Anthony Hopkins stars as real-life humanitarian Sir Nicholas Winton in his new film — and Winton’s son can’t believe how accurately his father is portrayed.
Hopkins, 86, plays Winton — a Briton who helped rescue hundreds of children from Nazi-occupied areas in what is now the Czech Republic in the months before World War II broke out in 1939 — in One life. A new biopic shows the real man’s actions before the war and the public recognition he received for his efforts in 1988 on a British talk show That is life.
Known as “Nicky” to his friends, family and the filmmakers behind the film, Winton, who died in 2015 at the age of 106, chose not to publicize his efforts in “Kindertransport” — as the British charity is known — for decades after World War II ended.
“When I look at him on the screen, I swear I’m looking at my dad,” Nick Winton — one of Nicky’s three children — tells PEOPLE of Hopkins’ performance. “Not just his face and the way he’s made up and his clothes, but his mannerisms, the way he does little things, little things, playing with his glasses, the way he walks is just extraordinary.”
“So to have an actor of that caliber, he became my father,” adds Nick. “I mean, sometimes it’s very uncomfortable to watch because I swear, how is it [director James Hawes] get my father? He’s been dead for years.”
Anthony Hopkins Plays a Real-Life Hero in ‘One Life’ Moving Trailer
Anthony Hopkins as Nicholas Winton in ‘One Life’.
Bleecker Street
Eva Paddock, a woman who was just 3 years old when Nicky helped arrange her passage from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia as a refugee in 1939, also recognizes the real man behind Hopkins’ performance. She came to meet Nicky, like many children brought to the UK as refugees, many times after his efforts were memorably highlighted on That is life.
“I watch the movie and sometimes I have to blink and it’s just amazing,” Paddock, now 89, tells PEOPLE during an interview with Nick and Hawes.
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IN One life, Hopkins stars as Nicky as an older man in the 1980s, reflecting on his efforts and deciding what to do with the Kindertransport documentation. Johnny Flynn (Emma, A suit) depicts Nicky as a younger man in 1939, with Helena Bonham Carter playing Nicky’s mother, Babi. Additionally, Alex Sharp, Ziggy Heath and Romola Garai portray Trevor Chadwick, Martin Blake and Doreen Warriner, each of whom was instrumental in coordinating the efforts of refugees from the Occupied Territories with Winton.
Anthony Hopkins writes his biography: ‘I have a good memory’ (Exclusive)
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Nicholas Winton 2014.
Matej Divižna/Getty
When asked how his father felt about finally receiving such public recognition for his humanitarian efforts — Nicky was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2003 as a result — Nicky told PEOPLE that Nicky was “mostly pretty embarrassed.”
“He was not very comfortable being put in the center of attention, like in England [he was] called Britain’s Schindler or hero,” says his son. “He believed, and I think quite rightly, that he never did anything that was heroic in the sense that he said I was never in danger.”
“But I think most people recognize that the project itself was quite a heroic project. So he was very ambivalent about all the honors he got,” adds Nick. “And as he didn’t get involved in the circles where people dress up, military uniforms and medals, he said, ‘What do I do with them? I put them on my pajamas and wear them for a night and then put them in a drawer and forget about them. .’ ”
One life it’s in theaters now.
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Source: HIS Education