A Mel Gibson movie thwarted by legal trouble lands on Netflix successfully

Based on the caliber of talent involved, there was a lot of hope at first that The Professor and the Madman may finally find some of the glory of an Academy Award.

Protagonists Mel Gibson and Sean Penn have proven to be frequently divisive and polarizing characters, but each has won two Oscars and has proven themselves adept at their day-to-day work. Put in the context of a time period, a story allows for multiple Actions with a capital ‘A’, and you can understand why those conclusions are reached.

Gibson’s James Murray began the arduous task of compiling the first Oxford English Dictionary, whose more than 10,000 entries were submitted by William Minor of Penn, who also happened to be a patient at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, bearing to a unique perspective for the typical prestige drama genre.

However, Gibson eventually sued one of the production companies involved, with director Farhad Safinia and the star rejecting the project, ultimately credited to the filmmaker under the pseudonym PB Shemran, and both did not promote the film.

The Professor and the Madman was eventually rolled into select theaters and VODs in early 2019, where it disappeared without a trace. However, it pops right up on Netflix’s most watched list at number 26, according to FlixPatrol.