Jon Amiel Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Long after his death, Charles Darwin continues to stir up fuss over his landmark theories of evolution, and the producers of TIFF Opening Night Film Creation (watch the trailer after the jump) are clearly hoping to milk said fuss for all the Stateside distribution it's worth.

The Telegraph of the UK has producer Jeremy Thomas on the record as saying, "It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it's because of what the film is about." He then cites early rave reviews, including anonymous word-of-mouth calling it "the best film they've seen all year", the Hollywood Reporter's positive reaction and the Telegraph's own 300-word review -- accessible through the sponsored page of content linked within the article.

But many critics have simply found the film to be too much of a bore to merit controversy. The A.V. Club's Noel Murray said, "for the most part Creation is Biopic 101, earnest and over-explained." Eric Kohn at Indiewire called it "a dry period piece missing crucial information," while Anne Thompson went with "flat, dull, and painful to sit through." And Ebert? Well, he's basically said that he'll hold his opinion until the film opens, a date which remains to be determined.

At least his non-review can claim to run twice as long as the Telegraph's unabashed praise.

Acting couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly must have decided that life would be too calm after November 2008 -- so they have signed to play Charles and Emma Darwin in Creation. Yes, the Darwins. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will be directed by Jon Amiel, from a script penned by John Collee, and based on Randal Keynes' book Annie's Box. (Keynes is Darwin's great-great grandson.) The film will portray Charles Darwin as a man torn between his love for his deeply religious wife, and his growing belief in a world where God has no place.

I hope that they explore Darwin's personal struggles and belief more deeply than the plot description suggests. To sell him as an athiest smacks of wanting to stir up controversy -- Darwin always called himself an agonostic, and his rejection of Christianity stemmed as much from the tragic death of his daughter, Annie, as his research. It's a complex and fascinating biography, one that, as a lover of science and the history of it, I would love to see done with real justice.

The cast is certainly more than capable -- Bettany and Connelly are both wonderful, and they'll be joined by Jeremy Northam, Toby Jones, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Annie Darwin has yet to be cast. (I can't help but be amused by the fact that Bettany and Northam have played Darwin-inspired characters before, in Master and Commander and Possession, respectively. Pet interest, perhaps?)

I know the merest mention of Charles Darwin is enough to cause an epic flame war in the comments. If it's possible, try to keep discussion only to the film, the actors, the book, and Darwin's biography. That may be too much to hope for, but I beg you to remain respectful and tolerant of one another.

Have yourself a little indie niblet:

• Who would've ever thought of Eddie Vedder as the voice of inspiration for young men suffering from severe head trauma? It seems that Jospeh Gordon-Levitt, who has morphed from the quirky kid on 3rd Rock into a pretty powerful indie actor, listened to Pearl Jam non-stop to get in character for The Lookout, which Kim reviewed recently. According to what the actor told VH1: "I always design an arsenal of songs to go with every character I play, and I had never done it before with only picking one band. But for some reason, just because [the character's] mind goes in circles, [it seemed appropriate]." I think that would be a great jump to a new sort of special feature: the songs, films, goodies that an actor uses to get into character. I'd love to know what music Gordon-Levitt used for his other films.
• Entrapment director Jon Amiel is set to direct the upcoming 105 Degrees and Rising for Overture Films and Echo Lake Productions. The film is about the fall of Saigon in 1975, and it brings together a number of story arcs dealing with characters who are trying to escape South Vietnam as U.S. control ended -- up through the evacuation of the last Americans and some South Vietnamese by helicopter from the roof of the American Embassy. The script has been penned by William M. Akers, the same guy who brought us...Ernest Rides Again. To give the guy credit, his last work in 2002 was an historical story, but it's still surprising. As for the title of the film -- it's part of a code broadcast on Armed Forces Radio. It seems that this quote, followed by part of Bing Crosby's White Christmas was a sign to get the heck out of dodge, pronto.
• Lastly, Spain is starting to look into its laws on child actors after Madrid's child protection ombudsman asked parliament to create some by-laws to protect them. The limits requested: that children can only work fewer than 5 hours a day, that they can only work between the hours of 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. and that the types of work they can do must be specified. According to Carmen Gonzalez Madrid, the ombudsman's assistant: "A child doesn't have the maturity to assimilate certain frustrations that an adult could do, such as why today he is in Vogue and tomorrow he isn't." Hmm, I think Dakota Fanning would have a few words for him on the matter!

Hollywood loves dueling biopics -- Columbus, Capote, Amy Fisher; if there's more than one source to mine from, there's more than one movie to be made. The latest figure to get head-to-head films is Charles Darwin. Though I haven't heard anything more on Chase Palmer's take, titled Evolution's Captain, since I wrote about it last November, it is supposed to be released some time in 2009. If that remains true, it will have some company, because Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas is also planning to deliver a Darwin film the same year (the bicentennial of the naturalist's birth).

Thomas' version will be based on "Annie's Box" (aka "Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution"), a bio written by Darwin's descendant Randal Keynes. While Palmer's film should deal more with Darwin's scientific explorations, this one will be centered more on the naturalist's home life, particularly with the death of his daughter Annie, which he blamed on inbreeding (Darwin married his first cousin). The adaptation is being written by John Collee, who I had actually thought would be appropriate for Palmer's film, and will be directed by Jon Amiel. A good guess is that Keynes' son Skandar, who acts in the Narnia films, will get a part as one of Darwin's kids (he had 10).

Other dueling biopics headed your way:

Miles Davis

Marvin Gaye

Chet Baker

Napoleon