Nicholas Winton; Anthony Hopkins in ‘One Life’.Photo:Matej Divizna/Getty; Bleecker Street
Matej Divizna/Getty; Bleecker Street
Anthony Hopkinsplays the real-life humanitarianSir Nicholas Wintonin his new movie — and Winton’s son cannot believe how accurately his father is portrayed.
Hopkins, 86, stars as Winton — a British man who assisted inefforts to rescue hundreds of childrenfrom Nazi-occupied areas in what is now the Czech Republic in the months prior to World War II’s outbreak in 1939 — inOne Life. The new biopic chronicles the real-life man’s actions prior to the war and the public recognition he received for his efforts in 1988 on theBritish talk showThat’s Life.
Known as “Nicky” to his friends, family and the filmmakers behind the movie, Winton, whodied in 2015 at age 106, chose not to publicize his efforts in the “Kindertransport” — as the British humanitarian effort is known — for decades after World War II ended.
“When I look at him on screen, I swear I’m looking at my father,” Nick Winton — one of Nicky’s three children — tells PEOPLE of Hopkins' performance. “Not just the face and the way he’s made up and his clothes, but the mannerisms, the way he does small things, little things, playing with his glasses, the way he walks is just uncanny.”
“So to have an actor of that caliber, he has become my father,” Nick adds. “I mean, it’s very uncomfortable at times to watch because I swear that, how did [director James Hawes] get my father? He’s been dead for years.”
Anthony Hopkins as Nicholas Winton in ‘One Life’.Bleecker Street
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-life man behind Hopkins' performance. She came to meet Nicky, as did many of the children brought to the United Kingdom as refugees, many times after his efforts were memorably highlighted onThat’s Life.
“I look at the film and I sometimes have to blink and it’s just quite remarkable,” Paddock, now 89, tells PEOPLE during an interview with Nick and Hawes.
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InOne Life, Hopkins plays Nicky as an older man in the 1980s, reflecting on his efforts and determining what to do with documentation of the Kindertransport. Johnny Flynn (Emma,The Outfit) portrays Nicky as a younger man in 1939 andHelena Bonham Cartercostars as Nicky’s mother, Babi. Additionally, Alex Sharp, Ziggy Heath and Romola Garai portray Trevor Chadwick, Martin Blake and Doreen Warriner, respectively, each of whom were essential in coordinating refugee efforts out of occupied areas with Winton.
Nicholas Winton in 2014.Matej Divizna/Getty
Matej Divizna/Getty
“He wasn’t really comfortable being put in the spotlight, as in England [he was] called the British Schindler or a hero,” his son says. “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 received,” Nick adds. “And as he didn’t mix in the circles where people dress and military uniform and medals, he said, ‘What do I do with them? I put them on my pajamas and I wear them for a night and then I put them in a drawer and forget about them.’ "
One Lifeis now in theaters.
source: people.com
