Darwin drama Creation spooks U.S. distributors
Last Updated: Monday, September 14, 2009 | 1:35 PM ET
CBC News
Paul Bettany stars as Charles Darwin in the film Creation, which has struggled to snag U.S. distribution, despite positive reviews at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. (Liam Daniel/RPC Nature Ltd.) Creation, which opened the Toronto International Film Festival last week, might be winning favourable early reviews, but its still-controversial protagonist — naturalist Charles Darwin — has prevented the film from snagging U.S. distribution, according to one of its producers.
The Jon Amiel biographical drama stars real-life couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as the evolution theorist and his devout wife, during the period when Darwin struggled with his faith, the loss of a beloved daughter and with the decision to publish his seminal On The Origin of Species.
Though Creation has scored deals to screen in movie theatres around the globe, U.S. distributors have been reluctant.
"People have been saying this is the best film they've seen all year, yet nobody in the U.S. has picked it up," Jeremy Thomas, Creation's Oscar-winning producer, said in an interview with British newspaper the Telegraph.
"It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America."
The film has also sparked heavy debate and been criticized on U.S. Christian websites.
"Charles Darwin is, I suppose, the hero of the film. But we tried to make the film in a very even-handed way. Darwin wasn't saying 'kill all religion,' he never said such a thing, but he is a totem for people," Thomas said.
