Cumberbatch: From Sorcerer Supreme to The War Magician

No more details have been released. By Nicole Carpenter

Benedict Cumberbatch will star in The War Magician, a World War II drama based on the book of the same name.

We've been covering this story since 2003 when the film was first mentioned in the press. A director hasn't been named yet, but Gary Whitta (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, After Earth) will adapt David Fisher's book into a screenplay.

Benedict Cumberbatch at IGN's San Diego Comic-Con live stream last year.

Cumberbatch will play Jasper Maskelyne, a magician who's illusionist abilities helped fight against the Nazis. Maskelyne and his magic gang managed to "conceal the Alexandria harbor and the Suez Canal, where there were 150,000 men with 1,000 guns and tanks, turning the tide of the war against General Rommel and the Germans in North Africa," according to Variety.

“The Maskelyne character is so different from the one that Benedict portrayed in The Imitation Game in that Maskelyne was very outgoing and confident,” Storyscape Entertainment's Bob Cooper told the trade. “We think this is a perfect blend of acting talent with material.”

Cumberbatch is currently shooting Marvel's Doctor Strange for a November 2016 release.

Nicole is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @sweetpotatoes.

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