The life of conservationist Jane Goodall is being adapted into a film, with Disney backing the movie. More here.
Dame Jane Goodall, who celebrated her 90th birthday this year, is one of the world’s foremost experts on chimpanzees. She’s dedicated her life and career to studying their behaviour and habits. She pioneered research techniques, and forged her own path in the male dominated world of 1960s science.
Goodall’s former husband, wildlife filmmaker and Dutch nobleman Hugo van Lawick, captured many hours of landmark footage of her work with chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. And her life has already been chronicled in various documentaries, most recently in Brett Morgen’s award winning 2017 documentary Jane. According to Deadline, a fully fledged biopic is now in the works.
Booker prize winning author and screenwriter Eleanor Catton, who previously penned the 2020 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, is writing the script. Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company Appian Way is developing the film for Disney.
Goodall said in an interview ““They’re making a film about me with an actress. I’ve seen the first draft of the script and made a lot of comments”.
Goodall will also be a producer on the film, alongside Jennifer Davisson and Michael Hampton. There is no news as to who will play her, or who will direct.
Goodall and Appian Way are also collaborating on feature film Howl, which will follow ‘Harry, a family dog who is inadvertently left home alone and whose owners then die in an accident. Harry goes through a rollercoaster survival ride that brings him into contact with a wolf. The pair must overcome their mutual fear and suspicion, and ultimately they develop a close bond’.
E Elias Merhige will direct from a screenplay by Christopher Monger.
We’ll keep you updated as we hear more. In the meantime, the documentary Jane is currently streaming in the UK on Disney+.
