{"id":7723,"date":"2025-11-22T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/?p=7723"},"modified":"2025-11-24T12:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T12:30:10","slug":"benedict-cumberbatch-men-its-human-to-feel-vulnerable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.unlockingsite.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/22\/benedict-cumberbatch-men-its-human-to-feel-vulnerable\/","title":{"rendered":"Benedict Cumberbatch: \u2018Men, it\u2019s human to feel vulnerable\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Benedict Cumberbatch explores the theme of grief in drama The Thing with Feathers (Picture: Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Benedict Cumberbatch<\/a> is teaching me how to cry like a pro.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018What makes me despair is when you see actors going like this, like they\u2019re trying to squeeze something out\u2026\u2019 He screws up his face, casting his eyes towards the heavens and does some hilariously agonised gurning. \u2018They\u2019re attempting to be all \u201clost in grief\u201d, but no! No! Because you\u2019re actually just shutting everything off.\u2019<\/p>\n

Crying on demand is something the Marvel Universe icon had to do a lot of in his new film, the Thing with Feathers<\/a>, about a graphic novelist whose wife dies suddenly, leaving him to bring up his two young sons.<\/p>\n

The secret to A-list sobbing, apparently, is using the same muscle that you laugh with.<\/p>\n

 \u2018I said this once to Tom Holland<\/a>,\u2019 Cumberbatch says, referring to his Spider-Man<\/a>: No Way Home co-star. \u2018And then Tom told everyone: \u201cBen gets himself to cry by laughing\u201d. I don\u2019t, but it\u2019s using the same diaphragmatic part. You need to stay open, relax, breathe out deeply, manifest a thought, and then start feeding and feeding and feeding that thought as you generate this engine of emotion\u2019. He starts to well up \u2013 then breaks off with a grin. \u2018Acting is a weird f*****g job, isn\u2019t it?!\u2019<\/p>\n

Energetic gum-chewing aside, the two-time Oscar nominee is on remarkably relaxed and jolly form today when we meet at the Soho Hotel. He\u2019s looking cosy, styled in a rather lovely Prada Jumper (which I mentally put on my husband\u2019s Christmas<\/a> list, until I realise it costs over \u00a32,000).<\/p>\n

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\u2018If you don\u2019t want to see a film about grief, then don\u2019t see this film,’ Benedict warns (Picture: Briarcliff Entertainment)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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It’s been a nice break for Cumberbatch to play a relatively \u2018normal\u2019 chap in Thing With Feathers (Picture:BFI London Film Festival)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He\u2019s joined on the sofa by Dylan Southern, the modest writer\/director of Thing With Feathers, a daring adaptation of Max Porter\u2019s award-winning bestseller. The book has already inspired a stage play (starring Cillian Murphy<\/a>), a puppet show, a mime performance and an entire album of minimalist drone music. But it was widely considered unfilmable, mainly because one of its lead characters is an 8-foot-high, talking crow.<\/p>\n

This led to early excited online reactions to the trailer, dubbing it \u2018the movie where Benedict Cumberbatch battles a giant crow!\u2019 which is crazily overselling the man vs beast action dimension. \u2018I would watch that film though,\u2019 chuckles Southern. \u2018I would too! But maybe with Godzilla\u2019s budget,\u2019 agrees Cumberbatch. <\/p>\n

Still, budget restraints can be a blessing. The \u2018Crow\u2019 of a Thing With Feathers is all the more distinctive and interesting for not being created with costly CGI effects. Designed by sculptor Nichola Hicks and performed by actor Eric Lampaert, \u2018Crow\u2019 is a unique, clawed and feathered personification of grief, with a very sarcastic edge, thanks to the voice talents of David Thewlis (best known as Professor Lupin in the Harry Potter<\/a> franchise). <\/p>\n

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