By Lacy Baugher for Movies on June 5th, 2013

Keira Knightley Looks Set to Join Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game

(Photo: Andrea Raffin)
(Photo: Andrea Raffin)
The Amazing Cheekbones Battle of the Century may soon be upon us – actress Keira Knightley is apparently in talks to join Sherlock’s Benedict Cumberbatch in upcoming biopic The Imitation Game, reports the Hollywood Reporter. Based on a biography by Andrew Hodges, the film is focused on the life of Alan Turing, the British mathematician,  cryptographer and all around genius who helped crack the German enigma code during World War II.

Cumberbatch has been attached to this film for some time, probably because he seems to have a knack for playing slightly tortured, high octane intellectual types (see also: Sherlock Holmes, Vincent Van Gogh, Stephen Hawking, etc) , so his casting as Turing is basically the definition of perfect.  

Knightley – who is probably most well known for her role in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and as Lizzie Bennett in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice remake – is apparently in talks to take on the role of a very conservative woman who develops a “complicated” relationship with Turing and is “there with him until the end.” Given that the end of Turing’s life was packed with tragedy – he was prosecuted by the British government for being homosexual, chose to undergo a hormone treatment known colloquially as chemical castration rather face prison and eventually committed suicide because he was so haunted by his decision – there ought to be plenty of messy emotional material for both Knightley and Cumberbatch to work with. (Protip: Pack tissues)

The fantastically cheekboned duo have actually shared a screen before – briefly – in 2007’s Atonement, in which Knightley played a wealthy girl who becomes involved with her family’s housekeeper and Cumberbatch played…let’s just say a not very nice person in any way at all.  At. All.

Here’s hoping their next (rumored) collaboration is a better one. The Imitation Game certainly has got that feeling of “guaranteed awards season nominee” all over it already, so fingers crossed! What do you think of this onscreen pairing? Or are you just blinded by the light reflecting (Personally: I go back and forth with how I feel about Knightley as an actress. She's certainly better in period pieces IMO, so this does seem to be right in her wheelhouse. We'll have to wait and see.)

By Lacy Baugher for Movies on June 5th, 2013
Lacy Baugher

Lacy's love of British TV is embarrassingly extensive, but primarily centers around evangelizing all things Doctor Who, and watching as many period dramas as possible.

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality, and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast, and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Threads or Blue Sky at @LacyMB. 

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