Jonathan Moore stars opposite Jenny Agutter in the feature film Mary Anning & the Dinosaur Hunters, which is now making its way onto the international film festival circuit.
Written and directed by Sharon Sheehan, the film tells the remarkable story of pioneering 19th-century fossil hunter Mary Anning, whose discoveries on England’s Jurassic Coast transformed scientific understanding of prehistoric life, yet whose achievements struggled for recognition in the male-dominated scientific establishment of her time.
Jonathan plays Sir Richard Owen, the influential Victorian anatomist and palaeontologist who coined the term Dinosauria. The cast also features Jenny Agutter as fellow fossil collector Elizabeth Philpot, alongside Katharine Hamilton, Tom Machell, Reggie Oliver and Paul Storrier.
Filmed on Super 16mm, the production makes extensive use of the landscapes associated with Anning’s extraordinary discoveries, shooting on location in Dorset and in Cornwall. The score is by internationally acclaimed composer Ludovico Einaudi, with whom Jonathan has previously collaborated, including his performance as narrator in Einaudi’s orchestral setting of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven in Milan.
The film traces Anning’s life from her childhood discoveries through to her pioneering work uncovering ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and other extraordinary fossils - discoveries that helped change the emerging scientific understanding of the natural world.
A new trailer for Mary Anning & the Dinosaur Hunters was released in 2025 as the film begins its journey on the festival circuit. You can watch the trailer now on YouTube.