Science Channel and BBC land William Hurt and other fine actors to make the space shuttle tragedy into a surprisingly solid biopic worth watching.
Everybody wants in the scripted game, but most firsts are painful lessons in just how hard it is to get fiction right. That first comedy is often lame. That first drama often pales in comparison to what’s already out there. Channels devoted to unscripted fare often find that diversifying their content is easier in concept than execution.
However, in something of a miracle or at least a wonderful surprise, the Science Channel, in association with the BBC, has delivered a little gem in The Challenger Disaster (Nov. 16, 9 p.m., also shown on Discovery).
The film flies on the back of William Hurt, who delivers yet another incredible performance, this time as the famous physicist, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Richard Feynman.
Photos: 18 Big-Screen Space Disasters
Feynman is...
Everybody wants in the scripted game, but most firsts are painful lessons in just how hard it is to get fiction right. That first comedy is often lame. That first drama often pales in comparison to what’s already out there. Channels devoted to unscripted fare often find that diversifying their content is easier in concept than execution.
However, in something of a miracle or at least a wonderful surprise, the Science Channel, in association with the BBC, has delivered a little gem in The Challenger Disaster (Nov. 16, 9 p.m., also shown on Discovery).
The film flies on the back of William Hurt, who delivers yet another incredible performance, this time as the famous physicist, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Richard Feynman.
Photos: 18 Big-Screen Space Disasters
Feynman is...
- 11/12/2013
- by Tim Goodman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
London – The BBC has teamed with the Science Channel to produce a one-off biographical drama starring William Hurt centered as scientist Richard Feynman on his search for truth in the wake of the Nasa Challenger space shuttle disaster Feynman was instrumental in uncovering the truth behind the space shuttle Challenger disaster of 1986. Hurt will star alongside Bruce Greenwood (Thirteen Days), Brian Dennehy (First Blood), Joanne Whalley (The Borgias), Kevin McNally (Wuthering Heights), Henry Goodman (Notting Hill) and Eve Best (The King’s Speech). James Hawes (Doctor Who) directs from a script by Kate Gartside (Mistresses). When Challenger exploded 73 seconds
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- 10/23/2012
- by Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A mix of North American and British talent will topline an untitled BBC/Science Channel movie about the search for what caused the 1986 Challenger Space Shuttle explosion. William Hurt and Bruce Greenwood will star as physicist Richard Feynman and Air Force General Donald Kutyna, respectively. Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner who also assisted on the Manhattan Project, was instrumental in uncovering the truth, as was Kutyna whom he befriended in the process. Brian Dennehy is also on board as William Rogers, the chair of the presidential commission and Joanne Whalley will play Feynman’s wife. British actors Kevin McNally (Downton Abbey), Henry Goodman (The Damned United) and Eve Best (Nurse Jackie) also star. Shooting starts this month on the TV movie that James Hawes is directing from a script by Kate Gartside. Great Expectations’ Laurie Borg is producing. Exec producers are Mark Hedgecoe, Cassian Harrison and Rocky Collins.
- 10/23/2012
- by NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor
- Deadline TV
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