SNicholas Winton, who saved hundreds of children from the Nazis, was so humble, according to producers, that he turned down an initial offer to make a movie about him. a lifeAn upcoming biographical drama about a British humanitarian.
Ian Canning tells observer Whedon, who died in 2015 aged 106, and producer Emile Sherman visited him at his home in Maidenhead about five years ago during a break from filming. The speech of the king.
Over tea, they broached the subject of a film about the 669 children who helped save German-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II, but Winton politely declined.
“To this day, I still call it the worst meeting I’ve ever had,” Canning said. “He was 99 or 100 years old at the time. We said, ‘We think what you’ve done is absolutely incredible. , we would love to make a film about that specific moment in your life. ” He said, ‘Oh, no one needs to know what I did. No one else. Anyone who needs to know this already knows it.’
Canning added: “He was a man with such kind eyes. We were humbled by him.”
The speech of the king Twelve Oscar nominations followed, winning four, including Best Picture, but producers never forgot about Whedon. After his death, they worked with his daughter Barbara, who gave them access to his archives, but she died in 2022 during principal photography.
Canning said Winton reluctantly allowed his daughter to write his biography, and later became “willing to explore his life in other ways.” But only if he is not portrayed as “superhuman” and “what he does is not within the capabilities of other people.”
Barbara suggested they go to Sir Anthony Hopkins for the role. “He came back very quickly and said, ‘Can I get Barbara’s email because I want to ask permission to play her father?'” Canning said.
The Oscar-winning star was inspired to play a man who, along with others, saved the lives of children destined for the gas chambers and furnaces of Auschwitz, Treblinka and Belsen.
a lifeReleased on January 1, it tells the story of “Nicky” Winton, a young London agent who visited Prague in December 1938 and found a way to escape the Nazis in Germany and Austria Rising family. They lived in desperate conditions, with little shelter or food, and faced the threat of Nazi invasion. He responded immediately to their plight and raced against time to try to save as many children as possible before the border closed.
He was unable to get the 251 children to safety, but their fate continues to haunt him. They boarded the train at Prague station, but that was the day war was declared and the borders closed. The Nazis pulled them off the train and most of them were killed.
The film reenacts live footage from the 1988 BBC TV show this is life!, which introduced Winton to some of the surviving children – who by then were adults. This allowed him to come to terms with the guilt and sadness he was carrying.
The film recreates the moment when presenter Esther Rantzen told the audience: “Anyone who owes Nicky Winton his life, please stand up.” The whole audience stood up.
It wasn’t until the scene was shot that Hopkins discovered that the extras in the audience were actually the children Winton had rescued: “It was very touching.”
Newsletter Promotion Post
Among those rescued by Winton was 88-year-old Lisa Midwinter, who was three years old when she traveled on the Kindertransport, but some memories have never left her: “I remember everyone crying.”
Unusually, both her parents managed to escape and reunite with her. Her father was a pediatrician and, with his wife, established an orphanage for Czech children in Stoke-on-Trent.
She never knew how they escaped: “It was too painful for them to talk about.” Her grandparents and aunt died in the concentration camp.she is right observer with her son Nick Wyse, who said they just passed this is life! program. It happened to be a photo from Winton’s scrapbook—one of which was from when she was three years old.
She later met Winton and remembered his “lovely sense of humor” and extreme humility.
Her son said: “It’s hard to really be dispassionate about the film, given our emotional connection to it. But Hopkins tried to step back and did an incredible job. He brought a huge of dignity and humanity. This is an uplifting film, a beacon of hope that shows people there can be examples of good deeds in the most horrifying moments.”
Mike Levy, Kindertransport historian and author Get the kids out!met Winton several times: “He was very humble and very respectful of his work. this is life! program.
“He feels like he’s done his part and moved on in some ways. He’s not one to make a fuss.”
