Benedict Cumberbatch Leads The North Wind – “Penguins of Madagascar's” Latest Allies
What are the odds when the world’s elitest of spies
join forces with the earth’s chicest undercover organization in the
all-adventure family movie “Penguins of Madagascar.”
The
most hilarious covert birds in the global espionage biz: Skipper, Kowalski,
Rico and Private. These elitest of the
elites are joining forces with a chic undercover organization,
Led by handsome and husky Agent
Classified voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch.
Together, they must stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine, voiced by
John Malkovich, from destroying the world as we know it.
The Penguins are ever-confident in
their ability to deal with Dave’s insidious plans, but a group of covert
operatives known as The North Wind (their motto: “Nobody breaks The Wind!”),
who help animals in need, do not think the guys are up to the task. In fact, the members of The North Wind do
everything they can to take over the mission to stop Dave, much to the chagrin
of Skipper and the gang.
“On the surface it looks like The
North Wind is the real deal and Skipper maybe should get out of the way,” says
producer Lara Breay. “It’s like the
‘grown-ups’ have arrived, so the kids can go home now. But during the course of the adventure, we
come to appreciate the Penguins’ strengths.
They don’t have the flash or training, but they have something that’s
more important.”
The North Wind is led by Agent
Classified. The first thing you should
know about Classified is that his name is actually classified, and not
“Classified.” He’s a highly-trained but
cocky secret agent who underestimates the Penguins’ operation. Classified is
the Alpha male of the tech-savvy team, and Skipper’s polar opposite. The
casting of Benedict Cumberbatch, a celebrated and in-demand actor thanks to,
among other performances, his work in the title role of the phenomenally
popular BBC/PBS series “Sherlock,” came about almost three years ago, just
before “Sherlock” debuted in the U.S.
Smith explains: “One of our crew is Australian, and the series had
already aired there. He told us that we
should check out the work of this guy called Benedict Cumberbatch. We saw ‘Sherlock’ when it arrived in the
U.S., and we knew then he was a special talent and would be the perfect foil
for Skipper. Benedict is so eloquent and
has a fantastic voice that was perfect for Classified.”
The British actor reveals that
Classified is “an all-action wolf who heads up The North Wind, which looks
after animal welfare wherever it needs looking after. He knows about Dave’s plot and Classified
attempts to con the Penguins to reveal everything they know about their mutual
adversary.”
“The North Wind team thinks they
hold all the cards because they’re highly-trained, educated, have the best
equipment, and nobody could ever top them,” Darnell continues. “The Penguins are the underdogs.” But Classified and the rest of the North Wind
team soon learn that you underestimate Skipper & Co. at your own
peril. In fact, the conflicting teams
are two sides of the same coin. “Everything about The North Wind is chic,
professional, planned and rigorous, and everything about the Penguins is
haphazard, gung ho machismo,” Cumberbatch explains. “That’s why the two teams so
complementary. By the end of the film
they really need each other’s help, because they’re even more powerful as a
combined, elite force.”
Cumberbatch says he enjoyed having
no inhibitions in portraying and researching the role. Moreover, he embraced Classified’s skills and
slick operation, as well as the character’s hidden but important
vulnerabilities. “Classified has to
learn to abandon his intricate and gadget-laden planning and sometimes just run
at the problem, like the Penguins do. I
like the idea of ‘unpacking’ a spy and making him a bit more human, even if
he’s a wolf. And I’ve never done that on
screen before.”
Classified isn’t the only operative
being “unpacked.” He is joined in The
North Wind by Short Fuse (Ken Jeong), a small seal who, though he looks like a
plush toy, is as tough as any member of the team. The North Wind’s explosives expert, Short
Fuse has a volatile temper to match his vocational expertise. Then there’s Eva (Annet Mahendru), an
intelligence analyst and thrill-seeking, brainy beauty of an owl with a killer
instinct. Finally, Corporal (Peter
Stomare), a polar bear who’s eight feet tall and armored in a half-ton of
muscle, is the brawn of the Wind.
A Dreamworks Animation feature, “Penguins
of Madagascar” opens November 26 in cinemas from 20th Century Fox
nationwide to be distributed by Warner Bros.
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