‘Tattooist of Auschwitz’s Cast Had Mental Health Support While Filming

The big picture

• The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz
  is based on the true story of Lale Sokolov, a Jewish prisoner forced to tattoo other Jewish prisoners during World War II.
• Tali Shalom-Ezer and Claire Mundell discuss the series, its intricacies, and why they chose to adapt the novel.
• Mental health support was offered on set due to the emotionally intense nature of the series depicting the horrors of the Holocaust.

It seems like almost every streaming service is trying to adapt novels based on the horrors of the Holocaust, including the upcoming Peacock. The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz on May 2 The series stars Jonah Hauer-King i Anna Prochniak as lovers who meet in the midst of the overwhelming terror and uncertainty of Auschwitz, and Jonas No as one of the cruel Nazis in the concentration camp. Before the premiere, I had the opportunity to speak with the director of the series Tali Shalom-Ezer i ClaireMundellwho secured the rights to the book in 2018, before moving on to executive produce the series.

Based on Heather Morris' critically acclaimed novel of the same name, The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz is based on actual events relayed to Morris by the deceased Lale Sokolov (interpreted by HarveyKeitel and Jonah Hauer-King), who survived Auschwitz alongside a fellow prisoner who would eventually become his wife. In addition to the budding romance between Lale and Gita (Próchniak), the Peacock series also shows the deeply uncomfortable “friendship” Lale formed with a volatile Nazi officer named Stefan Baretzki (No) the cat and mouse torment is his . the only gateway to spending time with Gita.

Tali Shalom-Ezer and Claire Mundell talked about the importance of mental health on set, especially with a series like The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz—and why it was provided to the cast during and after filming, Mundell shed some light on why Hollywood is telling so many stories set during the Holocaust right now, while Shalom-Ezer discussed which scenes were the more difficult for her to film. You can watch the full interview in the player below, or scroll down to read the full transcript of our conversation.

Why mental health is important all projects

COLLIDER: Tali, this is such a beautiful series, but I was curious if there were specific scenes that were perhaps the most difficult to direct or to get the emotions right and capture in those moments?

TALI SHALOM-EZER: I think, for me, the scenes that included nudity were more difficult, just on a personal level. It can be a bit confronting for me to see a group of almost a dozen, almost 100 naked women. And also very violent scenes when people are being humiliated. Sure, we're doing a drama, and it's not real, and it's actors playing the guards, but still. We were building this scene, and we were building this world, and we built all the sets and the shacks. So this was quite confronting and difficult for me.

You bring up a very good point. Even just watching this show, there are so many emotions, and I feel like I need a therapist to talk to afterwards because there is so much horror I'm dealing with just watching this. On set, how did you handle these real extreme emotions being explored? Was there any inception therapist or time to take a moment between these takes?

CLAIRE MUNDELL: Yes, absolutely. We had mental health support throughout production, in pre-production and throughout filming and indeed in post-production. There will be mental health support available to everyone long after the show is over, because I think as crews and cast we tend to go into a mode where we do our work and put aside processing the scenes we've been . recreating I think with this particular project, everyone was very aware that, as hard as it is for us, we're just telling a story here. But we tried to create an environment where people felt supported and where we could share with each other how we felt. But also, mental health support is vital all projects, I think, but mostly something of this nature.

SHALOM-EZER: I think the crew and cast were so engaged and really saw the importance of the story, even the supporting artists. Many of them had a personal connection to history, like families, like Holocaust survivors. Many of the cast members have family members who are also Holocaust survivors. So I think it was very important for everybody. So it connected us in a way that we could support each other.

Why is Hollywood focusing on the Holocaust right now?

Claire, I had a question for you. There are so many incredible and chilling series that focus on the Holocaust. There is The New Look, We were the lucky ones and now The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz. I was wondering if you knew why Hollywood was looking to this period of history right now to examine it on screen.

MUNDELL: We started our journey six years ago, in 2018. It was difficult to predict the context in which we would find ourselves now and the amount of projects that would be done. But I think there is something that happens cyclically in the arts. There is a zeitgeist that is real, and that is definitely true in this project. I mean, when we found the book, we were very clear from the beginning—and Jacquelin Perske, our head writer and fellow executive producer, was very clear—that the way to tell this story was to cut between the story of Lale and Heather. meeting and meeting in Lale and Gita, because they are two love stories of a slightly different nature, but united by the act of telling the story and bearing witness.

It obviously connected with readers globally, because to date, the book has sold well over 13 million copies, which means that if you consider that there are two books per household, more than 20 million people have read this book, and that's amazing. in this day and age. So, I don't know. I think that collectively society, in some way the arts respond to the need, to the unconscious need of the populations, and obviously there was something at that time.

Absolutely. I really like the way the series builds both sides of the story and stays true to the story of Heather talking to Lale, and getting the story and the oral history aspect. Can you both talk about this decision to show both sides of the story in parallel?

MUNDELL: It was a very early decision to develop the story that way because the only reason the story exists as a novel is because Heather took the time to sit down with an older man she didn't know and to hear his story. and to allow him to process what had happened to him. 60 years later he was still feeling the effects of the trauma and all the things that had happened in his life. His wife had just died and he wanted to share the story of their love, I think, before she left this world. I wanted people to know that love is still possible even in the darkest situations. So it seemed that this was a way of dramatizing his trauma and trying to explain to an audience how he must feel. Because I think very often with these stories, when the camp was liberated and the gates opened, people might assume that was the end and everyone lived happily ever after. And, of course, we know that's not the case because the legacy of trauma is for the rest of someone's life. So it felt like a way to tell that story and also to dramatize the survivor experience, because as we know, there are so few survivors still alive, and in a while, there will be no survivors alive. We hope this goes some way to explaining how important it is to hear other people's stories.

SHALOM-EZER: I think there's something unique about Lale and Heather's relationship. Many Holocaust survivors cannot share their story with anyone; I know it on a personal level. My grandfather is a Holocaust survivor and he never shared his story with us. I think for us, for Claire and for me, it was very interesting to focus on that: how this story unfolds, how Lale goes back to her traumas and tries to build a new narrative and tries to create meaning in all the events . which he remembers in a very fragmented way. This process is a healing process. I think for both of us it was very fascinating to explore.

The Tattoo Artist of Auschwitz will premiere on Peacock on May 2, 2024.

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