The Professor and the Madman (2019) on Netflix
Oxford University Press appoints Professor James Murray to compile a dictionary of every English word. From Broadmoor asylum, patient William Chester Minor sends him hundreds of entries.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.2/1055,627 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes41%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1872 London, William Chester Minor, a retired surgeon from the United States Army, is tormented by hallucinations of a soldier he once had to brand for desertion. Found not guilty of murder on grounds of insanity, he is committed to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum at Crowthorne. At Oxford University Press, James Murray takes charge of a commission that has already spent twenty years trying to draft a dictionary of every word in the English language, with its origins, meanings and literary citations, and the task remains unfinished. Murray appeals to the English public, asking readers to send the commission word references, and the response wins him the post of director. Minor, granted a small library in the asylum, begins mailing entries to the commission, each accompanied by quotations and examples.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Professor and the Madman (2019)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- In July 2017, Gibson and his production company Icon Productions sued the production company Voltage Pictures over their desire to control certain aspects of the production. It was alleged that Voltage refused to schedule a "critical" five days of filming in Oxford and that the director was denied final cut privileges.
- Gibson and Safinia issued statements distancing themselves from the project, calling the version released by Voltage "a bitter disappointment", and did not participate in promoting it. Safinia was not recognized for directing or co-writing the film, credited instead under a pseudonym, "P. B. Shemran".
- French director Luc Besson handed Mel Gibson the project, saying, "It isn't my first language. Maybe you can do something with this."
