Sir Nicholas Winton’s family said film could only go ahead if Anthony Hopkins was cast
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The daughter of Sir Nicholas Winton gave permission for her father’s life story to be adapted into a film with one request: that he be played by Sir Anthony Hopkins.
The “pretty big ask” caused the film-makers to fear that their project would not get off the ground. However, to their delight, Sir Anthony read the script and took the part.
One Life, which tells the story of Sir Nicholas saving hundreds of children from the Nazis during the Second World War, is released on January 1.
James Hawes, the film’s director, explained: “Barbara Winton, Nicky’s daughter and biographer, when she gave permission to make this project, said, ‘But you need to cast Anthony Hopkins,’ which is a pretty big ask – one of the most in-demand actors of his generation.
“So then it was a question of: would Tony respond to the script, and indeed be willing to work with this director? And, thankfully, ‘yes’ was the answer to all of those things.”
He added: “Barbara Winton died whilst we were filming but she lived to know this story was being made, and that was really important.”
Mrs Winton gave the film-makers access to Sir Nicholas’s archives and letters.
Johnny Flynn plays the younger Sir Nicholas, who was a 29-year-old stockbroker when he visited Prague in 1938.
There he met Jewish parents who were desperate for their children to be taken to a place of safety.
Sir Nicholas returned to Britain and masterminded a rescue mission, securing their exit and entry permits and finding adoptive homes for them. He saved 669 Jewish children.
Public attention
He came to public attention only in 1988, in an episode of the BBC programme That’s Life!, when he was introduced to some of the descendants of those he saved. Dame Esther Rantzen asked if anyone in the audience owed their life to Sir Nicholas, and two dozen people rose from their seats.
That scene is recreated in the film, and some of the extras are real-life descendants of the Kindertransport children.
Sir Anthony, a double Oscar-winner, said of filming that day: “It was really quite an emotional moment. But I think this whole story has affected me and has actually stayed with me throughout the whole of my life.”
Sir Nicholas died in 2015, aged 106. He was knighted in 2003, and received the Czech Republic’s highest honour, the Order of the White Lion, in 2015. The Czech government said Sir Nicholas was an example of “humanity, selflessness, personal courage and modesty”.
