Here are some new photos of our man, Benedict Cumberbatch, in NYC for “A Conversation” about Sherlock and some other stuff, sponsored by BAFTA. I’ve been dying over here because there’s been such a drought of Benedict news this week – last weekend he went to some kind of Sherlock convention and interacted with fans, but no real news came of it. Then he flew to NYC a few days ago to do a couple of NYFW events, and I guess to do this forum last night. How does he look? He looks shockingly YOUNG to me. I think it’s his current hair that’s making him look ten years younger. Or hey, maybe he got some ‘Tox.

As for the conversation, Benedict had a lot to say about various Sherlocky things. Some highlights:

Why he’s not on social media: “It would take over my life and probably ruin it” The internet response to Sherlock: “It was very overwhelming in a distanced kind of way. I was really aware of this immediate response. I was amazed how vocal it was. This tweeting and blogging came alive. That is very rare, a live experience with a TV audience. It was a new experience for me.” He almost turned down the Sherlock role: “I heard about it and thought that sounds like an idea to reinfranchise something to make money. It could be a bit cheap and cheesy. I thought I would read it and then I fell in love with it.”

[From The Mirror & The Independent]

It’s weird that Benedict was like, “Oh, a modern Sherlock? Just a silly way to make money!” It just seems like it wouldn’t have even been that obvious that modernizing Sherlock would be such a cash cow, but look at it now.

Anyway, who’s even paying attention to the words? Just look at lovely Benedict. I’m so glad we have these photos. It feels like he’s still styled as Alan Turing though.