Creation, A new British film on Charles Darwin, has been deemed “too controversial” by U.S. distributors, reports Anita Singh in the Telegraph. Says Jeremy Thomas, the film’s producer:
“The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it’s because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they’ve seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up.
“It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America. There’s still a great belief that He made the world in six days. It’s quite difficult for we in the UK to imagine religion in America. We live in a country which is no longer so religious. But in the US, outside of New York and LA, religion rules.
“Charles Darwin is, I suppose, the hero of the film. But we tried to make the film in a very even-handed way. Darwin wasn’t saying ‘kill all religion’, he never said such a thing, but he is a totem for people.”
Read more at the Telegraph.
A lucky few Americans have had the chance to see Creation: Olivia Judson of the New York Times and Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education review it.
Just by looking at the headline of this post, I sense that it actually isn’t too controversial, but rather too boring to be watched, and they’re saying it’s controversial to boost people’s temptations to see it.
Nowadays, things that are too controversial are the things that get the most attention.
Afshin, I think your interpretation is quite likely. See, for instance, GetReligion’s excellent post on the topic. The American movie market is exceptional in a number of ways. One is its thirst for mildly controversial topics; another is its reluctance to buy up anything foreign.