연합뉴스
| 2021-05-27 08:00:08
SEOUL, May 27 (Yonhap) -- The English dictionary, published by Oxford University Press in the UK, has been widely recognized as the accepted authority on the English language. In 1928, the first edition of the dictionary was published in 12 volumes and held 414,000 headwords and 1.82 million examples.
The biographical drama film "The Professor and the Madman" is about the life of professor James Murray who begins to organize words for the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. The professor later receives over 10,000 entries from Dr. William Minor--a patient who has been confined at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum.
During the mid-19th century, Britain had occupied half of the area on the world map and as an important means of expanding and maintaining its territories, the British began to refine the English language system. In order to do so, Britain carried out a huge project of creating dictionary that contained all of the English words.
James Murray, played by actor Mel Gibson, is a professor who has no degree yet speaks dozens of languages, joins the project as the new director and helps bring the dictionary to life.
Professor Murray tries an unconventional way of collecting words and example sentences by making every English speaking person apply through a letter. When a letter from Dr. William Minor, played by actor Sean Penn, containing hundreds of examples and quotes from classics, it is seen to speed up the compilation process.
When professor Murray finds out that Minor is in fact not a doctor but actually patient who committed murder and his detained for treatment, the compilation process for the dictionary project falls in a crisis.
The film is based on the 1998 nonfiction book "The Professor and the Madman", written by Simon Winchester, a former journalist who worked for "The Guardian."
Actor-director Mel Gibson, who directed and starred in the Academy-winning movie "Braveheart," participated in the production of "The Professor and the Madman" by purchasing the original copyright as well as casting the director.
Actor Sean Penn, who won awards for "Best Actor" at the three major international film festivals,plays the crazy genius Dr. William Minor, showing off his impressive acting chemistry with Mel Gibson.
The movie is restricted to viewers 15 or older and will be released on June 2nd.
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