They say that Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time is one of the most-purchased-but-least-read books of all time. Well, I actually read it myself, back in the late ’80s — though I can’t say I’ve retained all that much of it — and I was a fan of Errol Morris‘s movie adaptation, which seems to be the only one of Morris’s feature-length films that has never been released on DVD.
Today, The Australian reports that Hawking is working on a new IMAX movie — and apparently it will have a religious angle:
STEPHEN Hawking, Britain’s world-renowned physicist, is to switch from theories of multidimensional space to the three dimensions of the Imax cinema by starring in a film that sets out his ideas on the origins and fate of the universe.
The film, Beyond the Horizon, will tackle some of the most daunting theories espoused by Hawking and other cosmologists, from the idea that space has up to 11 dimensions to the cause of the Big Bang itself.
Hawking will narrate a soundtrack explaining cosmological concepts as they are brought to life by advanced computer graphics. . . .
The storyline for the new film is purely a vehicle for Hawking’s theories.
He is approached by Olivia, a reporter covering religious affairs. She is writing a story about cosmology and the meaning of existence to commemorate the work of Albert Einstein and his theory of relativity. Olivia, who will be played by Lina Patel, is a science sceptic, believing that science holds few answers to the big questions of life.
However, her interview with Hawking leads to more than she had bargained for, including a whirlwind journey through time and space, back to the origins of it all: the Big Bang. . . .
The big question, of course, is whether Hawking’s IMAX movie will present science in general — and his theories in particular — as a supplement to religion, or as a substitute for religion.
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