For his new film The Thing with Feathers, Benedict Cumberbatch found a useful – if painful – shortcut to get him into the mindset of a bereaved man. In the adaptation of Max Porter’s luminous 2015 novel, Cumberbatch plays a father of two boys who is undone by grief after the sudden death of his wife. For one of the scenes, the child actors recorded a voiceover, where the boys open up about how much they miss their mother. Cumberbatch would listen to it when he needed to. “I used that as a device to put me into their pain, their perspective, their sense of loss,” he says. “And those innocent little voices talking about how their dad changed a lot after their mum died – ” he exhales sharply – “Immediate access to emotion there.”
That the actor has three sons of his own only compounded his sensitivity. “They say that the minute you have children, you become far more available emotionally, and everything’s a lot closer,” he says, touching the skin on his arm. “But, I mean, I’m nearly 50, so I’ve lived a bit. I’ve experienced grief. And anyone who’s loved or lost can tap into this film.”
