Formulating a new Creation

Creation tells one of the most world changing theories in the history of man, based on the scientific conclusion that humans are a part of the natural order called evolution. There has always been a great divide between religion and politics pertaining to this topic, but one of those who got an even better close up of the emergence of Darwin’s theory is Randal Keynes.

The literary author is the great great grandson of Charles Darwin and is able to kindly give us here at Killer Film an inside viewpoint on the entire world of Darwin and how it came to be what is known on the big screen today as Creation.

Melissa Molina: Diving right into it, when it came to finding a way to start writing “Annie’s Box”, did you start it up purely because you were blood related to Darwin or was there more to it then that?

Randal Keynes: I wrote the book because I found an extraordinary story. I wouldn’t have  written the book because I wanted to write a book about Darwin, it’s just that I found a writing case that had a part that was very important time in Darwin’s life and then just wanted to tell that story.

Melissa Molina: Yeah, because normally when it comes to Dawrin, everybody just knows “On The Origin of Species”. Nobody really knows how he came to write it, especially with the whole happenings of his family.

Randal Keynes: Yes, I feel that it’s important to show Darwin as a family man. I wanted to also explore the point that while most people, I think, would assume that he had started much of his main work in a laboratory experimenting, he actually never set foot in one. He did all his work on his voyages around the world, visiting place after place and then in his home in London. So all of his science he did for the book he did with his family around him, and that influences the science and his power.

Melissa Molina: When it comes to “Annie’s Box”, did you know the whole story of what happened with Darwin, Annie and the rest of the family?

Randal Keynes: No. When I first encountered the story, when I first realized the story, I had little idea that Annie was so important to Darwin in his thinking about evolution and human nature. I learned of his experience of having Annie, his daugther, and then of loosing her to the illness that she died of, and coming to terms with his grief for her. I realized how important that was going to be, or how it proved to be in his thining about human nature. So I found the story, which I made into this book.

Melissa Molina: When it came to them finally starting to develop Creation, how did Jon Amiel and the others approach you? How did that all go?

Randal Keynes: I was asked for the permission to have the book used in paging the film. Before granting permission I met scriptwriter John Collee and Jon Amiel, the director, in order to find out their interest in the book and the approach they were going to adopt. When I met them, I wasn’t prepared to give them the rights to somebody who was going to do something with the book that I would find unhelpful, offensive or whatever. When I met them, I really knew at once that they were going to do something very good, very imaginative, very creative with the book.

I then met them and talked to them and helped them in the shaping of the script. After then I answered any questions they had on points of detail. I didn’t play a part while the film was being shot because it wasn’t going to be helpful for the actors or the director to have a person with a clear understanding hanging out on the sidelines. When I saw the performances, saw the film as it turned out, I was absolutely delighted. I’m so grateful to them for making this film from the book, that I’m helping them with the promotion of the film.

Melissa Molina: Yes, definitely. When it came to the performances of Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as Charles and Emma Darwin, what did you think of that from a stand point of somebody who knows the whole story?

Randal Keynes: Yes, I would say that’s not exactly how I imagined them, but what I can say is that it is now how I can imagine them. Two utterly convincing performances especially with all I know about Darwin and about Emma, utterly true that the two characters that I know so much about that I got to know. A lot of people could play Darwin, a lot of people could play different Darwin’s and other people could play different Emma’s, but those two gave out wonderful performances. They fit each other absolutely, their love for each other was pure which was one of the most important parts of the story and I’ve been moved each time I’ve watched the film.

Melissa Molina: Yeah, because when it comes to that, to Charles and Emma, you want to have at least a convincing enough kind of unity between the two as a couple. Because one of the main aspects about Darwin is family.

Randal Keynes: Exactly, yes.

Melissa Molina: There’s also the whole conflict of religion that’s played out through the entire film.

Randal Keynes: Yes, exactly, and the two of them shown given the really powerful accounts of those two elements in their lives. They are so important to the film because it is about the tension and difficulties between them because of that topic.

Melissa Molina: Now, reverting back to you, when it comes to the whole being related to Charles Darwin, have you known about it for years? Is it something you’ve always been aware of or is it something you kind of found out –

Randal Keynes: I became aware as a young boy at school and friends joked that I was a descendant of a monkey. I just didn’t understand why and asked my elder brother why people were making this joke. He said that we had a famous ancestor and he had written this book in which he says that everyone was descended from monkeys. So I knew how to reply to the jokes and the jokes eventually were dropped. After then my father, my grandparents, and have kept it aware in my life ever since.

Melissa Molina: That’s pretty interesting. (Chuckles) Annie actually is the one component I was the most surprised about when it came to bringing together “On the Origin of Species”. I’m one of many people who didn’t really know about Darwin other than it’s some guy who wrote this book. I didn’t know there was this whole side story about Annie and how she died, basically an influence to him putting it all together.

Randal Keynes: Yes, I think was good to see Annie in the story of Darwin as the film shows it. It’s also, for me, wonderful to see Jenny the orangutan and that the film shows them both. We can love them both in the film and it isn’t merticulous, it isn’t a joke and I think that’s the achievement of the film. To be able to show how Darwin was able to think about his daughter, be able to love his daughter and be able to see in the orangutan the existence of humanity and the film has made the connection. The connection works and that’s a market of success in the film.

Melissa Molina: The one thing I liked about the whole story with Annie connecting to it all is that they just didn’t say it in one little passing by and that was it. They incorporated her through the whole thing and showed how important she is.

Randal Keynes: Yes, and that is all based on what I wrote in the book, what I found out about how Darwin wrote his memories of her. Do you have a copy of the book?

Melissa Molina: No I don’t, they only gave me a screener and some press notes.

Randal Keynes: I see. (Chuckles) Your doing very well, your doing very well with what you’ve got!

Within my book there’s a chapter on how Darwin remembered Annie and how he referred to her in the years after her death right all the way to after the publication of “On the Origin of Species”. I found that he clearly held onto the memory of her, it clearly moved him. Some people have referred to her as a ghost, I think that’s wrong, that’s not what the film shows. Because ghosts are figures that come at you when your not expecting them and you don’t want them. Isn’t that right?

Melissa Molina: Yeah, that’s right. Ghosts are kind of like some thing that pops up out of nowhere and–

Randal Keynes: They made it quite clear in the film that Annie is not a ghost, that she’s a figure in his mind who is there to speak with him when he wants.

Melissa Molina: Yes, she definitely is. She’s kind of like guides him.

Randal Keynes: Yes, and what frightens him is not when she appears but when she disappears. that time in the film when he has great difficulty, she disappears and he’s desperate about that. So when he’s quarrelling with her, it’s not that he wouldn’t quarrel with your daughter in that way, this is his memory of her that he’s quarrelling with. he’s not being hard with her, he’s being hard with this figment of his imagination.

Melissa Molina: That’s right, because when he’s talking to her she’s basically playing devil’s advocate and saying why don’t you do and talk to your wife about this instead of just me dealing with this?

Randal Keynes: And that is something that he must have recognized and needed to think about and he had given that line to his annie. He then finds the key.

Melissa Molina: Well it was really nice talking to you, and I feel kind of bad that I have not read Annie’s Box.

Randal Keynes: Oh no it’s fine, its very good. One important point is that the book “Annie’s Box” that the film is based on, is now available it’s not called that anymore. It’s available as “Creation: Darwin, His Daughter & Human Evolution”. To find it on Amazon click the book cover below.