preview for The Imitation Game trailer

The first trailer for Benedict Cumberbatch's The Imitation Game has premiered.

The highly-anticipated drama will open the BFI London Film Festival on Wednesday, October 8, StudioCanal has confirmed.

"I am thrilled to be returning to London to share The Imitation Game with the audience of the BFI London Film Festival," said director Morten Tyldum. "The experience of directing this film has been so tremendously rewarding, and I am humbled to share Alan's Turing's incredible story on Opening Night."

In The Imitation Game, Sherlock star Cumberbatch takes on the role of pioneering mathematician and scientist Alan Turing, whose code-breaking work at Bletchley Park proved vital to Germany's defeat in World War II.

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StudioCanal


Turing was prosecuted for homosexuality in 1952 and chose chemical castration as an alternative to a prison sentence. He died two years later in an apparent suicide, and was finally granted a posthumous pardon in 2013.

Keira Knightley, Mark Strong and Matthew Goode are among the supporting cast of The Imitation Game, which will open in cinemas this November in the heart of awards season.

Knightley, who plays Turing's close friend Joan Clarke, told Digital Spy earlier this month that the film will highlight Turing and Clarke's "amazing relationship".

preview for Keira Knightley on 'The Imitation Game'

"It was a friendship that they tried to turn into something else, and obviously it was never going to work. It was really interesting to play around with that," she said.

Cumberbatch's portrayal of Turing has already drawn praise from Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who snapped up the drama's US distribution rights in February.

"Alan Turing is not outwardly very sympathetic. He's brilliant, but the way that Benedict Cumberbatch played him showed us these guys found the right level of vulnerability, genius and the arrogance of the character, too," he said.

The Imitation Game opens nationwide in the UK on November 14, and premieres in the US on November 21.

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Simon Reynolds

Movies Editor 


Simon has worked as a journalist for more than a decade, writing on staff and freelance for Hearst, Dennis, Future and Autovia titles before joining Cision in 2022.