Movies Features

Tony Goldwyn directs Conviction

By Anne Brodie Oct 15, 2010, 22:16 GMT

Betty Anne Waters (Swank) is a high school dropout who spent nearly two decades working as a single mother while putting herself through law school, tirelessly trying to beat the system and overturn her brother\'s (Rockwell) unjust murder conviction. ...more

Tony Goldwyn, of the legendary Hollywood family of filmmakers and studio heads, carries on the tradition as an actor and filmmaker.
 
His latest project, Conviction, tells the true story of Betty Anne Waters played by Hilary Swank, a poor single mother who put herself through law school to free her brother from jail.
 
Her efforts and belief in his innocence never wavered. Goldwyn says he was deeply inspired by her heroism.

@Photo credit: Ron Batzdorff

M&C - You’ve taken a famous story with a known outcome and given it fresh drama and resonance.  Is that something that kept you awake at night?

Tony Goldwyn - It’s funny.  When I take a true story like this I treat it like a piece of fiction.  I was very concerned, but I wasn’t worried that people knew.  I went in thinking I knew how it comes out but because we sowed so much doubt in the movie, that people weren’t sure how it would go. 

But in my mind I knew that there would be a willing suspension of disbelief, that people would go if it was properly structured.  That’s the most gratifying thing about it, because I was very concerned.
 
M&C - Betty Anne Waters is a great example of heroism.  She makes us wonder if we do enough for others, which is a great challenge for audiences.

TG - I think that for me personally and audiences take away is a call to action in a personal way is the most important, in other words, what moved me about the story when I heard about it 9 years ago was this deep connection between brother and sister and that she spent 18 years on an act of faith on him who could easily have been guilty. 

It was commitment to the love of her life; it’s a movie about the transcendent power of love.  If this movie can inspire people to look at the love of their life, and see how committed they are.

It doesn’t matter if they go to prison, how far would you go?  What are you doing today in the loving relationships in your life, because that’s what it’s all about.  That’s what we crave in life that connection.  That’s what’s inspiring.  Shine a light on it, aside from extraordinary hurdles

M&C - Was it hard for Betty Anne to relive it all for the film?

TG - It was cathartic and painful for her, but it was liberating and important.  Even from the first time I interviewed her over several days, and this was three months after Kenny died and she’s grieving, she opened herself up to us. 

She knew she could trust us with her heart.  When I showed her the movie in June, and that was a big experience, Betty and her real friend Abra and I watched it together and they were in tears from the beginning to the end and very happy.  It was emotionally honest.
 
M&C – Kenny who she worked do hard to get out of jail died a few months after being released.  That’s really tragic in light of everything.
 
TG - Betty Anne is someone who walks the walk in terms of love and open heartedness.  Her heart is always right there. 

Hilary says she wears her heart on her sleeve and her heart is always right there whether she’s grieving or in pain.  She’s also an incredible force of positivity.
 
M&C - Hilary Swank is great in the role of Betty Anne.  What did she say to you about her reasons for doing Conviction?

TG – It’s her ability to be intrepid in love for her brother.  That’s where Hilary is too.  She was inspired by her and related to her and understood coming from such a difficult background to fight her way out of tough circumstances. 

She identified with her.  Thirty seconds into their first meeting, she started to cry.  She told me she was put on this earth to play this kind of role, it was her duty.

@Photo credit: Ron Batzdorff

M&C - Your background is the exact opposite!  You grew up in Hollywood privilege as a Goldwyn and now seem to focus on working class stories.
 
TG - I am very grateful to my parents.  I did grow up in privilege and came from this big Hollywood family, but my parents were obsessed with normalcy.  We were not Hollywood brats and I never had exposure to the movie business.  I knew the world of my grandparents (Samuel Goldwyn and Frances Howard) but I didn’t know movie stars.  I wasn’t insane about money.

I worked from the time I was 12 and through high school.  They gave me a strong work ethic.  Going into this business, I learned by osmosis.  I know you have to make it happen for yourself and forge your own way.  The glamour and nonsense is ephemeral when it happens.  It’s like a party but then it’s over and the next day you go to work.  The greatest thing I got from my family was drive. 

My grandfather was mortgaging his house to make movies when he was 70 because he believed in them.  Now I’m telling working class stories and I feel so connected to Hilary and Betty Anne who came up from nothing.  The reason I relate to everyone is my parents kept it real.

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