Benedict Cumberbatch may have contracted COVID-19 before most people had even heard of the virus. In a new interview with The Independent, Cumberbatch reveals that he became deeply ill while filming “The Mauritanian” on location in South Africa near the end of 2019. “I was incredibly ill, to the point that when all this COVID stuff suddenly broke in the new year, I was thinking, ‘Oh my god was I actually patient zero?’” he says.
RELATED: Benedict Cumberbatch Enters Comic Store Dressed As ‘Doctor Strange’ In New Clip However, the movie’s tight filming schedule forced him to “plough on” regardless of how terrible he felt.