Ben Kingsley to play Nazi war criminal in ‘Operation Finale’
Los Angeles, June 17 (IANS) Veteran Hollywood actor Ben Kingsley has been roped in by media company MGM to play Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in the film “Operation Finale” opposite Oscar Isaac.
Shooting will begin this fall in Argentina with Chris Weitz to direct the thriller about the capture of Eichmann, who was one of the major architects of the Holocaust.
Eichmann organised the transport of Jews from countries all over Europe to concentration camps, where an estimated six million died, reports variety.com.
When World War II was ending, Eichmann fled to his home country of Austria and then moved to Argentina. Eichmann was captured in Argentina in 1960 by the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service. Following a trial in Israel, he was found guilty of war crimes and hanged in 1962 at the age of 56.
Isaac has been cast as Peter Malkin, the Mossad operative who led a group of Israeli spies searching for Eichmann.
He’s also producing along with Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger under their Automatik company and Inspire Entertainment’s Jason Spire.
MGM launched the development of the project when it acquired the script by Matthew Orton in 2015.
Kingsley starred opposite Hollywood star Brad Pitt in Netflix’s “War Machine” and will next be seen in “Backstabbing for Beginners.”