Benedict Cumberbatch slept through his Oscar nomination

While everyone was up waiting for the news of the 2022 Oscar nominations announcements, one of Hollywood’s leading men, and a shoo-in for Best Actor, was sleeping through the announcement. That’s right, Benedict Cumberbatch, who is nominated for Best Actor for his role in the critically acclaimed The Power of the Dog, revealed to The New York Times that he was the last to find out he’d been nominated.

The British star recounted the moment he found out, and the warm email he received from someone at Netflix: 

I think everyone heard about it [Oscar nomination] but me. I was asleep and I didn’t turn my phone on. I got an email last night from someone at Netflix saying, ‘Look, no matter what happens we’re so proud, it’s such a great movie and such a great performance.’ I mean, it was a lovely, beautiful email. And I went, ‘Oh, God, it’s happening tomorrow… I’m a dad of three small boys and I’m on my own — my wife’s in New York — so I’m trying to get them ready for school and get them in a car, get them going. But I kind of realized, “Oh, my phone, I better get it,” just as we were finishing breakfast. So I turned it on [starts to laugh] and explained to three slightly confused little faces what it meant and why I was giggling and smiling a lot, and they had varying responses. I don’t talk about my private life, but that it is something I’m willing to share. It was a lovely moment to have with my boys.

It’s heartwarming that Cumberbatch was off being a dad the whole time the announcements were taking place. The psychological period drama also stars Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee, who also received praise for their roles, each of them also earning Oscar nominations for their acting.