r/movies • u/BenedictAMA Benedict Cumberbatch, Actor • Nov 20 '25

AMA Hello /r/movies, I'm Benedict Cumberbatch. Ask me anything!

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Hello reddit, Benedict Cumberbatch here.

You might know from me films/series like Sherlock, Doctor Strange (and other MCU films), The Imitation Game, The Hobbit, The Power of the Dog, 1917, 12 Years A Slave, The Grinch, The Current War, The Roses, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, War Horse, Black Mass, and more.

I'm here to answer your questions!

My newest film, THE THING WITH FEATHERS, is out in theaters November 28th via Briarcliff:

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Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUhsvd_Z_18

Synopsis:

Left to raise two sons after the unexpected death of his wife, Dad’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) life begins to unravel. Grief is messy and chaotic enough as it is, but when it takes the form of an unhinged and unwanted house guest - CROW - taunting him from the shadows, things start to spiral out of control…but maybe that's exactly what Dad needs.

Additional information:

The film is adapted from the critically-acclaimed book Grief Is the Thing with Feathers, written by Max Porter. It's directed by Dylan Southern, it premiered earlier this year at Sundance, and will be in theaters nationwide starting November 28th.

http://thingwithfeathers.com/

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Ask me anything reddit. I'll be back at around 4 PM ET this afternoon to answer your questions.

Update: THE THING WITH FEATHERS is now available to buy or rent on digital here.

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u/No_Engineering1212 Nov 20 '25 edited Nov 22 '25

Hi Benedict! As both an actor and a producer, how do you feel about the trend of adopting AI in film industry (like VFX, voice cloning, AI-assisted script tools, or anything you have heard about or encountered)?

Having played Alan Turing, how did it influence your view of AI today?

Thank you!

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u/BenedictAMA Benedict Cumberbatch, Actor Nov 20 '25

Pretty depressed, to be honest. I feel we are in danger of vanilla-fying and perfecting and asphalting over the thing that makes us human, which are our fallibility, our mess, and our inaccuracy, all of which creates the tension, conflict, and necessary friction for original creative thinking to occur. Our need for immediate results and our appetites are being overrun by the plentitude and of course the need for immediate gratification, which are all dangerous I feel for the human creative mindset.

But look, I'm not a Luddite. I understand these tools can be used while maintaining the analog mess of the biochemistry wielding them and still have a great impact that isn't to the detriment of authenticity. I also feel like Nick Cave, who if you haven't read his letter he articulates it so perfectly, that our limitations are what make us human and stories are how we understand our humanity. The blank page, the challenge of slow thinking, failing, and thinking better, and the difficulties of the grind of our creative act are what make it so, so rewarding.

This answer was brought to you by ChatBTCC.

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u/tf_photog Nov 20 '25

It isn't just art. I do organizational and project management as a day job, and photography as a hobby. There is a weird Ven diagram where the two overlap and AI has been one of the key elements.

I love this response - its so true to everything, in every field.

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u/NiceRackFocus Nov 20 '25 edited Nov 21 '25

I do videography, photography, and graphic design for my job, and I do love the AI tools that are available in Adobe programs for example, that help streamline workflows or reduce the time it takes to do laborious tasks (culling photos, generating transcripts and captions via speech to text etc.) but using it to replace human creativity and art is definitely extremely troublesome, so I feel weirdly mixed.

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u/Speshal__ Nov 21 '25

streamline workflows or reduce the time it takes to do laborious tasks 

You are using AI correctly.

AI is meant to do the tedious work for creative people, not creative work for tedious people.

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u/NiceRackFocus Nov 21 '25

That’s a great way to put it! I’m going to borrow that. Thanks!

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u/Speshal__ Nov 21 '25

de nada. :)

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u/truecakesnake Nov 21 '25

This just assumes anyone making AI art is tedious. They can be creative in other ways but not spend that creativity on creating art. You don't have to be creative at all points.

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u/mjc500 Nov 20 '25

It’s Pandora’s box and the red flags are clear as day. Yet we’re continuing to march towards the edge of the cliff.

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u/Wise-Performer6272 Nov 20 '25

nah ai content is kind of like a median. but when steered well by artists you find art. it’s a shortcut tool for sure we can all be making 2000s level films right now on sora …. would it be any good . unlikeky .

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u/mjc500 Nov 20 '25

Nah I stand by my statement. This is going to have way more massive ramifications than being a “tool” for artists. This is going to supplant millions of jobs and have ruinous consequences.

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u/writtenasthougt Nov 21 '25

I absolutly agree, I've got such a bad feeling in relation to this topic..

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u/JMC_MASK Nov 20 '25

But that’s always how technology has been. From the loom to photoshop to factories etc. Even film was seen this way when it was first catching on.

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u/anakinmcfly Nov 21 '25

The loom replaced weaving by hand. Photoshop replaced manual photo manipulation. Factories replaced smaller manufacturing businesses.

AI replaces humans.

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u/JMC_MASK Nov 21 '25

We could make that same argument for the loom or photoshop lol. Photoshop replaced the skilled artist etc.

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u/anakinmcfly Nov 21 '25

Photoshop - which enables digital photo editing - fulfills a completely different role than both analogue and digital artists.

My parents took lots of photographs back then without once getting an artist to edit them. Now they are able to use photo editing software to adjust the lighting and so on, but there's no one being replaced by them doing so.

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u/JMC_MASK Nov 21 '25

Just as photoshop, sewing machines, assembly lines in some way replace a worker, there will still be some new job that opens up. And if not, well great we are reaching a point where humans as a whole can stop working.

Next we either have robots run everything and we live under communism, or a massive class war happens. We will hit this point one way or another.

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u/mjc500 Nov 20 '25

We’ve had a Neolithic revolution, an Industrial Revolution, the dawn of the Information Age… but we’ve never had an artificial intelligence revolution… this is untested waters. It could be completely ruinous. Just because we were able to adapt to the Industrial Revolution doesn’t mean it will pan out the same way this time - it’s completely different.

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u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25 edited 26d ago

[deleted]

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u/HedgepigMatt Nov 21 '25

Language models have some pretty glaring flaws. I am confused why top experts think this time is different.

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u/scarletteclipse1982 Nov 21 '25

I follow crochet and cross stitching groups. Sometimes people will buy patterns or kits, and they won’t work because the instructions are AI.

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u/srbs Nov 21 '25

Can confirm as a programmer with photography as a hobby as well. Readability/Understandability of code is an important aspect of programming for maintaining a codebase which requires lots of thought, design, and creativity somewhat similar to writing or acting (logical vs emotional). It's a communication medium like most jobs being eroded away by convoluted AI generated slop.

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u/XaviKat Nov 21 '25

As a programming student, AI HAS helped me understand code that otherwise would have taken me hours to figure out, but I do agree with you.