The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain Trailer: Benedict Cumberbatch Will Change Your Mind About Cats

If dogs are man's best friend, then cats are ... well, some people might consider them to be more of an acquired taste. Luckily, that's precisely the mindset that Benedict Cumberbatch's artist Louis Wain seeks to change in "The Electrical Life of Louis Wain." The biopic premiered at this year's Toronto International Film Festival (you can read Chris Evangelista's review here) and Amazon Studios has released a new trailer for the film, which you can watch below.

Cats: outcasts, ridiculous, frightened. In other words, they're just like us! Believe it or not, England in the 1800s didn't quite have as fond an impression of the common household pets as we do now. So what better way to brush up on history than with a fanciful, biopic perspective on the based-on-a-true-story events? The trailer for "The Electrical Life of Louis Wain" initially appears to be a lighthearted and whimsical tale about appreciating the oddball independence and companionship of felines everywhere, but surely the casting of Benedict Cumberbatch as the eponymous lead role tipped you off on a heavy dose of underlying melancholy just waiting to burst forth. The British actor may be somewhat typecast as a brilliant and obsessively gifted person on the fringes of society, but there's no denying that he plays that one note exceedingly well.

In addition to Cumberbatch, the film stars Claire Foy, Taika Waititi, Sophia Di Martino (best known as Sylvie from "Loki"), Toby Jones, Andrea Riseborough, Aimee Lou Wood, and Olivia Colman as the narrator. Will Sharpe directs and co-writes along with Simon Stephenson. Personally, I believe I deserve some sort of medal for making it to the end of this article without even once using this as an excuse to reference the phenomenon known as Tom Hooper's "Cats," mythical Butthole Cut and all.

"The Electrical Life of Louis Wain" will receive a theatrical release on October 22, 2021 and will arrive on Prime Video on November 5. You can check out the official synopsis below.

The extraordinary true story of eccentric British artist Louis Wain (Benedict Cumberbatch), whose playful, sometimes even psychedelic pictures helped to transform the public's perception of cats forever. Moving from the late 1800s through to the 1930s, we follow the incredible adventures of this inspiring, unsung hero, as he seeks to unlock the "electrical" mysteries of the world and, in so doing, to better understand his own life and the profound love he shared with his wife Emily Richardson (Claire Foy).