A Charles Darwin biopic, based on great-great grandson Randall Keynes book "Annie's Box", is in the works. Jon Amiel ("The Core", "Entrapment") will direct, John Collee ("Happy Feet," "Master and Commander") will write and Jeremy Thomas will produce reports Variety.

It focuses on the period when Darwin was writing "The Origin of the Species," his ground-breaking treatise on evolution, while living a family life at Down House in Kent, near London.

The "Annie" of the title is Darwin's first daughter, whose death aged 10 left him grief-stricken. With his scientific discoveries leading him toward agnosticism, he was unable to find consolation in belief in an afterlife, but coped with his loss by plunging into his work.

Shooting begins next year on location at Down House, with a release planned in 2009 - the bicentennial of Darwin's birth.