Benedict Cumberbatch was the toast of the town at Sundance during the Variety Cover Party presented by United Airlines. The actor, who graced the cover of Variety‘s 2025 Sundance issue, was honored at the event for his dramatic turn as a grieving father in “The Thing With the Feathers.” The party was held shortly before the movie’s world premiere screening at Sundance.
Variety’s co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh gave opening remarks and invited guests in attendance to donate to L.A. wildfire relief efforts, as Los Angeles is one of Variety and the film industry’s home bases. Cumberbatch said “We do have to stand tall as an industry and help those in need” and pointed to the QR codes United and Variety provided to charities that are helping with the relief efforts and to those impacted by the wildfires.
“Variety‘s Sundance issue is one of our biggest issues of the year, and this year it was a no-brainer for us who we wanted to feature on the cover,” Setoodeh then said, turning his direction towards the event’s honoree. “You know our cover star from his Oscar-nominated turns in ‘The Imitation Game’ and ‘The Power of the Dog’ and for playing Doctor Strange. But in our cover story, we learn that Cumberbatch is leveraging his star power to support and produce independent movies, which is why we are all here.”
Cumberbatch took the stage and revealed much to the audience’s surprise that this was his first time on the ground in Park City to attend the Sundance Film Festival in person. “To celebrate my first Sundance in this way is quite something,” he said. “I’ve had a film here before but I’ve never been here in person.”
“It is very strange to be talking to you now before the premiere of the film, having this time last year been in some weird studio in west London with a guy in an animatronic crow suit with two amazing, non-acting twins who very occasionally did not want to act,” Cumberbatch added with a laugh, referring to the production process on the movie.
Amid thanking his team of collaborators on the movie, Cumberbatch also shouted out Sundance and called it an “extraordinary festival that continues to uplift bold, innovative and novel storytelling. It is a great honor to be here tonight.”
Fellow actors John Magaro and Ben Whishaw attended the Variety Cover Party presented by United Airlines to support Cumberbatch. Also in attendance was the actor’s “Feathers” team, including director Dylan Southern and author Max Porter, whose book served as inspiration for the movie. Guests were treated to specialty cocktails and passed hors d’oeuvres, including duck confit and vegan tartare.
Ben Whishaw and Benedict Cumberbatch at the Variety Sundance Cover Party presented by United at the United Airlines Lodge on Main on January 25, 2025, in Park City, Utah.
Christopher Polk
“The Thing With the Feathers” is written and directed by Southern and adapted from the book “Grief Is the Thing with Feathers” by Porter. The film centers on Cumberbatch’s father as he struggles to raise his two songs after the sudden death of his wife. Richard Boxall and Henry Boxall star as Cumberbatch’s children, while the cast also includes David Thewlis, Vinette Robinson and Sam Spruell.
Cumberbatch said in his Variety Sundance cover story that he was attracted to “The Thing With the Feathers” because “it shines a light on male grief.”
“I haven’t seen many things that do that,” he added. “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.”
Cumberbatch later told Variety while on the ground in Park City that his father character in the movie is the closest he’s ever come to playing his real self on camera, adding: “This character is as near to me as any others I’ve played, to be honest. The middle class, the father, being in northwest London. It all felt very real and I had immediate access to it.”
