By Ryan Parsons | Image property of Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Amazing Grace is the slavery story we don't hear about in American history class. While Abraham Lincoln freed slaves over here, William Wilberforce stood up in British parliament to get his country to end the trade of human lives. Even actor Ioan Gruffudd had to brush up on his history to play the role.
Gruffodd on Amazing Grace
"To be perfectly honest, I was slightly ignorant to the whole story," he said. "Whether that was me not paying attention or it passed me by, but certainly, in British education, he is renowned and remembered as the British politician who abolished the slave trade. I think here, he is more of a footnote as far as the abolitionist history over here."
Wilberforce led his crusade with dramatic demonstrations of the inhuman conditions slaves lived in, particularly tours of boats reeking of death and human waste from overpacking. Perhaps that is more effective than today's 24 hour news cycles.
"The funny thing is, we have that capacity in this day and age to highlight these issues and we do get to see them on screen. CNN and Anderson Cooper do expose us to some of these atrocities which continue to happen today. So we haven’t really learned much since that period really. I think, unless we are presented by it every day and bombarded by it, unless it physically effects us, we’re very quick to brush it under the carpet. They had to find out a way of exposing it and bringing it to life and they had to expose it to Wilberforce himself because he was aware of it but wasn’t convinced of it. He needed to experience it himself."
Amazing Grace One-Sheet
Gruffudd actually sings the title song as part of Wilberforce's movement in the film. "To be honest, I think that I am a bit of a singer, coming from Wales. Being Welsh, we are all very proud of our singing heritage. But [director] Michael Apted and the producers never actually asked me if I could sing and it came to that morning and it was, ‘Sh*t, now he’s gonna sing. What are we gonna do?’ But, luckily I wowed them all with it. Funnily enough, I got my old singing coach from drama college whom I hadn’t seen for ten years since I left drama college. I called him up and asked him to help me out with the singing."
While it may not be Jane Austen, Amazing Grace is another chance for British actors to dress up in period clothing. Gruffudd admits there is a certain tradition of comfort with period pieces in the UK. "I know I’m as comfortable doing period as I am contemporary. I suppose we grow up with it in a sense, in the theater. We get to put on costumes and play a lot of period dramas or plays so we’re exposed to it a little bit more I think because of our theatrical background. And, I love it because you put a costume on or a wig on and you’re suddenly somebody else already. It’s like playing as a child; you put on a cape or your father’s jacket or your grandfather’s jacket and suddenly you’re able to play being that old man. Any prop ignites some sort of imagination."
Amazing Grace has a limited release tomorrow, February 23rd.
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