Natalie Portman has signed on for the leading role in the upcoming historical movie titled, Photograph 51. The movie comes from Tom Hooper, who’s best known for his works on movies such as The King’s Speech, Les Misérables, and The Danish Girl.
“I’m drawn to unexpected stories about people who are invisible when they should be visible,” Hooper said in a statement. “People history conspired to forget yet who touched world events – Lionel Logue in The King’s Speech, Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl. Shining a light on the extraordinary Rosalind Franklin, who made the invisible visible with DNA, and then was rendered invisible by her male colleagues and competitors, is a compelling story of science, rivalry, betrayal and redemption I am passionate to tell. Especially when it is told through the powerful writing of Anna Ziegler. Natalie Portman will bring her fierce intelligence, intensity, brilliance and wit to illuminate Rosalind. I am looking forward very much to collaborating with Natalie. And I’m happy to be united with Leviathan Productions and Red Yes Studio and to be reunited with my friends at FilmNation.”
Portman will be playing the role of Rosalind Franklin, a British scientist who’s responsible for uncovering the hidden structure of DNA.
“The film will uncover the story behind the brilliant scientist whose pioneering work in x-ray crystallography captured the image that revealed DNA’s double-helix structure, the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for all known life,” reads the films synopsis. “The movie poses the question how could Watson and Crick, scientists working on the same conundrum in a competing lab, have been awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery without even a mention of her name? Franklin has come to be known variously as as the “wronged heroine”, the ‘“’dark lady of DNA,’ the ‘forgotten heroine,’ a ‘feminist icon,’ and the ‘Sylvia Plath of molecular biology.’ Franklin’s pivotal role has remained largely in the shadows but Photograph 51 aims to reveal her quest to uncover the secret codes of all human life as she navigates both her colleagues and rivals before her untimely death at the age of only 37.”
Email:neill@outloudculture.com
