After Leo DiCaprio dropped out of the lead role in the Alan Turing biopic Imitation Game, the project has lost a bit of its forward momentum. Alice Creed helmer J. Blakeson came on to direct, but he’s since dropped out too, and now Deadline reports that he’s been replaced by Headhunters helmer Morten Tyldum.
Hopefully Tyldum will be the man to get it made. There’s been a lot of heat behind Graham Moores script, which hit the Black List in 2011, but actually getting it in the can has proved tough.
Partially based on Andrew Hodges’ biography, Alan Turing: The Enigma, the script follows British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and computer scientist Alan Turing, the shy man who is now seen by many as the father of modern computing. His work led to the creation of some of the first computers, which were used to help the Allies decode German communications during WWII. However due to the sensitive nature of his work, his contribution wasn’t officially recognised for many years.
Indeed, rather than being praised by his country, he was persecuted for being gay, which led to depression, the destruction of his career, chemical castration and he eventually killed himself by eating a cyanide-laced apple (although some have said his death may actually have been accidental). In 2009 PM Gordon Brown made an official apology for the way he was treated, although his convictions for being gay still stand.