Back in 2018 it was reported that actors Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan had been cast to play lovers on screen in Ammonite, a film depicting the true story of paleontologist and fossil collector Mary Anning, who was born in 1799.
“Set in a U.K. coastal town in the 1840s,” reported Deadline, the film “will follow the unlikely romance between paleontologist Mary Anning and a London woman of means to whom she must unexpectedly play nursemaid.”
Filmed in the town of Lyme Regis in West Dorset, England, Ammonite is directed by Francis Lee, who was celebrated for his 2017 film God’s Own Country.
While LGBTIQ+ film buffs welcomed the film's long-awaited trailer drop, controversy around the historical accuracy of the Anning's Queer depiction resurfaced.
“I do not believe there is any evidence to back up portraying her as a gay woman,” distant neice Barbara Anning said, according to The Guardian, going on to call the decision “sensational”. However, another relative, Lorraine Anning, disagreed, arguing that “as long as it’s well presented and tastefully done” it shouldn't matter.
Lee has previously defending his portrayal of Anning on social media, arguing that the film is not a biopic.
“After seeing queer history be routinely ‘straightened’ throughout culture, and given a historical figure where there is no evidence whatsoever of a heterosexual relationship, is it not permissible to view that person within another context?” The director tweeted.
You can watch the trailer below:
