Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired grief metaphor creature drama The Thing with Feathers, Deadline reports today, and is currently eyeing a Halloween release. A wide theatrical release is currently planned for October 31. The Thing with Feathers centers on “a widower (Benedict Cumberbatch) who is left to raise two young sons after the unexpected death of […]
Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired grief metaphor creature drama The Thing with Feathers, Deadline reports today, and is currently eyeing a Halloween release.
A wide theatrical release is currently planned for October 31.
The Thing with Feathers centers on “a widower (Benedict Cumberbatch) who is left to raise two young sons after the unexpected death of his wife. The man’s life is unraveling because of the grief that takes the form of an unhinged and unwanted houseguest – a crow – which taunts him from the shadows.”
Director Dylan Southern’s melancholic dark fantasy feature debut is an adaptation of Max Porter‘s novella Grief Is the Thing With Feathers.
“Dylan Southern has crafted something truly unique—an emotional gut punch wrapped in a dark, fantastical nightmare,” said Tom Ortenberg, CEO of Briarcliff Entertainment. “With its bold visual storytelling and powerhouse performances, The Thing With Feathers is an unforgettable exploration of grief, madness, and transformation. We’re thrilled to bring this vision to audiences.”
Richard Boxall and Henry Boxall star alongside Cumberbatch. David Thewlis voices Crow.
It’s the presence and design of Crow that sets this grief metaphor feature apart. I wrote in my Sundance review that “Creature and Prosthetics Designer Conor O’Sullivan (Alien: Covenant, Prometheus) channels Tim Burton with his eight-foot-tall talking Crow, a pitch-black gnarled beast prone to hurling frank insults at the brooding father.” It is a drama first and foremost, though, emphasizing grief over scares.
