\u201cHarry Potter\u201d star Daniel Radcliffe is set to star in the epic story of a white anti-apartheid activist who escaped from one of South Africa\u2019s toughest jails, the film\u2019s producers said Friday.<\/p>\n
The breakout thriller \u201cEscape From Pretoria\u201d is based on Tim Jenkin\u2019s account of his dramatic escape from the notorious Pretoria Maximum Security Prison with his friend Stephen Lee in 1979.<\/p>\n
Jenkin, now 68, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for handing out leaflets supporting the then banned African National Congress.<\/p>\n
But the following year he managed to make a set of wooden keys for a series of doors inside the jail, which housed the country\u2019s death row.<\/p>\n
Using a device made from a broomhandle and a mirror he had hidden in his cell, Jenkin opened his cell door and then freed his neighbour and friend Lee.<\/p>\n
Both managed to slip out of the tightly guarded prison and eventually flee to London.<\/p>\n
Producer David Barron, who also worked on the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d films, said the movie of this \u201castonishing true story\u201d would be \u201cpolitical without being polemical\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Escape From Pretoria\u2019 is a rare combination of genre and drama, and I am delighted to bring together the potent combination of Daniel Radcliffe and Francis Annan,\u201d he added, as the film was launched at the Cannes film festival.<\/p>\n
Annan, a rising young black British director, also wrote the script for the film, which will be shot in South Africa next year.<\/p>\n
Radcliffe, 27, has also been signed up to play the lead in the action comedy \u201cGuns Akimbo\u201d, which was also unveiled at Cannes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cHarry Potter\u201d star Daniel Radcliffe is set to star in the epic story of a white anti-apartheid activist who escaped from one of South Africa\u2019s toughest jails, the film\u2019s producers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":20140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7012,7014,7011,7013],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Daniel-Radcliffe-690x450.jpg?fit=690%2C450&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18286,"url":"https:\/\/www.citypeopleonline.com\/murderer-tried-break-jail-dressed-woman\/","url_meta":{"origin":20139,"position":0},"title":"Murderer Tried To Break Out Of Jail Dressed As A Woman","author":"Reporter","date":"May 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Francisco Herrera tried to break out of jail dressed as a woman with fake boobs and a blonde wig\u00a0 but soon ran into problems. 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