Friday 2 October 2009

Henry Ian Cusick talks about being Darwin


The official Darwin's Darkest Hour website has been newly updated, and includes an interview with star Henry Ian Cusick. Here are excerpts from the site:

Q: So you knew something about the era before taking this new role. Did you know much about Darwin?

Cusick: No, I didn't. And he's been sort of misinterpreted, I think. It's going to be really interesting for any creationists—if they tune in, which I don't know if they will—to see what a family man he was, what a religious man he was in the beginning, and how he sat on this information for such a long time. Because his dilemma was: Do I publish or do I not?

Q: In the film, the death of Darwin's two children, particularly his daughter Annie, is very pivotal. Did having kids yourself help you prepare for those scenes?

Cusick: I think any parent, at some time or other, has thoughts of their child dying. That's probably one of the worst things that could ever happen to a parent. So yes, it certainly made it easier for me to play, having children of my own.

Q: Were you surprised by anything you learned about Darwin or his theory through the course of doing this project?

Cusick: Yes. You know, for all the creationists out there, Darwin's just an atheist. But he was actually agnostic. There's a passage in the film in which he says that he doesn't know where the initial spark of life came from, you know? He thought that that spark of life came to Earth, and then from that one spark all these other things were created. And I think that's a very honest and open view. I don't see how anyone can say he's anti-Bible, anti-God. He's saying he just doesn't know. He doesn't know where the first spark came from.

The passage in the script, from Darwin's own writing, goes: "I think there's beauty—and grandeur—in a view of life having been originally breathed into perhaps a single form, and that from so simple a beginning, endless forms, most beautiful and wonderful, have been and are being evolved."

Be sure to go here for the entire interview and be sure to check out the new website.

Don't forget that the the two-hour drama premieres Tuesday, October 6th at 8PM ET/PT on PBS.

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1 comment:

  1. OK, no one will see this. But I've got to say, Charles Darwin is one of my heroes, and it was great to see him played by one of my favorite actors.

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