TRAILERS

Cumberbatch + Cute Cats in 'The Electrical Life of Louis Wain' Trailer

by Alex Billington
September 23, 2021
Source: YouTube

"What's going on in that funny little head of yours?" Amazon Studios has debuted the full-length official trailer for The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, directed by Will Sharpe, with Benedict Cumberbatch as British artist Louis Wain. This just premiered at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals, and it's one of the most charming and delightful films of the fall. "From Ancient Egypt to TikTok, cats have accompanied humans on life’s journey. But who made the creatures cute? Louis Wain tells the story of the Victorian-era artist whose widely published drawings of anthropomorphized cats transformed them from mysterious to irresistible. In a dazzling, career-best performance, Cumberbatch plays one of Britain's most influential eccentrics as a flurry of wild ideas and prodigious artistic output." The cast also includes Claire Foy as his wife, with Sophia Di Martino, Olivia Colman narrating, Andrea Riseborough, Jamie Demetriou, Toby Jones, and Stacy Martin, as well as a number of fun cameos. I saw this during TIFF and instantly fell in love with it - a kooky, upbeat, heartfelt journey through the life of one strange, beautiful, artistic man.

Here's the full trailer for Will Sharpe's The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, from Amazon's YouTube:

You can watch the first look clip for The Electrical Life of Louis Wain again here, for a bit more footage.

Description from TIFF: "Louis Wain (Cumberbatch, also at the Festival in The Power of the Dog) brims with creativity, even as his life in the 1880s oscillates between the delightful and the dizzying. To support his widowed mother and five younger sisters, the academy-trained artist sells drawings of animals from the country fair. His skilled and speedy portraiture impresses, but his often stormy view of the world and those in it keeps him from engaging much with society. That is, until he hires a kind, curious governess for his youngest sisters, Emily Richardson (Claire Foy), who illuminates his life in a way even he’d never imagined. Love blooms across the class divide—albeit to the chagrin of his stern sister Caroline (Andrea Riseborough), second oldest and second in command." The Electrical Life of Louis Wain is directed by the British actor / filmmaker Will Sharpe, director of the two films Black Pond and The Darkest Universe previously. The screenplay is written by Simon Stephenson and Will Sharpe. This will premiere at the 2021 Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals this year. Amazon will then debut Sharpe's The Electrical Life of Louis Wain in select US theaters on October 22nd, 2021, and streaming on Prime Video starting on November 5th this fall.

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