The film was shot in Adelaide, South Australia in March 2019. You have two young, middle-class guys who chose to stand with the oppressed.” I haven’t seen that many films about political prisoners escaping. They were virtuous and good-standing citizens who were fighting apartheid. But the main thing was that they weren’t just criminals, they weren’t just regular prisoners. I thought that could be something really interesting to tell. “There wasn’t any digging or climbing out of windows, it was mental ingenuity to create a contraption to open a door. “I had never heard of anyone escaping from prison in this kind of way,” he said. Jenkin on the set of 'Escape from Pretoria'. Let’s find a way out and plan it from the beginning, step by step and patience, and eventually you’ll get to the front door.”Īnnan said the desire to tell Jenkin’s story originated from his interest in the uniqueness of the escape. The whole world at the moment is in absolute chaos and no one has any solution. The society we live in now is a kind of prison. We get trapped and imprisoned and you could see this in any prison. Jenkin added: “I don’t know if the film comes across like this to some people, but the book certainly did where I wrote it as a metaphor, a story. The consistency of attention is very striking and that’s something to cause a lot of debate around the world.” “But it’s not about being commendable, it’s about bringing change. “These guys are very modest, but to convert a concept like the ending of apartheid into a calculable action is imminently commendable,” he said. With the film debuting at time when there is global upheaval surrounding racial discrimination, Annan said the film not only contributes to the discussion, but also on Jenkin’s achievement. They even dressed me up in a prison uniform so that was very evocative.” Daniel Radcliffe and Daniel Webber, who portrays co-conspirator Stephen Lee in the film, talks with director Francis Annan on set. The whole experience being there was quite amazing. “ I’ve even been to lockpickers conferences. “I’ve never been allowed to forget the story, having rewritten the book three times and a documentary’s been shown of it and I’ve talked about it over and over,” he explained. The experience brought up old memories for the activist. Jenkin was present for the production of the film and makes a cameo as a fellow prisoner. I think he captured that pretty well and while some of the scenes are not a hundred percent accurate, but in a film like this you need to keep tension and it’s true to the narrative.” Daniel Radcliffe stars in the new film 'Escape from Pretoria', directed by Francis Annan. “But Francis had a difficult job because it was an escape that took place over a year and a half, and he had to summarise a whole lot of different actions into one little scene. “Of course, the individual scenes are fiction,” he said. According to Jenkin himself, the film remains accurate to the narrative. It’s a real display of the actor’s talent.Jenkin wrote about the ordeal in his 2003 book Inside Out: Escape from Pretoria Prison, on which the film is largely based. Radcliffe is subdued but committed, lending an ideal everyman quality to Jenkin. It steadily builds its tension, culminating in a heart-pounding sequence in which Jenkin tries to rescue a key he dropped outside of his cell with nothing but a stick and a piece of gum. That cyclical process is what makes Escape from Pretoria tick. He’ll break himself out of his cell only to lock himself up again, waiting until he’s certain there’s a clear path out of the prison gates and on to freedom. The escape itself takes up a majority of the runtime, as Jenkin puts himself through a rigorous process of trial and error. Director Francis Annan, who co-wrote the script with LH Adams, is clearly entranced by the mechanics of it, crafting an intricate and studiously plotted film in return. Day by day, week by week, Jenkin carved his own set of keys out of wood scraps, all carefully hidden from view of the guards. His methods were meticulous – this wasn’t Steve McQueen and his motorcycle vaulting over barbed wire fences.
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