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Natalie Dormer (“Game of Thrones”) will star opposite Mel Gibson and Sean Penn in “The Professor and the Madman”.
The film, about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, is based on Simon Winchester’s book, which Gibson acquired the rights to nearly two decades ago.
Gibson will produce and star as professor James Murray, who began compiling the dictionary in 1857. Penn would play Dr. William Chester Minor, who was an inmate at an asylum for the criminally insane when he submitted more than 10,000 entries for the dictionary.
According to THR, Dormer will play a widow whose husband was killed by Penn and whose family he wants to help. A complicated romance ensues.
Farhad Safinia will direct the drama with production scheduled to take play in Europe in September.
Safinia re-wrote Todd Komarnicki and John Boorman’s original script. Bruce Davey of Icon is also producing.
