FOR AUTHENTICITY CINEMA CANNABIS

Authenticity was the watchword in NIGEL COLE's film "Saving Grace," about
an English orchid-grower who starts growing another cash crop in her
state-of-the-art greenhouse.

The marijuana plants are real.

"I think we're the only film to get crown dispensation to use real
marijuana plants," Mr. Cole said yesterday. "I knew that there were going
to be a section of the audience that would know if the plants were wrong,
and I didn't want to disappoint them. We've received some very nice
compliments from people who seem to know quite a lot about it. A gentleman
in the Sundance festival staggered up to me and went, 'Awesome, dude.' I
wouldn't know, obviously."

He said that the Ministry of Agriculture had allowed the use of hemp
plants. "One could smoke a whole roomful of the stuff without getting much
more than a headache," he said. "They are close cousins to the real thing."

"They had 150 plants and they arrived in a secure van every day,
accompanied by two representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture," he
said. "At the end of the day, the plants had to be stored in a secure
building. The local police station agreed to look after them. They were
delighted to help and told me when I called up, 'They'll be perfectly safe
with us, but you might not get all of them back.' "