TORONTO – Betty Anne Waters doesn’t live in Ayer anymore.
As her story is told this week in “Conviction,” Waters, 56, confessed that seeing her life in Ayer onscreen “is a bittersweet feeling. That’s where I was born, and my grandfather and grandmother are buried there. Those are my roots. But I drive by the place.”
No wonder. It was a botched Ayer police investigation that landed her brother Kenny in prison on a murder conviction and prompted Waters’ 18-year battle to free him.
Did she ever think of giving up?
“Absolutely! All the time,” Waters said on a recent visit to Boston. “It was one hurdle after another, and plenty of times it seemed hopeless.”
The unemployed single mother started by getting her GED.
“Then it was getting into college and then, ‘Will I do well on the LSAT and even get into law school?’ And then, even worse, once I was in law school, how will I get Kenny out?”
When Kenny was freed, thanks to DNA evidence and Barry Scheck’s Innocence Project, Waters’ big-screen journey began.
“The day my brother was released he was Number 83 (of prisoners) released on DNA, and I thought it would be in the paper for a day and that would be it. But my phone never stopped ringing for months and it was Hollywood calling.
“Kenny said, ‘Betty Anne, there’s going to be a movie!’ He was very excited. I think he thought he was going to cast the movie,” she said, then laughed.
Unfortunately Kenneth Waters is not here to see the movie of his life.
“Kenny was free for six months and for those months he had the ride of his life,” Betty Anne said. “He was on the TV shows, even ‘Oprah’ and he died accidentally. He fell and hurt his head.”
As for Swank’s portrayal, “A month before shooting she came to my house. She showed up at my door and she had the same outfit I had on. This black Banana Republic turtleneck with boots, and people said, ‘You two planned it’ and we didn’t. She came in and made breakfast – I can’t cook – and it was like I knew her for years.”
The first time she watched “Conviction,” Waters said, “I started crying one minute into it. I don’t remember most of it. I saw it through tears. For lack of a better word, it was surreal; it was amazing seeing yourself, your brother come to life. It actually is the story. I was amazed how the real story did come up and it was there. It was perfect, I thought.”
