Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce bantered about who was more Welsh

Welsh actors Sir Anthony Hopkins and Sir Jonathan Pryce bantered about their Welsh roots while starring in the new film “One Life.”

Welsh actors Sir Anthony Hopkins and Sir Jonathan Pryce both star in new film One Life.

The duo stars in One Life, depicting the heroic tale of a man who rescued numerous children from the Nazis.

Director James Hawes remarked on the challenging day he had while filming alongside the two actors.

Hawes shared a humorous exchange between Sir Anthony and Sir Jonathan, where Sir Anthony teased that Sir Jonathan might become “absolutely unbearable” following his knighthood.

“When I mentioned to Tony that Jonathan was joining us, he quipped, ‘Oh dear, he’s been knighted since we last met, he’s going to be insufferable’,” Hawes recounted on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

They spent the majority of the day engaged in playful banter, debating which of them had stronger Welsh roots.

Pryce, hailing from Carmel near Holywell in Flintshire, boasts an impressive career in both theater and film.

In the film “The Two Popes,” he portrayed Pope Francis alongside Sir Anthony Hopkins, who played his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.

Sir Anthony, born in Port Talbot and now 86, made headlines in 2021 for becoming the oldest person to win an Academy Award for acting. He secured his second Oscar for his portrayal of a man grappling with dementia in “The Father.”

“One Life” narrates the tale of British stockbroker Sir Nicholas Winton and features the portrayal of Lady Milena Grenfell-Baines, who, at nine years old, arrived in the UK from Prague during the summer of 1939.

Sent to school in Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys, in 1943, Lady Grenfell-Baines fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia with her three-year-old sister in 1939. They embarked on a night journey to the Netherlands and then traveled by boat to England.

Later, her parents also found a way to escape Prague. Subsequently, she enrolled as a student at the Czechoslovak Secondary School in Llanwrtyd Wells, where the Czech government in exile had leased a sizable residence that was formerly part of a family farm estate. In the film, there’s a poignant scene depicting Sir Nicholas reuniting with some of those children, including Lady Grenfell-Baines, after a span of 50 years.

She mentioned to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that they stayed at a “lovely” hotel. “We introduced ourselves by performing a concert and singing, eventually leading to us singing Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau,” Lady Grenfell-Baines explained. “From that moment, they fully embraced us. Till this day, Llanwrtyd is twinned with the picturesque Czech town of Česky Krumlov.”

“I’ve revisited the location during mayoral visits, and it remains a place ingrained in my memory,” she remarked.

Director James Hawes emphasized the importance of reshaping our initial perception of the term “refugee.”

“Our encounter with Ukrainian refugees arriving in Prague directly influenced the narrative during the film’s production,” he stated.

“Refugees have emerged as significant contributors and leaders within British society, prompting a need for us to reconsider our perceptions of these individuals and reassess the support we provide for them.”