Benedict Cumberbatch is set to star in a film adaptation of Max Porter’s Grief Is the Thing With Feathers, Deadline reports.
Porter’s novella, published in the U.S. by Graywolf in 2016, tells the story of a London man grieving the death of his wife. He and his two sons are visited by Crow, a mysterious creature who at first annoys the family but eventually teaches them how to deal with their loss.
The book won the International Dylan Thomas Prize. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus called it “elegant, imaginative, and perfectly paced” and “a contribution to the literature of grief and to literature in general.”
Cumberbatch, who was nominated for Oscars for his performances in The Imitation Game and The Power of the Dog, will play the widower in the film, which is titled The Thing With Feathers. Sculptor Nicola Hicks will help design Crow for the movie.
It is being adapted and directed by Dylan Southern (Meet Me in the Bathroom).
Cumberbatch said he was “a huge fan” of Porter’s book. “Dylan has handled the deftness of Max’s kinetic poetry masterfully,” the actor said. “It’s so well realized both on the page and in the deck and pitch. It holds all the wildly sharp turns of changing tones and colors between the domestic and mythic, between the despair, comedy, and every day of loss.”
Porter also had kind words for Southern, saying, “Dylan understands how this story is just as much about domesticity, awkward humor, the silly, fun and strange routines of raising children, as it is about inexplicable rage and pain. In Crow he has created something wild, a cinematic monster unlike anything else.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
