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‘Harry Potter’ actor to star in new S.Africa jailbreak drama
CANNES, France, May 14, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – “Harry Potter” star Daniel
Radcliffe has finished filming a new thriller where he plays a white anti-
apartheid activist who escaped from one of South Africa’s toughest jails, its
distributor said Tuesday.
Based on a true story, the breakout tale “Escape From Pretoria” is drawn
from Tim Jenkin’s account of his dramatic escape from the notorious Pretoria
Maximum Security Prison with his friend Stephen Lee in 1979.
Already in post-production after shooting was wrapped up in South Africa
three weeks ago, fresh footage will be on show at the Cannes film festival
which begins Tuesday, Arclight Films said.
Jenkin, now 70, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for handing out
leaflets supporting the then banned African National Congress.
But he managed to make a set of wooden keys for a series of doors inside
the jail, which housed the country’s death row.
Using a device made from a broom handle and a mirror he had hidden in his
cell, Jenkin opened his cell door and then freed his neighbour and friend
Lee.
Both managed to slip out of the tightly guarded prison and eventually flee
to London.
The movie is directed by Francis Annan, a rising young black British
director who also wrote the script.
Radcliffe, 29, is also playing the lead in the action comedy “Guns Akimbo”,
which is now in post-production.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1754 hrs