New Zealand actress Melanie Lynskey,who burst to fame as a teenager opposite Kate Winslet in Peter Jackson’sHeavenly Creatures and will soon be seen in the second season ofYellowjackets,plays the author. Israeli filmmaker Tali Shalom Ezer is directing.
Morris,a former social worker,wrote the book after being introduced to Holocaust survivor Lale Sokolov in 2003 as someone who “had a story that might be worth telling”. (The author serves as story consultant to the series.)
UK production company Synchronicity bought the screen rights in 2018 before the book – which has reportedly sold 12 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 40 languages – had even been published. Soon after,Jacquelin Perske,the award-winning co-creator ofLove My Way and writer of the TV seriesThe Cry,was tapped to adapt it for the screen.
But the bestseller has also attracted its share of criticism,accused of factual errors and perpetuating Holocaust clichés. Perske says she is already bracing for the backlash that will inevitably greet her version of the story.
“I think over the past four or five years,the world has changed quite a lot,the notion of telling stories like this has changed,” she says. “But I don’t really want to get into debates about that stuff at this present time. I’d rather see the show made,see it out there,and then let’s see what happens with the debates,which will be huge.”
She’s not inviting or hoping for that. She’s simply aware that for some people the Holocaust is not fit for drama at all,as liberties will inevitably be taken,and the grim truth of it all diminished for the sake of story.