Benedict Cumberbatch Picks Up Golden Eye Award at Zurich Film Festival

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…