WATCH Daniel Radcliffe Talks About ‘Genius’ New South African Movie, Escape From Pretoria
Daniel Radcliffe, who stars as Tim Jenkins – a real life ANC activist, who was imprisoned in Africa’s maximum security prison in Pretoria in the 1970’s during the Apartheid years – says he was captured by the script from the start. “As soon as I read the story and found out about the escape, and […]
Daniel Radcliffe, who stars as Tim Jenkins – a real life ANC activist, who was imprisoned in Africa’s maximum security prison in Pretoria in the 1970’s during the Apartheid years – says he was captured by the script from the start.
“As soon as I read the story and found out about the escape, and the nature of the escape, I was like: it’s so genius, and so brilliant.
“I was like: how has this story not already been told? How do not more people know about this?” the Harry Potter actor told the BBC in a televised interview this weekend.
The South African break-out was one of the greatest prison escapes ever… when Tim Jenkins (Radcliffe) and his two fellow freedom fighters (played by Daniel Webber and Mark Leonard Winter) escaped from the Pretoria jail on 11 December 1979, using hand-made wooden keys which he had crafted whilst incarcerated!
The film is based on Jenkins’ book and he himself was involved in the script and production, and was on the set for much of the filming. He is delighted with the result.
Jenkins told the BBC: “The beginning and the end were absolutely how it was. It (the film) turned out to be very exciting and pretty close to the absolute truth.”
If South Africans can look past the accents and appreciate the story, ‘Escape From Pretoria’ is being heralded as likely to be one of this year’s big hits, joining the ranks of other “great” prison break films like ‘Escape from Alcatraz’.
WATCH VIDEO: Daniel Radcliffe talks about his role in Escape From Pretoria
The movie is directed by Francis Annan, who is also co-writer along with L.H. Adams. It was filmed in South Australia.
Escape from Pretoria will be hitting the big screen on March 6, 2020.