It is the setup for your basic love story, complete with a boy, a girl and a love that holds strong against all odds. Only this time, the story is not quite so cliché.

“Conviction,” starring two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank, is the inspirational true story of a sister’s devotion to her brother.

 After Betty Anne Waters’ older brother Kenny is sentenced to life without parole in prison, she dedicates her life to overturning his murder conviction.

The Daily Campus had the opportunity to sit down with director Tony Goldwyn, Oscar nominee Juliette Lewis and the real Betty Anne Waters to talk about what it was like translating this poignant story into film.

The world was first introduced to the story of Betty Anne and Kenny Waters in the spring of 2001 when Betty Anne’s hard work came to fruition with her brother’s release from prison.

Director Tony Goldwyn was among those who heard the story on the news and, at the urging of his wife, decided that this incredible tale needed to be shared through the medium of film.

“Betty Anne was a woman who gave up so much for her deep faith and belief in her brother who could just as easily been guilty,” Goldwyn said. “The questions for me were: What is that bond about? What allows us to grasp onto impossible hope with those we love?”

Betty Anne put herself through high school, college and law school, as part of her 18-year journey to free her brother. She passed the bar exam in two states and gave up a “normal” life to fight for him.

“It took a long time and Kenny got extremely depressed, but he always felt that somehow I would find a way,” Betty Anne said.

The script was compiled from transcripts and videos of all the court and police proceedings and the rest was developed out of the interviews with Waters herself. Ninety-eight percent of the script is verbatim.

Juliette Lewis was a part of Goldwyn’s handpicked cast, portraying Roseanna Perry, one of Kenny Waters’ ex-girlfriends who testified against him.

The film also features Sam Rockwell, Peter Gallagher, and Oscar nominees Minnie Driver and Melissa Leo.

Playing a small, but critical role in the film, Lewis had to change everything from her dialect to her skin tone, in order to act out the role of Perry.

“This is a real person and it’s a real personality that’s in our world,” Lewis said. “It’s not a comic book hero.”  

A sharp departure from typical Hollywood roles, Lewis’s accurate portrayal of her character brought to life the conspiracy against Kenny Waters.

“Ultimately, it really inspired me to see how we were able to put together cast and crew who were just as devoted to the story. It wasn’t an ordinary job for any of us, and it was really a blessing to be a part of that,” Goldwyn said.

“Conviction” was made to celebrate Kenny’s freedom and the work of The Innocence Project.

The Innocence Project, founded by attorney Barry Scheck, who was instrumental in the Waters’ case, assists prisoners whose innocence could be proven by DNA testing.

Since its founding in 1992, 258 people in the United States have been exonerated by DNA testing, including more than 20 inmates from Dallas County.

Betty Anne Waters now works for the foundation, taking on cases when they need her.

“Whether Kenny had lived another 60 years, six months, or even six days, he finally became a free man and he died a free man,” Waters said. “He died with his name cleared and the truth was out.”

 “And the truth of the love story between a sister and a brother reverberates no matter what happened,” she said.

“Conviction” is currently playing at the North Park Cinema and at the Magnolia Landmark Theater.