|PIC1|Ken Wales, Producer of Amazing Grace, gives an inside scoop of the background of the film, his inspirational motivation behind it, and the future projects he plans to work on.

You said it took seven years to plan for Amazing Grace. Can you describe the process, and how it developed to what it is today?

I had long wanted to tell the story of John Newton. That and how Amazing Grace came to be in the story of his life in transformation were on my plotting schedule in wanting to do the film. I met Philip Anschutz of Walden Media and we began to talk about that, and he asked me if I knew much about William Wilberforce. I told him what I knew, that Wilberforce was a part of the John Newton story in that Newton mentored Wilberforce and encouraged him in Parliament to ultimately see that the slave trade was abolished.

That intrigued me and the more I got into the story and the more I found out about Wilberforce, the more I discovered that he had a second great obsession. Not only did he pursue the end of the slave trade, he also campaigned for a reform of manners, morals, decency and a return to civility. And I thought, "Wow. That meant he was a man of those times in the 18th century, and look how relevant that is in our 21st century." And I thought, "This is something that people need to know about" - not only ending the slave trade, but his idea of reform of society, especially a return to civility. We can certainly do with that today. People might ask how we could put that into practice. Very simply, one idea, we can start with our attitude to road rage - being gracious to people we move about with in our daily life, and to have a sense of gentleness and kindness, encouraging dialogue, and not breaking into rage, but have good conversation, which really helps solutions to be found.

I thought this is an intriguing man, and the more I got into it, the more I loved his story. So we started talking about doing both of their stories in one film, Newton's and Wilberforce's. But, as you can imagine, you can't do the John Newton story and Wilberforce story in one film - it's too much. So we decided that we would indeed proceed with Wilberforce, and we ultimately used the title Amazing Grace because that was associated with Newton and in the film, we anticipated in using it. Have you seen the film?

Yes, I did.

You saw how we used "Amazing Grace". The first time was where Wilberforce stands on the table and announces to the other members of the Parliament that he is going to oppose the slave trade. And it's his way of taking a stance when he gets up on the table and sings. And then, of course you saw it beautifully used when Barbara, his bride, requests it to be sung for their wedding. And then with John Newton in that beautiful scene with Wilberforce where he says "Wilber, two things in my life I know of: I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great Saviour." That is remarkable to be in a feature film.

Was there a reason why you were so interested in John Newton in the first place?

His story is extraordinary and dramatic in terms of how bad God let him be. But God allowed him to have a dramatic moment to see several things all together at one time. Newton was able to realise, 'Somewhere here I've missed a boat - literally. There is a God, and He is active, and hounding me. He changed my life.' And Newton's eyes were open and he was able to see clearly the people in the slave trade. So when he got back to England, he began to work against it. Of course many people called him a hypocrite. And I think they do that, anytime they see an ark. They'll say Wilberforce was a hypocrite. Not true. His life was changed and it was very transparent.

It's a lot like the story of Apostle Paul, isn't it?

Yes, from a Saul to Paul transfiguration. Absolutely. So when you add that all together, this story of Wilberforce is extraordinary. And of course back in 2001 or 2002 I was aware that it would be the 200th anniversary in 2007. I thought this would be a wonderful point to work towards and a great way to celebrate it at the same time.

Are you satisfied with how the film came out?

Oh, I am immensely, more than satisfied. The film of course takes a journey of a couple of writers trying to find the right director and making their schedules match... it's amazing that any film ever gets made.

When did Wilberforce actually meet John Newton?

Well, when he first met him, Wilberforce was nine or 10. Wilberforce's aunt had taken him to hear Newton preach. So there was kind of an early seed planted. But it wasn't really until much later, as in the film, Wilberforce seeks him out. And then the relationship was reconnected and they had a lot of notes and letters back and forth and it was remarkable. And all that was part of the record.

Were there any particular challenges during the production of this film?

