Renowned for his roles as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Strange, Benedict Cumberbatch is taking on one of his most unconventional parts yet: a grieving father wrestling with his emotions opposite a seven-foot crow.
A Surreal and Emotional Role
In his new film, The Thing With Feathers, Cumberbatch portrays a man whose wife dies suddenly, leaving him to care for their two young boys. The story, based on Max Porter's award-winning novella Grief Is The Thing With Feathers, is split into three perspectives: dad, boys, and crow.
The crow, a towering two-metre-tall figure voiced by David Thewlis, is not a comedic sidekick but a figment of the father's imagination. Porter describes the bird as a sort of "unhinged Freudian therapist" who helps the protagonist process his overwhelming loss.
Cumberbatch himself admits the project was "a very odd job, there's no getting away from it." While the film has moments of disturbingly funny humour, it is primarily a deeply emotional exploration of heartbreak.
Leaving the Grief on Set
As a father of three in real life, Cumberbatch was deliberate about not bringing the heavy subject matter home with him after filming. He explained the immediate needs of his own family created a necessary boundary.
"I didn't take it home, I didn't talk about it," he said. "You have to work fast when you're a father of three with a busy home life... you don't go in and talk about your day crying your eyes out on a sofa with a crow punching you in the face."
Why a Crow Makes Sense for Grief
Author Max Porter, whose book has garnered a cult following since its 2015 publication, argues that using a crow as a symbolic therapist is more logical than clichéd condolences when dealing with profound pain.
He points out that grief often makes people more receptive to signs and symbols from the natural world. "Most of us are deeply eccentric in one way or another," Porter said, giving the example of a rational relative who believed a bird was a sign from his deceased mother.
"Imagining a crow moving in with the family actually makes a lot of sense to people," he contends, "whereas, weirdly, five steps to getting better or a hallmark card doesn't make much sense when you're in that storm of pain."
Exploring Grief Through a Male Prism
For Cumberbatch, tackling such a weighty and universal topic as loss is a vital part of storytelling. He believes the film offers a crucial perspective on male grief at a time when men are often influenced by troubling societal pressures.
"At a time when there's a lot of very troubling influences on men without female presence in their lives... this is a film that just leans into the idea that it's alright to have feelings, you bury them or hide them at your peril," the actor stated.
The film champions the notion that grief is a "messy, scary, intimidating, chaotic, unruly and out of control place to exist as a man," and that it is healthy to fully experience those emotions.
The Thing With Feathers will be released in cinemas across the UK and Ireland on 21 November 2025.
