Art, love, loss, and Cats: Benedict Cumberbatch stars in 'The Electrical Life of Louis Wain'

Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy help tell a true story about art, love, loss... and cats! Their new film is called "The Electrical Life of Louis Wain." It's based on the true story of an eccentric British artist known for changing the way people once felt about cats.

"If you look him up, he's presented as the man who drew cats. He's the person who transformed the image of the cat from vermin in Victorian England to the cute, cuddly, fun creatures that many of us have as pets in our households today," said director Will Sharpe.

"It was great fun working with a kitten. It's a nightmare working with cats," said Cumberbatch. "They just, you know, they're fed all the time, you have to be in this cat mode, it has to be hushed and quiet. They still don't do anything for hours!"

This is also a love story between an artist many people have never heard of and the governess who changes his life in the time they share together.

"He's not a known character here, really. So it was a discovery and a pleasure to discover him and portray him and his lives and his loves and difficulties," said Cumberbatch.

"He shows her his imagination and shares his world with her and to her that's such a gift, and I hope what we show in the film is that she gives him a life," said Foy. "It was such a nice holiday for me to do, to play her, to play someone that open and kind and generous and funny and odd."

Cumberbatch says he used to paint and draw a lot, which clearly came in handy here.

"I was drawing and painting all the time, on the set, on the walls, on the wallpaper and in his book, in his journal," said Cumberbatch. "Somewhere, there might be an original knock-off Louis Wain by me!"

"The Electrical Life of Louis Wain" is in theatres now and heads to Prime Video on Friday, Nov. 5.