Benedict Cumberbatch is to tackle grief at several moments in his new family drama, The Thing with Feathers.
In the film, Cumberbatch will play a widower coping with the shock passing of his wife, and mother of their two young children. Following this, his character begins to receive visits from a large, otherworldly crow figure, that eventually forces the family to confront their grief.
Speaking to reporters at the Berlin International Film Festival, Benedict Cumberbatch said that he was overtaken by grief at different stages of this film.
"Odd moments would just sideswipe me", Cumberbatch said.
Referring to one scene in particular, Cumberbatch noted how his character was caught unawares by grief, while folding his late wife's clothes, and putting them in a box.
"I'm 48. I've been through a bit. I've lived. I've experienced grief," the actor said. "It just really struck a chord".
According to Cumberbatch. this role also largely entailed letting go, and not trying to control what grief should look like.
He said, "It sounds perverse when talking about grief, but as far as the artistry of making something feel or look or be real in that moment for a character, you just leave it alone and it happens".
The Thing with Feathers, is a film adapted from Max Porter's book, Grief is the Things with Feathers, and is a debut for filmmaker Dylan Southern.
On the book, Southern said: "I had never read anything like it, it's so dense with kind of profound ideas and character detail, but it's packed into a tiny little novella".
Southern also added that he was keen to capture the experience of familial grief which is conveyed by the book. He said, "It was kind of a challenging but really rewarding kind of project to dive into".
In 2022, Benedict Cumberbatch was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. More on this here.
