccurate.