“The Professor and the Madman” Mel Gibson x Sean Penn, “authorship” that brings their passion together

*This article touches on the core of the story, so we recommend reading it after watching the movie.

"The Professor and the Madman" synopsis

Britain in the 19th century. Murray (Mel Gibson), a maverick self-taught linguistics scholar, is hired as a shotgun for the slow-moving project to compile an English dictionary. The situation is extremely difficult because the project has not been completed so far, but then a mysterious collaborator appears. The person's true identity turns out to be Dr. Minor (Sean Penn), who has committed murder and is incarcerated in a mental hospital...

Index

• The shocking true story of the birth of the dictionary is made into a movie
• Mel Gibson x Language as a writer
• Carefully organize the time allocation for the beginning, development, turn and conclusion.
• Conflict between creator and production company behind the scenes

The shocking true story of the birth of the dictionary is made into a movie

Fact is stranger than fiction. This is an idiom derived from a famous quote by the British poet Byron, which means, ``Sometimes reality turns out to be more dramatic and bizarre than fiction.'' In England, there is an ``incident'' that perfectly fits the phrase. Occurred. In the 19th century, the men who created the world's best dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which boasts over 410,000 words, were both heretical scholars with no bachelor's degrees and murderers. --.

“The Professor and the Madman,” which was released in Japan in 2020, is a biographical drama based on this true story. This is a film adaptation of Simon Winchester's non-fiction book ``The Story of the Birth of the OED, the World's Greatest Dictionary The Professor and the Madman .''

“The Professor and the Madman” © 2018 Definition Delaware, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

First, let me introduce a simple synopsis. The setting is 19th century England. Murray (Mel Gibson), a maverick self-taught linguistics scholar, is hired as a shotgun for the slow-moving project to compile an English dictionary. The situation is extremely difficult because the project has not been completed so far, but then a mysterious collaborator appears. The person's true identity turns out to be Dr. Minor (Sean Penn), who has committed murder and is incarcerated in a mental hospital...

A dramatic story was hidden behind the birth of this famous dictionary. It's a perfect subject for a work based on a true story, but speaking of lexicography, there are works such as `` Knitting a Boat '' (2013), directed by Yuya Ishii from Shion Miura's novel (both works use the phrase ``Sea of ​​Words''). ), the theme has a strong image of liberal arts. So why did they choose Mel Gibson and Sean Penn, who have become particularly athletic in recent years? You might think that, but the truth is that it's actually the opposite; it's a project that Gibson has been dreaming up for a long time. The story of the birth of the OED, the world's best dictionary of The Professor and the Madman, was published in 1998, when they wanted to make it into a movie, and this project has been in the works for about 20 years.

The director is Farhad Safinia, who participated in the screenplay for his directorial film `` Apocalypto '' (2006) (for various reasons, this film is credited under the name of PB Shemran, which will be explained later). It was originally planned that Gibson himself would take over the megaphone, which suggests that he was extremely passionate about it.

It is also said that Luc Besson was also working on making a movie out of this work at one point. As you learn about such episodes, you will begin to see how this work was a subject that attracted people.

Mel Gibson x Language as a writer