Benedict Cumberbatch once punched a journalist to defend Keira Knightley

When he's not photobombing U2 and playing Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch is attacking the media for overstepping their bounds.

In the July issue of Elle UK, cover star Keira Knightley reveals that Cumberbatch once punched a British journalist in her defense. The reporter, film critic Mark Kermode, apparently called the actress "IKEA Knightley" because "her acting was so wooden." Cumberbatch, a friend of Knightley's, didn't appreciate the attack and gave Kermode a (lighthearted) punch on the arm.

"When I saw him again, I said, 'Did you punch a journalist?' and he was like, 'I f---king did,'" Knightley told the magazine. "Everybody needs a friend like that."

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This November, Knightley and Cumberbatch's relationship will extend to the professional realm: They're costarring in The Imitation Game, in which Cumberbatch plays famed mathematician and cryptoanalyst Alan Turing, and Knightley plays his ex-fiancée, Joan Clarke.