Benedict Cumberbatch has said that presenting How to Live on Earth, the new Open Planet documentary that premiered on YouTube on September 20, left him feeling "turbocharged" about the natural world and his own place in it.
Speaking over video call from London, the British actor said the project appealed to him because it posed a question that was both simple and immense: "How to live on Earth?" He said that curiosity was what first drew him in, especially after having worked previously with director Fredi Devas on a documentary about the Antarctic, which he narrated during the lockdown in New Zealand in 2020.
But Cumberbatch also admitted to a degree of caution before taking on the role. Reading the script, he said, made him feel "slightly trepidatious because there is really only one presenter of natural history documentaries, Sir David Attenborough. I was keen not to tread on those heels or be lost in trying to be that person." The remark reflects both the scale of the challenge and the careful positioning of the film, which is not trying to replicate the familiar tone of traditional wildlife storytelling.
Instead, How to Live on Earth is built around what Cumberbatch described as a "three-pillared approach" that frames the documentary through the themes "How to Feed the Future", "How to Value Nature" and "How to be Human." He said that structure, along with the film's humour, was what made it feel distinct. "It drew me in with its humour, and also the revelations of the three-pillared approach," he said.
Executive producer Jonnie Hughes said Cumberbatch was chosen precisely because the filmmakers wanted a different tone. "It needed to reach into people's hearts and minds," Hughes said, adding that Cumberbatch's body of work gives him "global reach" and "the air of a storyteller with an intellectual argument." In other words, the film is aiming for persuasion as much as spectacle, and Cumberbatch's presence is intended to bridge those ambitions.
The documentary also leans heavily on expert voices, including wildlife filmmaker and explorer Dan O'Neill, climate justice activist Xiye Bastida and former White House chef and senior policy adviser on nutrition Sam Kass. Cumberbatch said their involvement was central to his confidence in the project. "They are extraordinary and I felt bolstered for the part that I play," he said. "That's what I like to do in my advocacy. I'm not a policy expert, a scientist or a biologist. I'm not part of an indigenous people with ancestralism. These are experts that I am in awe of, who have lived the talk, who have walked the talk. It's key to me that I feel what I'm saying is backed up by those in the know."
That distinction between performance and advocacy appears to have shaped the way Cumberbatch approached the film. Known for inhabiting complex roles ranging from Alan Turing to the rancher in The Power of the Dog, he said stepping into the role of guide was "a variation of myself." He added: "I have a natural curiosity about the world and how we ought to be living on it. I'm invested in the idea of doing better, both personally, and as a society."
The makers and Cumberbatch worked together to refine both the voiceover and the on-camera presentation so that it would feel grounded rather than theatrical. He said the aim was to avoid "a forced humour or an over-earnest tub thumping tone." Instead, the presentation had to be clear, measured and authentic. "There's a presentational aspect to it," he said. "You have to hear and understand what I'm saying, the phrasing has to be weighted in the correct way, and you have to want to look at my face every now and again because I'm in it. But apart from that, it's got to come from an authentic place."
Cumberbatch said the process changed his relationship with the natural world. "It turbocharged my understanding of it," he said, before noting that interacting with nature is vital for both personal well-being and mental health.
For a performer long associated with intelligence, precision and control, How to Live on Earth appears to have offered something more personal: a chance to connect those qualities to a larger environmental argument. In Cumberbatch's telling, the film is not a sermon and not an imitation of a familiar documentary style. It is an attempt to make the case for nature, humanity and the future in a voice that is informed, curious and, above all, sincere.