While we’ve certainly heard of actors going doing a lot to learn skills for movies (like when Tom Holland worked as a bartender), usually they don’t end up using those skills later on in real life. Apparently, learning cattle ranching for The Power of the Dog really came in handy for star Benedict Cumberbatch, though. Because it was those skills and not his Doctor Strange powers that saved a family trapped by a herd of roaming cows and calves.
Benedict Cumberbatch recently recalled a time when he went on holiday after finishing up filming on Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog and came across a family who was terrified in the middle of a herd of cows. Here’s how he tells it:
I came back from shooting the film in August and we were off to the beach. To get there we had to cross a field and in the field was a petrified family who just couldn’t move, they were frozen because of a herd of cows with calves.
While the scene the actor set may not seem like a scary one to some people, if you know anything about herds of large animals, you know they can be dangerous, especially when cows are involved . The family was obviously scared they could be trampled, and that fear surely gets heightened when children are also in harm’s way. It’s a good thing the actor was able to utilize the skills from the acclaimed film because I’d wager he didn’t possess a transportation-capable sling ring like his famed sorcerer.
Benedict Cumberbatch played intimidating ranch handler Phil Burbank in The Power of the Dog and has been earning major praise for his performance. However, because the film had seemingly yet to release by the time the cattle incident occurred, the family didn’t recognize him from that project. In the same interview on BBC’s The Graham Norton Show (via Insider), Cumberbatch further explained that after he saved the day, the family responded in a funny way:
I thought, ‘I can do this,’ and I just sort of parted the waves of cattle. The family was like, ‘That was incredible. Hey, aren’t you Sherlock?’ It was very un-Sherlock activity!
The Sherlock star isn’t the only big actor to have acted heroically in real life. Leonardo DiCaprio once saved a man from drowning and even managed to rescue his own dogs. Hugh Jackman has also been an aquatic hero, as he’s saved a child from drowning. The Marvel alum may be the first actor to save a family from a herd of cattle, though.
Benedict Cumberbatch’s rescue wasn’t caught on tape, but we’ll be able to see him play the hero on the big screen soon. MCU Phase 4 is still underway and his sorcerer is back (with a new, badass look even). Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness releases to theaters on May 6th and will possibly bring in some awesome character cameos. Before that though, you can catch Cumberbatch as the good doctor in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is currently still playing in select theaters.