Absolutely. The first one was to be authentic. And you must be true to as much of the source and material as you can be. And of course in telling a biography - a biopic as we would say - the temptation is to go from cradle to grave, beginning to finish. But if we do that in a very straight lineal fashion, somewhere along the line, it is going to get very boring. So you have to condense it to fit within the two hour film, meaning you have to be selective in which parts are indigenous and generic to propelling the story forward. You always want to make sure that every scene in the film illuminates and tells something about the character or the situation and then propels the action forward. If it doesn't, then you'd want to take that scene out of the film.

Sounds challenging.

It is! It's, number one, all about the story. For film-making, there are three important elements: story, story, story. In our film, Michael Apted (director) and Steven Knight (writer) have very skilfully gone back and forth. Sometimes it might get slightly confusing, but we tried to say '15 years earlier' or something like that. The idea is to take it in its totality, not worrying so much about back and forth but thinking more about what it all adds up to? And when you do that, a light bulb goes on, and you see the mosaic of his life. It's not really that critical, what came before what. Barbara came along later in his life. They married actually only two weeks after they met. Indeed, we needed to make the courtship longer so that we could have more screen time. So we went back to the courtship, not just to instant marriage.

I thought Romola Garai (Barbara) did a wonderful job.

She did! She did a delicate balance of exhibiting an interest and disinterest of her own. She was a very lovely person. Pretty to look at. But her causes were parallel to Wilberforce's. They began talking about their differences. Then they found what they had in common. And I loved the matchmaking with his aunt and uncle- Henry and Marianne Thornton - they were determined to find Wilberforce a good wife... and they did. It worked.

How did the movie premiere go? (19 March)

It went lovely. We had just good friends there, it was very convivial. We had Michael Apted (director) present the cast and writers... Benedict Cumberbatch who played William Pitt was there, Ioan Gruffud was there... it was just a lovely evening. We had a little get together party afterwards at the Mirabelle restaurant, and everyone had a lovely time.

You served as Vice President of Production for Walt Disney. Do you still work closely with Disney?

Oh, I hope to do some more works. I really prefer being in the process of producing and making films, not simply being a studio executive where you have to oversee 20 or 30. So it was a time for me to get back to my hands-on filmmaking. Of course here in England, where I lived from 1973 to about 1976, I produced the motion picture The Tamarind Seed. That was with Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif.

Will you continue to produce more films?

You bet. The next one I'm tackling is the sequel to Chariots of Fire - the rest of the story. What happens to Eric Liddell when he goes to China? He's captured by the Japanese, beginning of World War II, and it's a wonderful story. And I think it will be equally as good as the first one. Due in great part to all my experience of being back here in England, I'm also getting so much encouragement to go ahead and revisit the John Newton story. So I think there's a good chance there. But then I have the problem of what in the world do you call it since we used 'Amazing Grace' already?

So you plan on making a separate film entirely focused on John Newton?

Yes. When I really came in to the story of Wilberforce, I realised that this in many ways had such relevancy in our time. It's about his second great obsession to have the reform of manners and morals and decency. So I thought it was so relevant, and Newton would just wait a little bit.

Can we expect the film to release?

I am anticipating that will happen. I'm so greatly encouraged. I've been meeting with Dr John Pollock, who wrote a wonderful book on Wilberforce. He is considered as one of the deans of Newton and Wilberforce writers. I met with him recently and he was greatly encouraging, and told me "I hope you will".

It's going to be a real challenge because you have some material that is very R-rated. For Newton, he was in the bad stuff. So you have to think how that can be portrayed without making it into an R-rated film. So the idea is to do more implicitness than explicitness. And as you saw in this film, the Wilberforce film, you want people wanting Wilberforce to show them the evils of the slave trade - and the MPs and wives go up the estuaries and smell the stench of the slave boats. What I tried to do here was show how the Britons, how the people of that time would have received and reacted to the information about the slave trade, as if the audience were hearing the way they did. We were able to suggest and tell what it was like - when you smell it. That must have been quite poignant.