The Imitation Game

Congratulations to all of you.

Graham, when did you write this? When you were 12? You look too young.

- - I'm gonna choose to be very flattered.

- Thank you. - Amazing.

Let me start with the writer here,

because, you know, I know from talking to you earlier in the day

that you had sort of an obsession with Alan Turing. Is that right?

Oh, yeah. I mean, since I was a teenager.

Since I was 14, 15, um, I've wanted to write about Alan Turing.

Um, it may be sort of hard to imagine now,

'cause like I seem so cool and stuff, but when I was 15, I was not.

And I was a huge computer nerd.

I went to computer science camp, I went to space camp.

I was like, that kid.

Um, and so, among computer science people,

Turing is this object of cult-like fascination.

Everyone was obsessed with him,

and I had always wanted to write a screenplay about him.

Um, but of course, over the years, you sort of go to your agents,

and you're like, "I want to write a script about, um,

this gay English mathematician in the 40s who kills himself at the end."

And they're like, "Great, that's such a good idea for a movie."

Um, but so, it wasn't until I met these fine people here

that I finally got the opportunity to do it.

Uh, you know, this was... this was a much beloved screenplay

that, um, that the Hollywood studios didn't want to make.

Uh, and uh... you know, it was one of those opportunities where, uh,

you know, a studio says no,

it becomes available to be made completely independently,

and that's what we did.

Uh, we partnered up.

Uh, we tried to find a true leader who understood,

you know, the thematic significance of this film,

who could understand the importance from a historical standpoint,

uh, and who could hopefully provide,

you know, some greater themes to the movie as far as, you know,

not just all the amazing accomplishments of Alan Turing, which, you know,

from our standpoint, is exceptional,

but also just sort of tackling, you know,

the ability to be different and to accept being different

and to do great things by that self-confidence.

And I think when we met Morten Tyldum,

uh, he really, you know, sort of encapsulated all of that and, uh,

and then we really had the beginnings of a movie.

I mean, the strength of this movie to me,

and so much of it is that personal story and the incredible scenes

played out between Keira Knightley and Benedict Cumberbatch here,

in particular, really a human story.

I find it an emotional film. I hope other people do, too.

I hope that people... I hope that people take from it this portrait

of this completely singular and unique man who was treated very tragically

and whose life ended sadly, um, but who deserves to be celebrated,

and who deserves to have people...

He never got to sit in a theater

and have people sort of applaud after his name, and we get to do that now,

and that is... humbling and it is, um, terrifying,

and it is a huge honor to be able to do that.

But I hope that people get to applaud for Alan Turing now.

Morten, you're not the obvious choice.

You're Norwegian, a great Norwegian filmmaker.

If you've ever seen a movie called Headhunters,

among many others that you've done.

But you're... the theme of this is somewhat of an outsider,

and you're a bit of an outsider to this story, too, I think, in a way.

Uh, yeah, I mean, I...

I actually was sent the script when I was at Warner from my agents

because they loved it. They said, "You can't have it. It's taken.

But we want to prove that great scripts exist in Hollywood."

So they sent me this.

I read it and... put it away and then I was supposed to do another film

called Bastille Day that fell apart.

And I moved to Hollywood to do this film and everything was a disaster and, uh...

...I didn't know what to do.

And then it took five days and I was the director on Imitation Game.

- He was very good in a room. - So...

- - Very good in a room.

So it was really meant to be, and I couldn't be happier for it.

It's such a beautiful story, and it's...

To me, it's about how important it is that somebody is different.

That, uh... that we have...

- Thank you. -

It's good to be different.

No, that's what's captured really.

That we have to look to those people who think differently

who are not following the norm, who is outsiders.

I think we're gonna hear a lot more from this film.

- - And I thank you all for coming here

and making Telluride the first screening here...

- Thank you. - ...of Imitation Game.

Thank you so much.

I've had the opportunity to talk to Morten a little bit

over the last week or so in particular

about just why he felt you two were so right for these roles.

And I wonder if you, just even on a subtextual level,

you know, if there were certain things

about these individuals that you would admire

that you felt made them appropriate. So I wonder if you'd share that.

... I'll start with Keira, 'cause we had a coffee together

and, uh, I knew immediately.

I mean, first of all, I think she had an understanding

and a passion for the character that, sort of like being...

