Producers of Alan Turing film reject criticism of project
The producers of a biopic on the life of gay scientist Alan Turing have hit back at criticism of the project.
Black Bear Pictures say they are working closely with members of the Turing family in order to make The Imitation Game as accurate as possible.
Turing, who was persecuted by the UK Government over his sexuality, played a key role in Britain’s war effort against Nazi Germany. Forced to undergo chemical castration he committed suicide in 1954.
Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch is set portray Turing in the upcoming film.
Writing for PinkNews.co.uk earlier this month, Julia Turing, a US scientist and keen follower of Turning’s work claimed she had contacted Black Bear Entertainment over concerns that Turing’s life was being re-written “by adding fictitious scenes in the movie script that never happened.”
Alan Turing’s biographer, Andrew Hodges, also expressed concerns about the script in June.
In response, Black Bear Entertainment firmly rejected the allegations and issued the following statement to PinkNews.co.uk:-
The Imitation Game is a dramatic portrayal of the life and work of Alan Turing, whose achievements in cryptography and mathematics pioneered our understanding and development of what has become known in modern terms as computer science. He and his team at Bletchley Park also cracked the German Enigma code, which by all reports substantially shortened World War II.
We understand Turing’s importance, and the main intention of the film is to ensure his tremendous achievements and yet tragic and unjust treatment becomes more widely recognised.
Our preparation has involved extensive research on Turing, consulting directly with Bletchley Park, biographers, historians, members of the Turing family, members of the Alan Turing Centenary Committee, as well as living friends and colleagues of Turing.
We are making the film independently of the “Hollywood” studio system to retain complete creative control, and we have cast BAFTA and Academy Award® nominated actors in our lead roles.
This on-going dialogue is greatly appreciated as it demonstrates the passion that exists for Turing’s achievements and the legacy of a man we intend to honour. There is not – and never has been – a version of our script where Alan Turing is anything other than homosexual, nor have we included fictitious sex scenes, and we have responded to any and every email and Twitter message to the contrary so as to quash these unsubstantiated rumours. We only wish this misinformation hadn’t arisen, and in the spirit of openness we intend to communicate all production updates regularly through our social media channels.
We have never been contacted by Julia Turing.
