Darwin biopic to remain unseen in US due to creationist fear

The movie biography of Charles Darwin won’t be seen by anyone in the United States because movie distribution companies are too scared of upsetting the creationist wing nut faction.

Creation, starring Paul Bettany, is the story of Darwin’s struggle between faith and reason during the time that he was writing On The Origin of Species. The movie opened the Toronto Film Festival and will have its London premiere on Sunday (interesting juxtaposition between the man and the “religious” day of rest). The movie has been solid in almost every country in the world with the exception of the US.

Jeremy Thomas, the Oscar-winning producer of Creation, said he was astonished that such attitudes exist 150 years after On The Origin of Species was published.

“That’s what we’re up against. In 2009. It’s amazing,” he said.

“The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it’s because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they’ve seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up.

“It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America. There’s still a great belief that He made the world in six days. It’s quite difficult for we in the UK to imagine religion in America. We live in a country which is no longer so religious. But in the US, outside of New York and LA, religion rules.

Source: Telegraph – Charles Darwin film ‘too controversial for religious America’

image: Paul Bettany plays Charles Darwin in Creation Photo: ALLSTAR