It's a great thing about a director when you meet an actor and you make...

...they make you see the character.

So how passionate Keira was for it,

and her ideas and thoughts around it was... really struck me.

And, uh, so I knew already there.

And Benedict, uh, I've always been a big fan.

And there's something with the complexity of Alan Turing

which fascinated me a lot,

because there is this extremely strong and driven character,

almost obsessed.

And at the same time, there is this fragile... fragility,

and it's this boy who lost so much. And his awkwardness.

And it's... I didn't, you know, I...

I wanted it all to be there at the same time.

And uh... and I always thought of Benedict.

It's... uh, even before I got the script.

I had his... It had to be Benedict to me.

I was well aware of his work and... and see a lot of what he's done in TV

and I was a little bit obsessed about getting him to play Alan,

and I didn't have any other meetings with any other actor.

I didn't want to.

And, so, yeah.

Thank you.

So, um, Benedict, one of the things I wanted to ask you

was that you've obviously played a number of real people,

from Stephen Hawking to Assange and others in between,

and I just wondered what you find to be the greatest challenge

of doing that generally,

and b, where this sort of falls in terms of complexity and challenge

in relation to some of those others that you've previously played.

Well, there's always a, um, a very healthy struggle

between legacy and storytelling, So you've got to honor

the true facts and the fact that many of those affected by that person

or who knew that person may still be alive,

if not the actual person you're portraying,

and therefore, you owe them that debt.

Um, and at the same time, you're making a film,

you're making a compression of events and, um, circumstances

and so you have to compromise, artistically,

um, for that artistry, I guess. Um...

But also, I think the peculiar challenge with Alan was that while he was...

He's very well documented in books and in biographies, including Hodges',

which was obviously a great primer for the film and for me as an actor,

a great blueprint to work from both for his life and his work.

Um, but there's no found footage,

there's no video or audio recording of him.

He had a very particular stammer which was talked about a lot.

But even the people who are alive who I was lucky enough to speak to,

two nieces and a couple of colleagues

who worked with him in Manchester later in his life, um,

their memory was such that they couldn't direct me to a source of,

um... an understanding.

They couldn't give me the sort of grappling points to orientate myself

around the mountain of trying to get him, or the exterior of him, right.

They could only...

They really admitted that they would know it when they saw it.

Um, which was kind of terrifying to think that might be in a...

...a big cinema in Leicester Square. Um...

- - Um, but...

...but they seem very happy about it. We had a screening for the family

and there were lots of family at the premiere as well,

and they were very complimentary. And, uh...

Which is really the only kind of validation you need, um,

when you're bearing that kind of responsibility

for a character who existed.

But I think also with Alan, the enormity of his achievements, um,

the profound effect he has still and will continue to have on our lives

through his work with algorithms, with computer science, with philosophy,

um, biology, as well as computer and mathematical sciences,

and also as a gay icon and a war hero,

he contributed a massive amount to, um, humanity

in the 41 years, uh, that he had on this earth.

And comparative to his achievements, he's remarkably unknown.

So there's the added responsibility in my book anyway,

which is why I'm thrilled to, on however little sleep...

...I'm in the middle of playing Richard Ill... fly across the world

to talk to you guys about him, because I believe so strongly

he deserves to be on bank notes with Isaac Newton and Darwin.

He deserves to be on history books as well as science books

as a truly important cultural, iconic and historical figure.

And, um, I hope that if this film achieves any kind of interest, um,

as a cultural item in itself,

it will bring people to his story and broaden our understanding of him.

Um, Keira, did you face some other challenges

in terms of finding people that could tell you about this person

and sort of answer some questions that might exist, like, you know...

There... It is obviously an unusual relationship that the characters have

and, um, some might wonder why... what was motiv...

You know, not what was motivating, but what, you know, the thought process was

and how it evolved and things like that.

What was your best, um, resource for answering the questions you had?

Um, well, I mean, Andrew Hodges' biography as well.

Um, I think we all used that.

Um, and then actually there was a... an interview with Joan,

which I think she gave to the BBC when she was sort of in her probably mid-80s.

Um, which was just on YouTube.

Um, but actually sort of, um... was hugely helpful, you know,

this incredibly sort of, um, ladylike, soft kind of creature.

Um, but the love and the kind of,