Benedict Cumberbatch on bringing grief to life in “The Thing with Feathers”

Key Concepts

• The Thing with Feathers (Film): An adaptation of a novel exploring grief, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch and directed by Dylan Southern.
• Grief: The central theme of the film, depicted as a manifestation of loss and its impact on an individual's emotional and psychological landscape.
• Adaptation Process: The challenges and considerations involved in translating a fantastical and poetic novel into a cinematic experience.
• Child Actors: The unique approach and considerations when working with young, untrained actors in a film dealing with sensitive themes.
• Metaphorical Representation: The use of symbolic elements, like a giant crow, to represent abstract emotional states.
• Universal Experience of Grief: The film's aim to connect with audiences on a fundamental human level through its portrayal of loss.
• Salvation and Acceptance: The film's message of finding a way to live with grief and the acceptance of emotional chaos as part of the human condition.

Film Adaptation and Creative Vision

The discussion centers on the film "The Thing with Feathers," an adaptation of a novel, and the creative decisions behind its cinematic realization.

• Initial Impression and Adaptability: Benedict Cumberbatch found the novel "immediately very pictorial, cinematic, and kind of had a scale to it that I could imagine being film." However, he initially questioned its direct adaptability due to its "fantastical and extreme in its poeticism and breadth."
• The Ten-Year Adaptation Process: Director Dylan Southern spent ten years adapting the book, which was published in 2015. He received a copy from a friend who recognized his taste in literature. Southern was "blown away by what Max managed to do on the page" and set about persuading the author to grant the rights to a filmmaker who had not yet made a dramatic feature. This was followed by the process of finding support for a first-time filmmaker.

Portraying Grief and the "Odd Job"

Benedict Cumberbatch describes his role and the unique challenges of bringing the film's themes to life.

• Co-starring with a Giant Crow: Cumberbatch humorously referred to his role as an "odd job really. Uh, co-starring opposite of a giant crow."
• Visualizing the Unseen: He explains the process of "imagining a reality that isn't there," which is crucial for a film that blends psychological truth with fantastical elements.
• Psychological Truth of Grief: The film delves into the "finely attuned psychological truth and nuanced drama around the sort of verite of grief of what that is, how it takes hold of your body and your emotion and emotional landscape, your your response to it."
• On-Set Realities: Cumberbatch highlights the practical challenges, including working with "two extraordinary boys, the Boxville brothers who were new to acting" and an "amazing um Lock trained mime artist and physical actor um Eric who is in this crow costume um with an animatronic head that made quite a lot of noise." He notes that while he is accustomed to elements not being present from his Marvel work, in "The Thing with Feathers," the aim was to "hold on to something that was very naturalistic in amongst all these elements that were Yes. very artificial in a way."

Working with Child Actors

The casting and direction of the young actors were a significant aspect of the filmmaking process.

• Casting Henry and Richard: Director Dylan Southern conducted a "huge casting call" but found that the seven-year-old actors, Henry and Richard, stood out because they were simply "Henry and Richards." Southern's camera was drawn to them even during exercises, finding them "mesmerizing."
• Accommodating Untrained Actors: The production had to "accommodate" the fact that the boys had never acted before. Benedict Cumberbatch was "incredible with them in terms of kind of showing them what it means to be someone else on camera."
• Adapting Directing Approach: Southern adapted his directing approach to suit the "minds of two really funny young seven-year-olds who had a wicked sense of humor and made the set an amazing place to be every day."
• Capturing Raw Truth: The experience of working with the boys is described as "capturing lightning in a jar" due to the "raw as as their truth."

Thematic Resonance and Viewer Takeaway

The filmmakers discuss the universal themes of the film and what they hope audiences will glean from it.

• Universal Experience of Grief: Despite the "extreme and unique" metaphor used, the film's core theme of grief is presented as a "very universal experience."
• Singular Experience, Universal Speak: The film aims to provide a "singular experience with this character" that "does speak universally to what that inevitability of being a human being is."
• Hope and Salvation: The film offers "hope" and is a "story of salvation." This is achieved through the "love that this unit have for one another," with the children offering strength to their father.
• Acceptance of Chaos: The film suggests that "through the chaos of being out of control it's also all right to look at this and understand that we aren't in control of our emotions. It's all right to feel unwell, to feel chaotically lost in something that is at times just too overwhelming to uh to be orderly with."
• Permission and Tolerance: The film "giv[es] permission for people to say yes, no, grief is a mess. It's it's difficult and it's constant. and also to feel that there is hopefully some salvation in learning to live with it by the end."

Conclusion

"The Thing with Feathers" is a film that tackles the profound and often overwhelming experience of grief through a unique cinematic lens. The adaptation process was lengthy and challenging, requiring the filmmakers to blend psychological realism with fantastical elements. The casting and direction of young, untrained actors were crucial to capturing the raw emotional truth of the story. Ultimately, the film aims to resonate universally by portraying grief as an inevitable part of the human condition, offering a message of hope and salvation through love and the acceptance of emotional chaos. The film is set to be released in theaters nationwide.