Alan Howard JW3 Speakers Series

He looks fantastic, yet again. He seems to be having a great summer.

As for the fans, I think MagdaFR hit the nail on the head, tbh. I don't like that his fans are gatekeeping and how they seem to think they have the right to decide which questions are appropriate. I find it elitist to presume that he's tired of Sherlock or Doctor Strange questions, as though he's above those roles, particularly when he's made it clear he enjoys those roles as much as any other.
Ha, I bet the thing he's actually tired of talking about is TPOTD since he did nothing but talk about it for 6 months straight!
Whatever his fans want to ask is fine by me. Many only get one chance to see him in person, so why not take that opportunity to ask the actual question you want the answer to. He's working at these events and this is part of it. He's not judging your questions, so it's weird that other fans are.

I used to think it was pretty impressive that these "groupies"- for want of a better term- attend literally everything he does, but now I'm finding it a bit weird. They're gatekeeping the events in a way by taking up seats that other fans could have had (likely as their one and only shot at seeing him in person).
I know fans of stars do this, and it's all normal, but it must feel odd for him after a while, wondering if they are having a parasocial relationship with him from these repeated interactions. Seeing that bag with his face on it must be unnerving, or at the very least cringey.

I'm also starting to find people asking for pics with Sophie a bit odd. She might feel bad, knowing these fans want to be pictured with her because of her husband and not her own accomplishments. It would be another matter if they attended her productions and asked for selfies there (like the fans in Argentina), but it's odd to do so when you're clearly at an event to see Benedict.

Maybe I'm overthinking it, lol. I joked that the day I see him, I'll probably declare my love and then faint but, in reality, I don't think I'd ever approach him if I saw him out and about in public (his private time). At a stage door, I'd praise the work and get an autograph, but I wouldn't bother Sophie if she were with him. I like what I know of her, really like her fashion/style, and I like what I see of them as a couple, but I haven't seen her work so I'm not going to pretend I'm a fan just so I can get a moment with Benedict's wife. *shrug*

Edit: I think I got all the typos. Sorry if I missed some

I have mixed feelings about those “groupies” who seem to follow him all over the world - part of me finds it creepy, but part of me wants to join them!


Yep, that was me! When he actually stood in front of me, my brain shut down completely. I was in such shock that this was happening, that “I love you!” is all I would have said if I had been able to speak. But I stood there like a statue and said NOTHING!

The next time, though, I will be brilliant and eloquent!

I don’t think showing up wherever he performs is necessarily creepy, but acting all entitled is. This isn’t the first time they’ve criticized “ordinary” fans who they think make the “special” fans (them) look bad.

I know I’ve mentioned before that I had a run-in with one of them on Twitter when TPOTD came out. I blocked her because she kind of scared me with her Twitter attack on me. She had given away the end of the movie, and she had just tweeted it when I suggested she delete it because it would spoil the movie for those who hadn’t seen it yet. She could have ignored me, or she could have deleted her tweet, but instead she came after me. She said I shouldn’t be reading tweets about the movie if I hadn’t seen it. I told her that I had seen it, but I was thinking of everyone else. Then I guess she checked and saw that I was following her, so she came back to tell me off once more, pointing out that I only had whatever number of followers, so what did I know! I didn’t reply anymore after that, but still she came back with another nasty tweet with the endings of a bunch of famous movies that had a twist at the end. I unfollowed and blocked her after that. It was truly creepy. And even worse? Many of her followers (those entitled groupies) either “liked” each of her nasty tweets to me, or used the laughing emoji. But I’m happy to say that she never tweeted another thing about TPOTD.

I have no inside knowledge of this but I don't think they would have minded the Bear G. question. They seemed more entirely focused on the Sherlock Season 5 question from what I could see.

And that Bear G. question is GREAT!



I thought I should add to mllemass that blocking is certainly the way to go when people do this type of behaviour.