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FastForward Interviews actors Geoffrey Rush, Sophie Nelisse and Director Brian Percival

CINEMA - September 2013 Feature Interview

By Matt Geffen, Freshman, and Lizzie Chadbourne, Senior, Marin Academy

Image of The Book Thief's director Brian Percival, actors Geoffrey Rush and Sophie Nelisse and FastForward reporters Matt Geffen and Lizzie Chadbourne “I wanted to make something as honest and natural as possible,” says Brian Percival, director of the movie The Book Thief. As FastForward reporters we sat down at The Ritz with actors Geoffrey Rush, Sophie Nélisse, and Director Brian Percival to discuss their experience. Based on the best-seller of the same name by Markus Zusak, the movie The Book Thief—narrated by “Death”—explores the impact of the extraordinary events of World War II on an ordinary family in a small village in Munich. Authenticity played a large role in the production, whether it was filming the movie on location in Berlin instead of much cheaper foreign outposts to the real-life bombing of the set during production.

“The unusual thing for me, I suppose, was playing a character who seemingly was extremely ordinary,” says Rush in consideration to his past roles in which he portrayed much more eccentric characters such as Barbossa in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Lionel Logue in The King’s Speech or Philip Henslowe in Shakespeare in Love.