It’s a far cry from the iconic image of the ageing academic with giant grey beard. But this is the first picture of how Shropshire’s famous son Charles Darwin will appear in a new big-budget movie later this year.

Creation, which is due to arrive at Shropshire cinemas in September, tells the story of a young Darwin struggling to find a balance between his revolutionary theories on evolution and the relationship with his very religious wife, whose faith contradicts his work.

British actor Paul Bettany, who has already played a Darwin-like character opposite Russell Crowe in the 2003 Galapagos adventure Master And Commander, has been cast as Darwin, opposite his real wife Jennifer Connelly as Darwin’s on-screen wife Emma.

He is also known for his role opposite Kirsten Dunst in tennis-themed romantic drama Wimbledon, and played albino monk Silas in the big-budget adaptation of crime thriller The Da Vinci Code.

Thirty-seven-year-old Bettany, who wasn’t afraid to reveal his dramatically receding hairline during location shooting, said: “It’s about Darwin. 

“It’s about the writing of Origin of Species. And it’s really about their marriage, which got into crisis, at the death of their child, Annie. 

“Emma Darwin was a fervent Christian and Darwin loved her. He sat on this theory that for 20 years sort of drove him mad. It drove him mad, not writing it down. 

“But he was also a social conservative that had this revolutionary idea. And it was, in some regard, stealing his wife’s comfort from her.”

The film is directed by Jon Amiel, whose previous work includes the Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones thriller Entrapment, and Somersby with Richard Gere and Jodie Foster.

Creation producer Jeremy Thomas described the Darwin story as “like gold under your feet”. 

He added: “I thought there must have been something made about him before. But there is nothing memorable. So we get to see a figure we haven’t really seen dramatised before, even though he was a very complex and troubled figure ripe for a film, particularly around the time that we are portraying him.

“The Darwin we see in the film is a troubled character who knew that his ideas were going to trigger a profound change of balance in the status quo and it made him ill.”

The movie comes as the debate continues to rage on how Darwin’s ideas should be communicated to youngsters in school classrooms.

By Carl Jones