MOVIE · 2019

The Professor and the Madman

DocumentaryDramaMysteryThriller124 min

In the mid-19th century, Professor James Murray takes on the enormous task of compiling the first Oxford English Dictionary and finds an unexpected ally in one of its most prolific contributors. Mel Gibson is Murray, coordinating a far-reaching volunteer effort to catalog the English language, while Sean Penn's Dr. William Minor sends in thousands of precise entries from Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum. As the work expands, their correspondence links an Oxford scholar and an institutionalized American veteran in a story built around language, obsession, and the long, meticulous making of a landmark book.