Variety reports that the true story documenting the daring escape of political prisoners Stephen Lee and Tim Jenkins from a South African prison will be led by Daniel Radcliffe and Daniel Webber.
Titled Escape From Pretoria, the film is based on the autobiographical work Inside Out: Escape from Pretoria Central Prison by Jenkins and details the tense months of planning the prisoners endured as well as the harrowing race against time to escape before security improvements were implemented.
“Escape from Pretoria is an extraordinary and timely story that deserves to be shared with audiences. We are thrilled to be partnering with the Momentum team once again who previously released our film Jungle, which also starred Daniel Radcliffe,” said co-film distributor Arclight‘s chairman Gary Hamilton.
Radcliffe has had a interesting and varied series of roles since his breakout in the Harry Potter franchise and has finished filming Jason Lei Howden’s Guns Akimbo while Daniel Webber’s roles in The Dirt and his portrayal of Lee Harvey Oswald in the miniseries 11.22.63 has shown his talent in dramatic roles.
Ian Hart (God’s Own Country), Mark Leonard Winter (Cleverman) and Nathan Page (Underbelly) also star, and the film will be directed by Francis Annan (The Longest Drive, Going Up).
No filming dates have been announced at this time.
While I can’t say I’ve ever been a Harry Potter fan, I’ve greatly admired the way Radcliffe has been able to move respectfully away from the franchise, being happy to choose oddball roles like Swiss Army Man and dramatic turns with equal regard; heading into biopic territory feels like a natural move. As for Webber, it seems as though he could be finding a spot as this generation’s Giovanni Ribisi, taking dangerous loner roles (que Filter’s Hey Man Nice Shot) but are we actually done with last generation’s Ribisi?
Either way, they make an interesting pairing for what will no doubt be a very interesting story.
Any thoughts on a new true-story prison break flick, Wasteoids?
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