Benedict Cumberbatch On Green Rider and Climate Activism ( Nov.2025)

The live action Little Mermaid production used as much carbon emitting energy as the country of Dominica did in one month. There are four parts of that, there's travel, food, energy and construction materials. Anyone in the environmental sphere will tell you where gay rights and other social issues pushed forward through first was through culture. How do you levy change? Well if you start getting actors who have a status in the industry and you start meeting them where they're at, not everyone's going to want to give up their Winnebago for a two way or drive in a smaller or electric car, but they might want to talk about how much meat is consumed in the daily diet of the catering. They might want to talk about how they can upcycle the materials for their next production to save on budgetary costs rather than all this timber just being chucked in a skip. You can meet people wherever they're at on this. Some people, whether it is in the creative arts industry or other industries, maybe feels that they don't want to stick their head out above the parapet because there is a censorship, whether it's an internal one or a societal one, kicks in and I'm wondering, did you ever feel that that was a risk for you? Do you ever think, like was anybody ever saying, Vantic, do you want to ever just tone down on that? Yeah, of course, you know, stick to day job, shut up and let the experts deal with it. I very much have sympathy for that and I think my advocacy has become a little bit more emotionally attuned to what I can platform, you know, to introduce a charity organisation or volunteer who has worked in the sphere of refugee crises around the world or environmental crises rather than proselytising about it myself. My main job is, as a creator, in any kind of creative action, you are still walking a tightrope. I think that emboldens you to stand up for what you believe.