“It was Niki’s idea to do that,” Chastain recalled. It was wonderful to work with a director who had more delicacy and sensitivity with the subject.”Īt the end of the film, Antonina comes face to face with Lutz in a scene where he contemplates killing her son and places her in a cage, where not only her animals were living before the war, but also the Jewish prisoners that she saved.
#The zookeepers wife movie#
“I was distraught about the rape of this young girl,” Chastain said, “but I’m happy to be in a movie where there’s no salacious rape scene that we’re forced to watch. I think that sort of unspoken trust and compassion between those two characters, and those two actresses, is a very, very special part of the movie, for me. “It’s her humanity with animals that brought to her work with human refugees. “They were wonderful, because we see Antonina dealing with Urszula as she would with an animal when she first arrives,” she observed. Caro talked about the scenes between she and Antonina. After taking sight of her, Antonina’s husband, Jan (Johan Heldenbergh), rescues her and brings her to the zoo. When we first see her, she is being escorted to a secluded part of the ghetto by two Nazi soldiers. Shira Haas, an Israeli actress, plays a young Jewish girl called Urszula who Caro says was emblematic of all children during the war. There are other pivotal female roles in the film. “Antonina wouldn’t have known what was happening there, but I needed to feel the energy of that space.”
For her, it was all about others - animals, people, or whatever it was, in terms of healing.” She also met with a lot of people who spend their lives dedicated to animals, which was helpful when approaching her role as a zoologist.įrom there she went to Warsaw and on to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp. “There was a quality that she had, where she would not disappear, but she would put the caring of others ahead of herself.
To research her character, she first read Ackerman’s book where she culled much information about the character. In the film, Chastain rotates between a range of emotions as a mother, wife, hero, zoologist, and temptress to Lutz (Daniel Brühl), a Nazi soldier who protected the couple, in part because of his respect for their accomplishments in building a world-renowned zoo, and in part because of a crush on Antonina. It’s only now that I realize we were making a contemporary film - sadly.” I thought we were making a historical drama. “I wanted to make a Holocaust movie that expressed healing in some measure. I was trying to move the genre on a little bit,” she explained. I could take my inspiration from Antonina and be very soft and strong with this material. When asked about bringing a Holocaust film to fruition, Caro said, “I had to think very hard about what I could bring to this genre. We don’t acknowledge women in history as often as we should.” She added, “I want to celebrate women in the past who have made great sacrifices to help others. It wasn’t hard for me to find examples of a woman who - not sacrifices herself, but in a way, gives of - gives herself to others.” I am where I am today because of the sacrifices they made. My grandmother raised her family, and my mother raised three kids. The subject of strong women is one that Chastain knows very well. She’s so authentic, and truthful, and honest,” she observed. Antonina once said that when you look into an animal’s eyes, you see exactly what’s in their heart. I can’t imagine anyone else directing this movie. “I was excited to meet Niki because I so love her film work. When offered the role, Chastain said she first met with Caro in Milan, and was immediately impressed. She is not new to playing heroic figures, having also portrayed fierce women in films such as “Zero Dark Thirty” and “The Martian.” “The Zookeeper’s Wife” production team. In an interview with Chastain and Caro during the publicity tour for the film, Chastain spoke very highly of the experience of playing a heroine who saved so many lives. She also saved hundreds of innocent people who became refugees overnight. Niki Caro (“Whale Rider,” “North Country”) directs and Jessica Chastain (“Miss Sloane”) plays Zabinski, who ran the Warsaw Zoo with her husband during the Nazi occupation of Warsaw. Based on a book by Diane Ackerman, the film is coming to screens later this month via a screenplay penned by Angela Workman. “The Zookeeper’s Wife” tells the powerful story of Antonina Zabinski, a woman who risked her life to save the lives of 300 Jews during World War II. Jessica Chastain and Niki Caro on “The Zookeeper’s Wife” and the Importance of Recognizing Women in History “The Zookeeper’s Wife”
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