Sir Ben Kingsley: I had a picture of Anne Frank in my coat pocket. And I would say to
this picture of this beautiful girl, before takes, "I'm doing this for you." A simple,
a simple direct line, from me to her. And, um, I was thrilled beyond measure when Robert
Dornhelm asked me to play Otto in the film, because, because I already loved her, um,
unequivocably.
Before I started filming, I was asked to visit Miep Gies, who was the secretary who kept
them alive. And Miep was in her 90s, and, I remember, um—I am actually quite allergic
to coffee; it's not very good for me—and Miep, bless her, came into her living room
in the apartment in Amsterdam with, with this tray of coffee and said, "Would you like some
coffee?" I said, "I'd love some!" Of course, I was hyperactive and shaky for the rest of
the afternoon. She was a wonderful woman. I've had the opportunity of, of having dear
Itzhak Stern's widow, Sophie, on my arm in the last scene of the film [Schindler's List]—that
was Sophie Stern, on my arm. I had the privilege of meeting Simon [Wiesenthal] and loving him.
And also Miep. There’s a lovely photograph in our house on the mantelpiece, of myself
and Miep Gies with this painting of Anne Frank between us, she's, she's there—it's just
an accident of the photograph—but there she is, smiling, beautiful, photograph of
Anne.
And there was, a lovely man, I think he was George, I think he was called George. And,
he was, there was a knock on my trailer door and my assistant at the time who was looking
after that movie, said, um, "There's an old friend of Otto Frank's would like to say 'hello'."
And I was completely in my Otto disguise. My Otto's, my costume, my pencil moustache
make-up, and lovely, thinning hair, that Otto had, Otto Frank. So I said, "Yeah, I'll go."
I opened my trailer door, and George went, "There's my friend!" And hugged me and hugged
me and hugged me. And that direct line—the generosity of people who have lost so much,
you know, who actually say, "Go on, yes, tell the story." Like Simon watching me, all of
these extraordinary gestures that help us make something out of nothing. And all the
research—I have great respect for actors who research and research and research. I
do very little. I rely on the floating molecule to breathe on, or whatever you want to call
it, and extraordinary gestures like that. Why did I have that picture in my pocket?
Why was that picture put on my dressing room table? Why does this man come across Amsterdam
to walk onto a film set and knock on a trailer door, and then, of all the beautiful gifts,
he just says, "There's my friend. There, there he is."