Rami Malek: Stories like Nuremburg can ‘inch’ society closer to being united
By Lauren Del Fabbro, PA Entertainment Reporter
Hollywood star Rami Malek has said he hopes telling stories like Nuremberg can “inch” society closer together to “live as one, united rather than divided.”
The 44-year-old actor stars alongside Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon in James Vanderbilt’s historical drama, Nuremberg, portraying the American psychiatrist Douglas Kelley in the aftermath of the Second World War.
The film follows Kelley as he is tasked with deciding whether Nazi prisoners are fit to stand trial for their war crimes, including Hermann Goring (Crowe), who was Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man.
Speaking about the film, which was written by Vanderbilt and based on Jack El-Hai’s book, The Nazi And The Psychiatrist, Malek told the PA news agency: “After reading that book, I found that story fascinating, and it was surprising. I was so taken by it, I wanted to track down the script, because I knew one existed, and it was a film that I fought for.
“It was quite devastating reading certain aspects of what Douglas Kelly had written in his book 22 Cells in Nuremberg, because a lot of the things that he challenged in regards to the way we look at the human psyche and the way we try to define evil, they were not listened to, unfortunately, and it just is a constant reminder that these moments will happen again. They keep happening.
“Hopefully, step by step and story by story, and experience from one moment to another, collectively as a society, we do begin to inch towards some semblance of acknowledgement that we need to live as one, united rather than divided.
“I know it’s lofty, but it might possibly happen.”
The film also stars Shannon as the Supreme Court Justice Robert H Jackson, the chief prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials as well as Leo Woodall who plays Sergeant Howie Triest who acted as the translator.
He said: “I felt I had to do this character justice. I think we all did collectively. There was, a unifying factor in what we were all doing.
“From the production designers all the way (to) every designer on the film, to the actors, especially our director, we knew what we had, the massive weight on our shoulders and I think every day we didn’t just try to rise to the occasion. We tried to excel beyond it.”
The pivot to Europe comes 15 years after Malek portrayed an American marine fighting in the Pacific Theatre of the Second World War in the award-winning TV series, The Pacific, which was produced by Hollywood star Tom Hanks and American filmmaker Stephen Spielberg.
Speaking about the role and importance of telling these stories, Malek added: “That was one of the most seminal moments of my life, being on The Pacific.
“I remember just auditioning. And for my final casting session, Tom Hanks was in the room, and I had an older gentleman who had a camcorder filming my audition, and that was, of course, Steven Spielberg, unbeknownst to me.
“Those are custodians of history and to be able to carry on a certain legacy of telling those stories through film or television is incredibly important to me, and I hope, I’m carrying that legacy on with this film, Nuremberg, at the moment. I know I am, actually.”
Malek earned an Academy Award in 2019 for his role as Freddie Mercury in Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and also starred in Christopher Nolan’s historical epic, Oppenheimer.