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It’s in the genes: daughter of Wire star lands Darwin film role
By Louise Jury, Cheif Arts Correspondent Last updated at 10:40am on 11.09.09
The daughter of The Wire star Dominic West will get her own taste of stardom when she walks the red carpet for her film debut on Sunday.
Martha West, 10, will join cast members Paul Bettany and his wife Jennifer Connelly at the British premiere of Creation, a film about Charles Darwin.
Natural selection: Martha West with Paul Bettany as Darwin in Creation
The movie was chosen to launch the Toronto Film Festival last night — kicking off Martha's screen career on the same evening that her father's hard-hitting television series reached its finale on BBC2.
Martha plays Darwin's daughter, Annie, whose death strengthened his belief in the bleak, amoral character of natural selection and pushed him towards writing The Origin of Species.
The filmmakers searched across the country for someone to play the pivotal role alongside Bettany as Darwin and Connelly as his screen wife, Emma.
Martha attended open auditions at the suggestion of her father's agent, despite the actor's initial misgivings.
West, who plays Detective Jimmy McNulty in the cult TV crime series set around Baltimore's drugs trade, said: “It's not something I'd instantly want my children to do but she's always said she wanted to do some acting.
“I took her along to the audition so she could see how hard it is and what a nightmare it is and she blew the doors off.”
Famous father: Dominic West as Jimmy McNulty in The Wire
The film's director, Jon Amiel, said Martha was a natural actress and his only doubt over the part was that she was too pretty.
“My original image of Annie had been a much more
rugged and sturdy girl and not as strikingly beautiful. However, the more I talked to Martha, I could see her radiant intelligence and her courage,” he said.
“I only found out after I had cast her that she was Dominic West's daughter. It tends to indicate that talent for acting could possibly be genetic, something I'm sure Mr Darwin would have something to say about.”
Martha is West's child with his former partner, Polly Astor, of the political and society family. They split when the girl was a toddler but will both accompany her at Sunday's premiere at the Curzon Mayfair.
West was a frequent chaperone at rehearsals, but publicity for Creation omits any mention of Martha's parentage, saying simply: “Martha West
discovered her love of acting when she began performing in school plays whilst attending the drama club at her school in south-west London.”
Amiel, whose previous work includes Sommersby and The Singing Detective, has no doubts Martha has a rosy future in acting if she wants one.
“She was everything I hoped for and then another 10 per cent that I couldn't have expected. I know she has a future, what will be fascinating is whether she chooses that future. She's an extremely wise girl and will have a really full menu of choices.”
