Real-life couple Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany will kick off the Toronto International Film Festival with the life story of Charles Darwin. Bettany stars as the theory-of-evolution pioneer and Connelly plays his wife in Creation, which opens the festival Sept. 10. The film is directed by Jon Amiel, whose credits include The Core and Entrapment. The Toronto event is among a flurry of film showcases, including the Venice and Telluride festivals, that help launch Hollywood’s awards season each year. Creation premieres in the year marking the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth. Adapted from the book Annie’s Box, the movie centers on Darwin’s struggle between science and God as he refines his theories amid his wife’s deep religious conviction and grief over the death of his young daughter. “The tension between faith and reason is prominent in contemporary culture, and this intimate look at Darwin puts a human face on a man whose theory remains controversial to this day,” said festival director Piers Handling.
