Creation's Darwin (Paul Bettany) Photographs the Opposition
Posted 01.21.10 by reelz
In a bit of seriously underplayed irony, Vanity Fair accompanies a feature article on the Creation Museum in Kentucky with a photo shoot of some of its more curious exhibits by … none other than Paul Bettany. Yes, that Paul Bettany. While he may play an angelic defender of the human race in the well-advertised action flick Legion, he also plays what, from the point of view of the museum, must be pretty close to the devil, himself, in another somewhat lower-profile movie opening this week, Creation.
Creation is a humanizing, personal account of Darwin's struggles with his momentous discoveries about the origin of the species — struggles made more difficult by their potential impact on his deeply religious wife. Not a picture the people behind the Creation Museum could be expected to have a lot of sympathy for, since they're pretty clearly dedicated to the proposition that the Bible is literally true, that evolution is a fraud, and that Darwin is wrong, wrong, wrong.
So, what was Bettany, who not only plays Darwin, but views the scientist as a personal hero, doing there? He explains to New York magazine:
I went to the Creation Museum in Kentucky in a fit of openness, thinking, "God, I should really see the other side."
Let's just say he didn't come away convinced.