Mel Gibson, "promoter" and protagonist of this true story, had dreamed of making this film for several years. British history and pride. P. B. Sherman's 'The Professor and the Madman', from Simon Winchester's bestseller, is a true story enhanced by the performance of two Oscar winners in a state of grace: a measured Mel Gibson and an extraordinary Sean Penn in a mad version. It is the story of an unpredictable friendship between the English man of letters James Murray (Gibson), commissioned in the second half of the 19th century to write the first edition of the Oxford Dictionary, and William Chester Minor (Sean Penn), a criminal locked up in a London asylum for murder.
Murray, given the initial difficulties of the venture, together with his staff, decided to involve ordinary people by inviting them to send as many words as possible by mail in May to write the dictionary. However, having reached a deadlock, he received a letter from William Chester Minor, a man who had been admitted to an asylum because he was judged mentally ill. Minor, a former military surgeon, in the asylum for killing a man in a schizophrenic attack, maniacally filled his cell with a huge file full of words that he sent to Murray every week. The thousands of words that Dr Chester had sent by mail were so fundamental to the compilation of the dictionary that the two will form an unusual alliance that will turn into a friendship.
Directed by P.B. Shemran
Starring: Mel Gibson, Sean Penn, Natalie Dormer, Eddie Marsan, Steve Coogan
Release date: 2019
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