{"id":1653,"date":"2007-03-22T23:39:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-22T23:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/03\/amazing-grace-a-few-more-quotes\/"},"modified":"2007-03-22T23:39:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-22T23:39:00","slug":"amazing-grace-a-few-more-quotes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/03\/amazing-grace-a-few-more-quotes.html","title":{"rendered":"Amazing Grace — a few more quotes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Amazing Grace<\/a><\/i> opens in Canada tomorrow, so today the Globe and Mail<\/i> ran an interview<\/a> with director Michael Apted:<\/span><\/p>\n

Slim and handsome at 66, Apted is testy about many things, in a game and charming way. He doesn\u2019t like Toronto\u2019s weather. Born in working-class London, he long ago abandoned the cold for California, where he currently heads the Directors Guild of America. In his DGA role, he\u2019s annoyed by runaway Canadian film productions. He\u2019s even more annoyed by U.S. and British politics. And political apathy.<\/p>\n

In fact, his belief that \u201cpolitics do matter<\/a>\u201d was one of his motives for doing the Wilberforce film: \u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019ve wanted to do a film about for years. In my own tiny way, I wanted to restore some dignity, some understanding of the political process,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

When the Amazing Grace<\/i> project first came to him, it was a simple biopic. He had it refashioned into an account of alliances, determination and moral charisma. In reality, the small, slender, soft-spoken Wilberforce was nothing like the tall and glorious Ioan Gruffudd, who plays him in the film. \u201cWhy make him handsome and heroic? It is always the issue when you spend $30-million on a film,\u201d Apted explains crossly. \u201cBesides, I wanted the heroic side of politics.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n

Many of those great reformers were Christians. \u201cWhat I find so nauseating is people today don\u2019t try to negotiate between the religious and the secular<\/a>,\u201d says Apted. \u201cWilberforce knew that you could not get anywhere unless you got down off your moral high horse.\u201d Living in America, Apted resists the religious tide. But his brother back in England, a policeman for 30 years, is now a priest and, says Apted, is \u201cdying to see the film.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I wonder how Apted squares the idea that Wilberforce \u201cgot down off [his] moral high horse\u201d with Wilberforce\u2019s campaigns for \u201cthe Reformation of Manners\u201d and \u201cthe Suppression of Vice and Encouragement of Religion\u201d, which the film acknowledges only in passing, if that. And I don\u2019t say that to be snarky, or because I think it is impossible to square those things; I am genuinely curious as to how Apted fits those things together.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amazing Grace opens in Canada tomorrow, so today the Globe and Mail ran an interview with director Michael Apted: Slim and handsome at 66, Apted is testy about many things, in a game and charming way. He doesn\u2019t like Toronto\u2019s weather. Born in working-class London, he long ago abandoned the cold for California, where he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAmazing Grace -- a few more quotes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Amazing Grace opens in Canada tomorrow, so today the Globe and Mail ran an interview with director Michael Apted:Slim and handsome at 66, Apted is testy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/03\/amazing-grace-a-few-more-quotes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Amazing Grace -- a few more quotes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Amazing Grace opens in Canada tomorrow, so today the Globe and Mail ran an interview with director Michael Apted:Slim and handsome at 66, Apted is testy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/03\/amazing-grace-a-few-more-quotes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-03-22T23:39:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_MwnH1kpbPRM\/RgN2KH3qHCI\/AAAAAAAAACw\/91Vt6mZJTqA\/s400\/amazinggrace-michaelapted-a.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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