"One of the things that I like to do are ‘hidden world’ stories. So, when I was at a Christmas party and met this ‘K&R’ man who told me all these exotic tales about an industry that I had no idea existed, I felt I had uncovered one of the most fascinating topics around," reveals journalist, William Prochnau, who wrote the Vanity Fair article Adventures in the Ransom Trade. The Vanity Fair article Adventures In The Ransom Trade by William Prochnau and the book Long March to Freedom: Tom Hargrove’s Own Story of His Kidnapping by Colombian Narco-Guerrillas by Thomas Hargrove inspired the motion picture, "Proof Of Life."

"When I took the story to Vanity Fair, they fell in love with it immediately and told me to go wherever I needed in order to write it," he continues.

He further explains, "The first six months were spent just trying to negotiate my way as a writer into this group of people, mostly ex-CIA and ex-British SAS–people who are very used to secrecy and very unused to reporters. They reluctantly let me in because I think they wanted their story told."

"I was looking very badly for a kidnapping negotiation to go out on or something like that, but it was just too secretive and touchy for that. However, when I spoke to Susan Hargrove, the wife of Tom Hargrove who was kidnapped in 1994 outside of Cali, Colombia, she unloaded the family end of the story. The extraordinary psychological pressures she and her family faced were so compelling that I became interested in that aspect of the kidnap experience and included it in my story," Prochnau offers.

Titled Adventures In the Ransom Trade, Prochnau’s final article appeared in the May 1998 issue of Vanity Fair. After a year of intense research, travelling between Europe and South America, he exposed a new business to interested readers that has resulted from the growth of today’s global economy in the post-Cold War era. His story caught the interest of Director/Producer Taylor Hackford and his creative partner, Tony Gilroy.

"Bill deserves a great deal of credit because as a very good investigative journalist, he stuck his nose in someplace secret and revealed a lot about a business the general public, and in some cases, even the employees of global corporations know nothing about. Why tell someone who is about to transfer to the Philippines that their chances of being kidnapped are astronomically higher than in Des Moines, Iowa?" comments Hackford.

He continues, "I’m always looking for a unique drama in a dynamic setting. When I read Bill’s article, I just went, ‘WOW!’ I haven’t seen or heard this before. Plus this subject contains fantastic interpersonal turmoil that gives rise to very dramatic situations," says Hackford.

He continues, "I called my creative partner, Tony Gilroy, and told him to read it. When he did, he agreed that we could create an original story from this material with a huge quotient of emotion and drama, because a kidnapping totally alters the lives of all people involved."

Tony Gilroy explains on transforming a non-fiction piece into a developed screenplay, "There were a thousand movies in that article. The main thing that Taylor and I agreed on was that as compelling as Tom and Susan Hargrove’s story was, we didn’t want to do a real-life story or docu-drama."

Hackford and Gilroy were able to talk to more people than Prochnau for their research. Gilroy elaborates, "We told everybody that we weren’t doing a documentary or a real-life story, and they could, if they wanted, just give us an amalgamation of several cases without real names. They didn’t need to reveal where an actual kidnapping took place. We didn’t care-- just as long as we got the material. It’s sort of the opposite of journalism which is why I think people were more willing to talk to us than they were to a journalist."

He continues, "Once we had the story and it began to take shape, then it was easier to talk to the ‘K&R’ people and be specific with what we needed, like ‘what would you do in a situation like this?’"

As it turns out, the title, "Proof Of Life," was the easiest part of the screenwriting process. Gilroy reveals, "I got the title the third day in Germany when Taylor and I first met the Hargroves’ since it kept popping up in our conversations. It’s a term in the kidnapping business that is constantly used as you negotiate to prove that the hostage is still alive."

He continues, "The title was really helpful in writing the movie because it helped me figure out what our story was about. It just didn’t mean someone holding up a newspaper, but it actually had a thematic resonance for the three main characters. They start off the movie with some serious problems and then go through this dramatic, cathartic change."

Hackford adds, "I loved the title ‘Proof Of Life.’ It’s a specific term in the ‘K&R’ business, but in this instance, it’s also about people who have reached an impasse in their life, people who have been stalled emotionally, who are at a crisis point in their relationships. They have this event that rocks them and forces them to contemplate, ‘Why am I here? What am I doing with my life?’"

Meg Ryan, who agreed to sign on to the project after reading the first draft of the script and helped develop her character in the subsequent rewrites, offers, "The significance of ‘Proof Of Life’ for me is how my character rediscovers herself through a really dramatic situation. Through crisis, she’s learning how to become very present in her life.