Mary Anning and the Dinosaur Hunters celebrates the life and work of the famed Victorian palaeontologist building up to her ground-breaking discoveries of the ichthyosaur, plesiosaur and the pterodactyl along what is now known as the Jurassic Coast.
The film stars Jenny Agutter – renowned for her film roles in The Railway Children and An American Werewolf in London, as well as TV’s Call the Midwife – and is partially shot on location in Lyme Regis.
Agutter plays Elizabeth Philpot who mentored Mary Anning, while Anning herself is played by Katharine (Katy) Hamilton. The film also stars Jonathan Moore and Paul Storrier.
The biopic will delve into how Anning navigates her career while constrained by the patriarchal society of the 1800s.
The trailer shows Anning, played by Katharine (Katy) Hamilton scouring the beach for finds when she discovers an ammonite fossil.
While we see her discoveries are dismissed as “devious” and “duplicitous” counterfeits by men in the science field, Agutter’s character Elizabeth is a source of encouragement.
She appears at the end of the clip, warmly embracing the fossil hunter offering the following strong words of encouragement: “If you do something you love you never have to work a day in your life.”
Throughout the clip we see glimpses of the Dorset coast as scenes from the film were shot in Charmouth and Lyme Regis as well as in Cornwall.
Lyme Regis has been a popular filming location for many other major productions including Wonka, the 2022 adaptation of Jane Austin’s Persuasion, and the 1981 film The French Lieutenant’s Woman.
The film also comes hot on the heels of another Mary Anning biopic, the 2020 film Ammonite, starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan which was also shot locally.
Mary Anning and the Dinosaur Hunters will get its premiere at the Marine Theatre on Sunday, June 9 at 6.15pm as part of the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival 2024 programme, celebrating the rich geological heritage of the Jurassic Coast.
The show will be followed by a Q&A chaired by Jonathan Moore with director Sharon Sheehan.
