Benedict Cumberbatch’s “near-death” experience in South Africa still affects him 20 years later. In an interview with Variety published Wednesday, the Dr. Strange actor opened up on the harrowing time he and his co-stars got abducted by six men while working on the BBC miniseries To the Ends of the Earth in South Africa in 2004.

"It gave me a sense of time, but not necessarily a good one," Cumberbatch told Variety in a profile piece published this week. "It made me impatient to live a life less ordinary, and I'm still dealing with that impatience.