Benedict Cumberbatch received Zurich Film Festival’s Golden Eye Award on Monday.
“He’s one of the most versatile and charismatic actors of today’s cinema,” said festival director Christian Jungen.
“I like the idea of continuing, not retiring,” said “overwhelmed” Cumberbatch, accepting the prize and thanking his family and those who “dared to take a chance on him.” “It’s a huge privilege to be able to do that, tell stories that are important to you. You are about to see one of the results of that.”
The two-time Academy Award nominee – for “The Imitation Game” and “The Power of the Dog” – also moved the Zurich audience with “The Thing With Feathers.”
Written and directed by Dylan Southern, and inspired by Max Porter’s book “Grief Is the Thing With Feathers,” it sees Cumberbatch as a grieving father, raising two sons alone after the loss of his wife.
In a previous interview with Variety, the actor praised the film for “shining a light on male grief.”
“You have a man facing up to his limitations as he deals with the pressure of work, life, raising kids, all while his sense of self is just brutalized by grief. There were a great many challenges there. And I love a challenge.”
In Zurich, he added: “If we lean into male emotion, grief, family, that’s a good thing for culture – especially in this day and age.”
Later, he added: “There are a lot of children who didn’t have enough love that are running the world today. And that creates anger.”
Post “Sherlock” – the mere mention of which saw the audience erupting in spontaneous applause – Cumberbatch won raves for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “12 Years a Slave” and “Patrick Melrose” – he also voiced Smaug in “The Hobbit.” “It was like being a kid, ignoring the fact that others are watching.” Marvel also came calling, offering him the part of “Doctor Strange.”
“It was pretty exciting and then I did a deep dive into the comics. I went: ‘This guy is pretty misogynistic. He needs a makeover!’ This idea of bringing true spirituality into tentpole franchise. Everyone has the potential to be a healer, heal other and ourselves, I thought it was pretty inspiring. And he’s pretty fucking cool, too.”
He also loved the “bodily transformation of getting into superhero form.” “To play in that big sandpit and this idea that you can be loose and free with the script like that – [it takes] the balls to do that. It was something I learned watching Downey and Tom Holland. ‘I can have some fun and play.’”
Reflecting on his high-profile collars, he noted: “[I was] lucky enough to be working as an actor, but at this level? Very, very lucky,” he said, recalling his first experiences with such A-list directors as Spielberg in “War Horse.”
“You step in and you don’t know what the ride is going to be. I didn’t have expectations – just wanted to have my experience with them. To be on the first day of a Spielberg film with a field of horses charging at my command, with him going ‘action!,’ I thought: ‘This is the movies, baby.’”
Cumberbatch produced “The Thing With Feathers” through his SunnyMarch production company, alongside Andrea Cornwell, Leah Clarke and Adam Ackland.
“The stuff that’s really exciting when you are in the room at its inception and then again at the end, with the audience. Like today. We’ve got some new things cooking,” he teased, underlining the importance of supporting first-time filmmakers – and putting women “front and center.”
He also apologized to the audience.
“I had three hours of sleep. I blame Noel and Liam Gallagher for being brilliant,” he said, fresh off seeing Oasis.
variety.com
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