We are thrilled that Benedict Cumbrebatch’s involvement in Dylan Southern’s adaptation of Max Porter’s acclaimed novel Grief is the Thing With Feathers has been announced today in Deadline:

“Cumberbatch will play a young father whose hold on reality crumbles following his wife’s death as a strange presence begins to stalk him from the shadowy recesses of the apartment he shares with his two young sons.

This mysterious creature, known as “Crow”, seemingly brought to life from the pages of his work as an illustrator, becomes a very real part of all their lives, ultimately guiding them towards the new shape family must take.

The feature adaptation, entitled The Thing With Feathers, is produced by Andrea Cornwell with SunnyMarch’s Adam Ackland and Leah Clarke. The script was developed with Film4, who will executive produce and co-finance. The crow figure will be created for the screen in collaboration with the sculptor Nicola Hicks.

Max Porter’s bestselling 2016 first novel was named a Sunday Times ‘Top 100 Novel of the Twenty-first Century’ and has been sold in 29 territories. It was also adapted into a critically acclaimed stage play, which opened in Dublin in March 2018, and then toured to New York, Galway, and London.

“Having been a huge fan of Max Porter’s extraordinary book and Enda Walsh’s stage adaptation I was sceptical about a film adaptation. But the experience of reading Dylan Southern’s adaptation rekindled the cinematic memory of reading this most visceral tale of a family consumed by grief,” said Cumberbatch.”

Read the full article here.