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The Professor and the Madman 2019
A 2019 biographical drama film, The Professor and the Madman was directed by Farhad Safinia, using the name P. B. Shemran, and written by Safinia alongside Todd Komarnicki. It is based on Simon Winchester’s 1998 book The Surgeon of Crowthorne, known in North America as The Professor and the Madman. The movie features Mel Gibson, Sean Penn, Natalie Dormer, Eddie Marsan, Jennifer Ehle, Jeremy Irvine, Lawrence Fox, David O'Hara, Ioan Gruffudd, Stephen Dillane, and Steve Coogan in leading roles.
The story centers on professor James Murray, who in 1879 took charge of a project at Oxford University Press: The New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, now recognized as the Oxford English Dictionary. His collaborator and friend was W. C. Minor, a physician who contributed over 10,000 dictionary entries while imprisoned at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum in Crowthorne. Minor had been acquitted of murder due to insanity.
Filmed in Dublin during 2016, the production faced a legal conflict between Gibson and Safinia with Voltage Pictures, delaying its 2019 release. As a result, Safinia and Todd Komarnicki distanced themselves from the final version of the film.
Cast
- Mel Gibson[[James Murray
- Sean PennWilliam Chester Minor
- Natalie DormerEliza Merrett
- Eddie MarsanMuncie
- Jennifer EhleAda Murray
- Jeremy IrvineCharles Hall
- David O'HaraChurch
- Anthony AndrewsBenjamin Jowett
- Ioan GruffuddHenry Bradley
- Stephen DillaneRichard Brayne
- Steve CooganFrederick James Furnivall
- Laurence FoxPhilip Lyttelton Gell
- Lars BrygmannMax Müller
- Brendan PatricksWinston Churchill
- Aidan McArdleEdward Clarkem
- Adam FergusAlfred Minor
- Anthony BrophySergeant Steggles
- Olivia McKevittClare Merett
- Shane NooneGeorge Merett
Crew
- Director
- Farhad Safinia
- Screenplay
- Todd Komarnicki, Farhad Safinia
- Producer
- Nicolas Chartier, Gastón Pavlovich
- Cinematography
- Kasper Tuxen
- Editing
- Dino Jonsater
- Music
- Bear McCreary
Details
- Production
- 22H22, Caviar Antwerp NV, Definition Films, Fábrica de Cine, Voltage Pictures, Zik Zak Filmworks
- Distributor
- Vertical Entertainment (North America)
- Budget
- $25 million
- Box office
- $5.1 million
