Due for release this week, Paul Bettany stars as Charles Darwin in the biopic Creation. Based on Randal Keynes’ (Darwin’s great-great grandson) biography Annie’s Box, it promises to be a good movie and has received great reviews from the Toronto International Film Festival and the Guardian.

Here, the makers discuss the challenge of creating an exciting movie based on the life of a scientist, when the ins-and-outs of everyday science work can be pretty mundane. It looks as though they are focusing on the personal aspects of Darwin’s life and relationship with his wife as he works on the manuscript.

Bettany as Darwin

For more listening, the movie is discussed in this week’s Science Weekly Podcast, with discussion from Caspar Melville (with some questionable ideas*). Richard Dawkins also guests, to talk about his new book The Greatest Show on Earth.

Sadly, the movie has not yet only just been picked up for US distribution. I wonder if the title has something to do with that – perhaps Annie’s Box would have been easier to swallow? I also wonder if we’ll get to see it here in Indonesia.

* EDIT: It appears he was ‘conned’ by the AIDS-denialist ‘House of Numbers’ and explains here.