Inspiration for The Professor and the Madman - Prof James Murray and staff

#IrishFilm: Gaston Pavlovich joins The Professor And The Madman as co-producer and co-financier

ScreenDaily is reporting that Gaston Pavlovich (Silence) has joined the Irish co-production The Professor And The Madman as a co-producer and co-financier.

The film tells the story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary and sees Gibson play its author Professor James Murray. Penn plays William Chester Minor, a doctor, but also an inmate, at an asylum for the criminally insane, who penned more than 10,000 entries for the dictionary.

The Professor and the Madman is based on a book of the same name by Simon Winchester, which Gibson acquired the rights almost 20 years ago. Irish based director John Boorman (Excalibur) worked on the original script alongside Todd Komarnicki (Perfect Stranger), with director Farhad Safinia completing the rewrite. Safinia co-wrote Apocalypto with Gibson, who will produce for Icon Productions with partner Bruce Davey. Macdara Kelleher produces for the Irish-based Fastnet Films, with international sales being handled by Voltage Pictures.

The film will showcase up-and-coming local Irish talent Rob McCormack, Abigail Coburn, Zoe Moran, Phonsie Wardell, and Nora Cooper, cast from an extensive search as the family of Professor Murray.   It also features international stars Natalie Dormer,  Jeremy Irvine, and Ioan Gruffudd.

Irish talent on the film includes Costume Designer Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh, who did stunning work for Whit Stillman’s Love & Friendship; Production Designer Tom Conroy (Legend); Location Manager Gordon Wycherley (Brooklyn); Make Up & Hair team Lynn Johnson (Apocalypto) and Lorraine Glynn (Brooklyn); and Production Coordinator Jane McCabe (Brooklyn).

The Professor and the Madman shot for eight weeks around Dublin City at the end of last year and has received creative co-production funding from the Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board and on-the-ground locations support from the IFB inward production team.

Pavlovich’s Mexican production company, Fabrica de Cine, recently financed Martin Scorsese’s Silence, as well as putting money up for his next film The Irishman.