The Silence of the Lambs provided inspiration for Russell Crowe's new movie Nuremberg
James Vanderbilt revealed he looked to Jonathan Demme’s 1991 psychological horror thriller The Silence of the Lambs for inspiration for his new movie Nuremberg.
The Silence of the Lambs provided inspiration for James Vanderbilt‘s historical drama Nuremberg.
Russell Crowe and Rami Malek star in the new movie about the Nuremberg Trials and a showdown between a high-ranking Nazi and a psychiatrist and director Vanderbilt admitted he took inspiration from Jonathan Demme’s 1991 psychological horror thriller.
According to a synopsis for the film: “The year is 1945. Adolf Hitler is dead, and the Second World War is drawing to a close. Several figures within the Nazi high command have been apprehended by the Allies - among them the eerily charismatic Hermann Göring (Crowe). U.S. Lt. Colonel Douglas Kelley (Malek), an army psychiatrist, is called in to evaluate the Nazi captives.”
Vanderbilt told The Hollywood Reporter: “It was really important for me, in order to give the gravity to the atrocities, and for that to stand out, the entire movie couldn’t be heavy. I felt it actually would work against you. As a viewer, the last thing I want is to feel like I’m being lectured to or beaten over the head by a film. So, the way I built this was as a thriller and as a character piece.
“We talked a lot about The Silence of the Lambs, in terms of Kelley and Göring, and how it is about two men in a cell for some of it, really trying to get under each other’s skin and outwit each other. How would that work?”
And, Vanderbilt is proud of the work Crowe and Malik have done in bringing their characters to life.
He said: “I’m so blessed with this cast. It’s a phenomenal cast, and to be able to direct two Academy Award winners going at each other is fantastic. John Papsidera, our incredible casting director, put this together. For Göring, I always wanted a big name. There are wonderful character actors out there who I’m sure could have played it. But, for me, Russell is a character actor hiding in a leading man’s body of gravitas. And so I knew I’d be in good hands with him. Göring could kind of pull you in and seduce you, and I thought Russell was incredible for that. So, I really wanted somebody who was a big name for that part.
"And then it was really important to me, with the Douglas Kelley character, to have somebody who could sit across somebody like Russell and go beat for beat with him. It’s like two boxers fighting. You got to have somebody who can dance with him. We talked a lot about how we didn’t want this to be like the normal movie psychiatrist you have seen. He was this sort of wild guy. And I loved the idea of that kind of energy – Rami’s kind of energy and Russell’s kind of energy, which are very different.”
