Was Shadowlands an accurate portrayal of Lewiss life?
No – and it was never supposed to be. It contains many factual inaccuracies: for example, at the time the film is set, Jack had become a Professor at Magdalene college Cambridge, a job which would not have involved teaching undergraduate seminars. Douglas Gresham says ‘In terms of hard facts it is deliberately and by necessity very inaccurate, but emotionally it is spot on.’ Anthony Hopkins described the movie as ‘a fictional illumination based on the facts.
