The dangers of Disney’s film about Charles Darwin | Philip Ball
by Philip Ball from on (#CR3N)
Faced with a man so misunderstood, a 'swashbuckling' biopic about the naturalist could go horribly wrong. Here are a few blunders best avoided
The news that Disney is planning an "adventure film" about Charles Darwin sounds at first blush rather ominous. The idea that Darwin had "a bit of that Indiana Jones-like swashbuckling spirit in him", as noted in the report on the Hollywood-watching website Deadline, only heightens suspicions that the mild-mannered naturalist will be seen fighting off pirates and wrestling giant iguanas on the Galipagos. But it would be unfair to write off the project - to be directed by Stephen Gaghan, who wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Steven Soderbergh's Traffic - before we know anything more about it. Disney has at least shown itself now capable of producing more than sweet, passive princesses.
Related: Disney incubating new Charles Darwin movie
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