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Q. And how was Paul with Jenny, the orang-utan?
Jon Amiel: Well, although we’d worked for several weeks training her to do certain things, having met her myself and knowing how Paul worked with the kids we made the decision to film that meeting. We didn’t have Paul meet her beforehand at all. We just put them in that cage together and I set it up so that I could film what happened. I knew that Paul’s improvisational skills with the kids would work every bit as well with Jenny, and so it turned out to be.
Jon Amiel: Well, although we’d worked for several weeks training her to do certain things, having met her myself and knowing how Paul worked with the kids we made the decision to film that meeting. We didn’t have Paul meet her beforehand at all. We just put them in that cage together and I set it up so that I could film what happened. I knew that Paul’s improvisational skills with the kids would work every bit as well with Jenny, and so it turned out to be.
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Below is the review I wrote a while back on the film, pre-release. Enjoy! And most definitely view!
Creation
Film Review:
Dir: Jon Amiel; UK 108min
Starring; Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly, Martha West, Jeremy Northam, Benedict Cumberbatch, Toby Jones
It is said a scientific man ought to have no wishes and no affections. He must bare a mere heart of stone.
John Amiel’s ‘Creation’ skilfully dissects the life behind revolutionist Charles Darwin. A loving husband, a renowned scientist, and a man struck by grief to the point of insanity. Beautiful and elegant, the film cuts deep into the flesh and bone of the passionate and most exceptional Charles Darwin. Proving Amiel is not only a very talented director but also quite the stonemason.
With screenplay by John Collee (‘Master & Commander’) and starring A-list Hollywood husband and wife, Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly (Charles and Emma Darwin), the film is loosely adapted from Randal Keynes’s biographical novel ‘Annie’s Box’. With a true to the time and witty narrative, the story cleverly touches on various retellings of Darwin’s vivid adventures to his four children. Wild sea journeys and deep Congo treks carry an ever-evolving and exciting plotline of Darwin’s theories and viewpoints, love and loss – the formula for a very insightful, interesting film (for those who are into their chemistry!). Flirting between Charles’s daydreams, nightmares, and insanity, the film details the hellish pre-publication period of his most famous work ‘On the Origin of Species’. Darwin is torn between wife and friends, Christianity and science, he holds the key to Pandora’s box, but who is he to “kill God”.
Capturing a world through Darwin’s eyes, we sink with ease from the exuberant autumn colours of countryside England to the deep blacks of his ever-present madness with a notable score and exquisite cinematography. Grass caught in the wind dances across the screen, the molecules of water glisten – Amiel has made a conscious effort to focus on the small details within the frame and it pays off.
The story at times takes a little while to evolve, but attempting to jam ten million years of evolution into 108minutes is challenging at best. All in all, this film will pull deeply at your heartstrings whilst broadening your knowledge of life and the universe, even if it is partly fictionalised!
Benjamin,
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