Shadowlands (1993)

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I find myself less critical about Shadowlands than most of my other films and I am convinced that it emanates from the quality of the screenplay. Brian Eastman, the producer, commissioned Bill Nicholson, the play's author, to adapt it for the screen. On most occasions, a writer who creates something in one genre very often finds it difficult to move it to another, yet here was this extraordinary man who had not only written this play for theatre and television, but who wrote the most exquisite and as perfect a screenplay as I've ever worked with.

I never doubted for one hundredth of a second that there was but one actor on earth who would play the part of C.S. Lewis for me, and that was Tony. Tony's very British, perfect for this very upright figure who, by the end of the movie, will be totally devastated - all our national characteristics blown away. I also never wanted anyone else to play Joy Gresham other than Debra. I went to see her in America and said, "Miss Winger, you have the most appalling reputation, you know. I understand that you are by far the most difficult actress that anyone ever worked with, and that you throw great temper-tantrums and so on." She replied, "My reputation is simply that I will not work in crap, it has to be good. If I think a thing is crap, I won't do it. You will adore me by the time the picture is finished." I told her I adored her right now, she was such an outstanding talent, but she had to be good. She promised me she would be and was as good as her word.

I think all the films I've directed were pretty well acted, but their joint performances were, I believe, just bewildering. I can't think about that death scene, where Lewis tells Joy how much he loves her and what is he going to do if she leaves him, without choking up, even now.

Lord Attenborough

"We have to be very careful of Richards's modesty, having cast the actors he then works ferociously to create an environment that he believes is worthy of his actors and worthy of his story. In Shadowlands the dynamic between Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger was a masterpiece of casting; the two unique sensibilities that are those two actors together on screen results in a flow of energy that only those two could produce. The miracle is that he saw it and he filmed it."

Ben Kingsley Actor