Opening in theaters on November 28th is the new drama ‘The Thing with Feathers’, which is based on the book ‘Grief Is the Things with Feathers’ by author Max Porter and was directed by Dylan Sothern (‘Meet Me in the Bathroom’) starring Benedict Cumberbatch (‘Doctor Strange’).
Release Date: Nov 28, 2025
Run Time: 1 hr 44 min
Budget: $6,000,000
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Benedict Cumberbatch about his work on ‘The Thing with Feathers’, his first reaction to the screenplay, how he emotionally prepared for the role, collaborating on set with director Dylan Sothern, and the challenges of working with young actors on a film like this.
Benedict Cumberbatch stars in ‘The Things with Feathers’.
You can watch the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.
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(L to R) Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Boxall and Henry Boxall in ‘The Thing with Feathers’. Photo: Vue Lumière.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your first reaction to reading the screenplay and the way Dylan Southern adapted Max Porter’s book about dealing with grief.
Benedict Cumberbatch: I thought it was extraordinarily magical. It’s a kind of unadaptable book because of its nonlinear narrative, they’re unreliable bits of narration in it where the boys are suddenly old men looking back in time and then there’s a Crow, and the way the words are spaced and how that whole thing is, and he did it. It was this incredible read, and so much of the flavor of the book was there that I forgot that the book wasn’t what I was reading. I was sold on that, and then I was like, who’s Dylan Southern? I watched his documentaries, and I’d seen ‘Meet Me in the Bathroom’ before the LCD Sound System movie (‘Shut Up and Play the Hits’). The point is, it became a friendship and a trusting one and the collaboration came thick and fast after that and away we went.
MF: What was Dylan Southern like as a director to collaborate with on set?
BC: Unfazed in the inevitable onslaught of compromise that a small independent, low-budget film has with children involved, with an animatronic head that went wrong, with a small set, with the crowded crew, and the limited time to shoot. I mean, he just meant it all with a smile. He was a problem solver; he was a best friend and a wonderful first audience behind the camera and he was someone I could trust with my concerns or anxieties about what I was doing and know that he’d be able to create a space for me to get to these vulnerable places. He’s a great director. I’m very excited to see where he goes next.
(L to R) Richard Boxall, Henry Boxall and Benedict Cumberbatch in ‘The Thing with Feathers’. Photo: Vue Lumière.
MF: You have many vulnerable places that you must go to emotionally in this film. As an actor, how do you prepare for those scenes?
BC: Interesting. I just built the world that’s not there. You know, this is a very iterative piece. I’m called Dad. They’re called Boys. Crow is called Crow, and Mum is Mum, and she’s not in it. She’s just a figure in it, a silhouette and a body at one point, but you don’t see her face and that’s the whole point. When she does appear and she’s got a voice, she’s in a ghost costume, which is kind of an irony of that moment because it’s a Halloween scene, a flashback to happy times. The point is, I had to build this world that I could see, that I could access, and the set was helpful for that. Also, we had the boys recording of their voiceover for their section of the film, which comes in and to have that sense of loss from these extraordinary non acting children. You know, they’d never been on a set before, Richard and Henry Boxall, they’re twin brothers. It was an immediate trigger into the space of grief and loss and pain to hear those voices talking about their mum and what they missed, and how they learned their dad had changed and how it was warping him. Then other things would just floor me unexpectedly because they’re so universal, folding boxes of clothes away, taking them off a hanger, the empty space where once a person’s artifacts existed and that thing of holding on and then letting go, just grieving all over again. They were interesting moments, and that was that was one of them, you know, lots of scenes where dad breaks down and weeps, dad howls, and dad cries. You must try and ignore those stage directions and find it. But I often dive deep into my psyche to get something of myself and this one, I was just looking after myself and just making sure I could put it to bed at night.
MF: Finally, can you talk about the challenges of working with children on a film as dark as this one? How did you navigate working with them?
BC: Challenging as a parent, as a producer as well, and as a fellow actor, but that’s what I was for them. I was also a friend and a playmate. It was making sure they had the experiences that seven-year-old children should have on an adult set with adult themes and all the safeguarding, and all the usual things were in place, and having a sense of play. Reiterating that this is just pretend, and “I might get quite angry now, but I adore you guys.” I don’t know what you think about me, you probably hate me, but anyway, I don’t care. “I really like you and I just need to get angry as dad right now, so just be prepared,” you know, that kind of thing. Sometimes, because they are kids, they just didn’t want to do it. Then it was about how do we coaxed them out of that lethargy or that disinterest or boredom or whatever it might have been. Dylan is an incredible director, and as one of the compromises he said, “I can understand you don’t want to get dressed up in your Mum’s clothes, put lipstick on and her earrings and do that hat dressing up thing. Okay, but if I do something that I don’t really want to do, you could do something to me if I if I get that from you, what would you do?” So, they got the lipstick, and they wrote “Poo” on his forehead and called him “Weak Man” in front of the crew. Then we got this extraordinary powerful scene in the film. They turned up with the goods and I’m so fond of them. There was lots of levity and there was lots of gameplay and fun off set as well. There were football and cricket matches, and Lego building and all sorts of fun. They’re terribly sweet children. I’m very fond of them.
‘The Things with Feathers’ opens in theaters on November 28th.
What is the plot of ‘The Thing with Feathers’?
Left to raise two young sons after the unexpected death of his wife, Dad’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) life begins to unravel. Grief is messy and chaotic enough as it is, but when it takes the form of an unhinged and unwanted house guest—Crow—taunting him from the shadows, things start to spiral out of control… but maybe that’s exactly what Dad needs.
Who is in the cast of ‘The Thing with Feathers’?
(L to R) Benedict Cumberbatch, and Leo Bill in ‘The Thing with Feathers’. Photo: Vue Lumière.