The Book Thief
It's hard to imagine that there are children today who have no idea what the holocaust is, that have no idea it even existed. Yet during auditions for his latest project, The Book Thief, director Brian Percival encountered a number of those children.
'It really surprised me,' he confesses. 'Maybe it's the sort of thing kids learn about at a slightly older age. Also I suppose the further away we get from the terrible events that took place, the less survivors they are, there isn't as much resonance as there was when I was growing up.'
'I remember learning about it when I was quite young and my parents [his parents lived through and survived the war, his father was in the RAF] telling me about it. To a 12-year-old these days that really was another lifetime away, two lifetimes away. But I was still shocked.'
The Book Thief, is based on the book of the same name by Australian author Markus Zusak. Set in Nazi Germany, the story (both the book and film) is narrated by death and follows the life of Liesel, a young girl who falls in love with reading whilst living with foster parents and results to stealing books to feed her new found passion.
There are countless war films, both old and new, but they rarely show war from the German perspective. That is one of the reasons Percival was so keen to make it.
'We never really see small town Germany pre-war and during the war in cinema. Normally war films are quite two dimensional and we don't get to see that side,' he tells me.
'There are great stories about the human spirit in the face of adversity, but the idea of coming of age and being able to make something of your life in the face of all the terrible things that were happening, basically the corruption of a generation, that was something that appealed.
'Also the fact that it's from the perspective of death but not the death you usually see in TV or cinema, it's normally very dark and horrible and it's going to come and get you. In this case it wasn't, it was someone who was witty and wry and had passion and feelings so it was the complete opposite of what one might expect. I just thought I really want to make this.'
The film is incredibly emotional. With a cast and crew made up largely of Germans, I'm curious as to whether emotions ran high on set too.
'It did get to quite a few of the crew. I shed a tear on more than one occasion and I know our Director of Photography who is German, born in Berlin, was touched.'
'When we did the book burning and the singing of Uber Alles [the then German national anthem, now banned], there were a number of German crew who were in tears because of the guilt they felt for what their forefathers were responsible for.'
'There were emotional moments like that, and when you look around and see that response from a crew, you hope that on a big screen it will have a similar response.'
As well as film, Percival has worked on a number of TV projects, with our favourite of course being, Downton Abbey.
Before I even get to asking him about it he tells me that when they were there, there were "always copies of The Lady lying around the place."
Percival only worked on the series for the first series and the Christmas special that saw Matthew propose to Mary (how can we forget!) Will he return to the world of upstairs downstairs?
'We're all still great friends because I put a lot of that cast together. Julian is a friend and we are hoping to work together again on other projects. Would I go back to Downton? Who knows?'
He continues, 'there's a little bit of me that goes "Oo would I ever go back and do the last one" and I don't know, I just couldn't say.'
'I remember thinking when they were starting the third season, I don't know what else I can bring to this now because I've done it and I hate the thought of doing shots I've done a year before. I always feel one has to move forward and always try and present oneself with new challenges.'
Like the feisty girls in Downton (I can't imagine anyone wanting to get onto the wrong side of Lady Mary), The Book Thief's protagonist Liesel, despite being young, is just as ballsy.
'I find those characters far more interesting. I was brought up on films about macho male characters winning wars or shooting Indians in westerns and it was never really my thing. I found films about strong female characters far more interesting. That was something I loved about Downton, Julian writes very well for those characters.'
It's refreshing to hear that Percival isn't rushing to work on projects that involve CGI and special effects. As long as there are great characters and an interesting storyline, he is happy.
'Personally I really don't like special effects, but sometimes that's just the nature of the business. Things you can completely create in a CGI world aren't something I'm immediately drawn to; I can't get my head around Sci-Fi at all.'
'Give me real characters and a real situation, that's what I love to direct.'
THE BOOK THIEF IS IN CINEMAS FEB 26
'It really surprised me,' he confesses. 'Maybe it's the sort of thing kids learn about at a slightly older age. Also I suppose the further away we get from the terrible events that took place, the less survivors they are, there isn't as much resonance as there was when I was growing up.'
'I remember learning about it when I was quite young and my parents [his parents lived through and survived the war, his father was in the RAF] telling me about it. To a 12-year-old these days that really was another lifetime away, two lifetimes away. But I was still shocked.'
The Book Thief, is based on the book of the same name by Australian author Markus Zusak. Set in Nazi Germany, the story (both the book and film) is narrated by death and follows the life of Liesel, a young girl who falls in love with reading whilst living with foster parents and results to stealing books to feed her new found passion.
There are countless war films, both old and new, but they rarely show war from the German perspective. That is one of the reasons Percival was so keen to make it.
'We never really see small town Germany pre-war and during the war in cinema. Normally war films are quite two dimensional and we don't get to see that side,' he tells me.
'There are great stories about the human spirit in the face of adversity, but the idea of coming of age and being able to make something of your life in the face of all the terrible things that were happening, basically the corruption of a generation, that was something that appealed.
'Also the fact that it's from the perspective of death but not the death you usually see in TV or cinema, it's normally very dark and horrible and it's going to come and get you. In this case it wasn't, it was someone who was witty and wry and had passion and feelings so it was the complete opposite of what one might expect. I just thought I really want to make this.'
The film is incredibly emotional. With a cast and crew made up largely of Germans, I'm curious as to whether emotions ran high on set too.
'It did get to quite a few of the crew. I shed a tear on more than one occasion and I know our Director of Photography who is German, born in Berlin, was touched.'
'When we did the book burning and the singing of Uber Alles [the then German national anthem, now banned], there were a number of German crew who were in tears because of the guilt they felt for what their forefathers were responsible for.'
'There were emotional moments like that, and when you look around and see that response from a crew, you hope that on a big screen it will have a similar response.'
As well as film, Percival has worked on a number of TV projects, with our favourite of course being, Downton Abbey.
Before I even get to asking him about it he tells me that when they were there, there were "always copies of The Lady lying around the place."
Percival only worked on the series for the first series and the Christmas special that saw Matthew propose to Mary (how can we forget!) Will he return to the world of upstairs downstairs?
'We're all still great friends because I put a lot of that cast together. Julian is a friend and we are hoping to work together again on other projects. Would I go back to Downton? Who knows?'
He continues, 'there's a little bit of me that goes "Oo would I ever go back and do the last one" and I don't know, I just couldn't say.'
'I remember thinking when they were starting the third season, I don't know what else I can bring to this now because I've done it and I hate the thought of doing shots I've done a year before. I always feel one has to move forward and always try and present oneself with new challenges.'
Like the feisty girls in Downton (I can't imagine anyone wanting to get onto the wrong side of Lady Mary), The Book Thief's protagonist Liesel, despite being young, is just as ballsy.
'I find those characters far more interesting. I was brought up on films about macho male characters winning wars or shooting Indians in westerns and it was never really my thing. I found films about strong female characters far more interesting. That was something I loved about Downton, Julian writes very well for those characters.'
It's refreshing to hear that Percival isn't rushing to work on projects that involve CGI and special effects. As long as there are great characters and an interesting storyline, he is happy.
'Personally I really don't like special effects, but sometimes that's just the nature of the business. Things you can completely create in a CGI world aren't something I'm immediately drawn to; I can't get my head around Sci-Fi at all.'
'Give me real characters and a real situation, that's what I love to direct.'
THE BOOK THIEF IS IN CINEMAS FEB 26