USA: Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber hit the red carpet for Defiance premiere in New York

Record ID: 218885

  • Title: USA: Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber hit the red carpet for Defiance premiere in New York
  • Date: 13th January 2009
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 12, 2009) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF MOVIE THEATRE DANIEL CRAIG AND GIRLFRIEND SATSUKI MITCHELL BEING PHOTOGRAPHED ON THE RED CARPET PHOTOGRAPHERS DANIEL CRAIG AND GIRLFRIEND SATSUKI MITCHELL BEING PHOTOGRAPHED ON THE RED CARPET DANIEL CRAIG BEING INTERVIEWED BY TELEVISION REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR DANIEL CRAIG SAYING: "The story's never been told and it's one of the most inspirational stories I've ever read. As an actor, you're always looking for inspiration because that's what keeps you alive and keeps the juices flowing. It's a story that sort of deals with what's possible, what the human spirit is capable of under extreme situations and how under absolute devastation these people managed to survive and actually prosper in an extraordinary way."
  • Embargoed: 28th January 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVACB0TUQ8K379C3LLBP8WH3W5XF
  • Story Text: The stars of "Defiance" hit the red carpet in New York on Monday (January 12) giving the same reason for wanting to act in the movie.
    The reason: no movie has ever told the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of resistance fighters.
    The film, based on a true story, is about three Jewish brothers who escape from Poland during the Second World War. The siblings flee to Belarus where they team up with a group of Russian resistance fighters who endeavour to build their own village in the middle of the forest as a form of protection against Nazi attacks.
    Daniel Craig, who rose to international fame after playing James Bond, plays the oldest brother Tuvia Bielski. He says the screenplay was one of the most inspiring stories he has ever read.
    "It's a story that sort of deals with what's possible, what the human spirit is capable of under extreme situations and how under absolute devastation these people managed to survive and actually prosper in an extraordinary way."
    Craig, who has an older sister but no brothers teased that things between he and Liev Schreiber, who plays his younger brother got competitive on the set.
    "We had to play brothers and brotherly love is based as far as I can tell on violence and booze so both of those we kind of tasted."
    Schreiber attended the premiere with his actress girlfriend, Naomi Watts, who gave birth to their second son in December. She was visibly tired but radiant nonetheless.
    "We've got number two now and more sleep deprivation - getting quite used to it. But it's fantastic. He's just a joy," she said.
    Schreiber said it was man's potential for extraordinary acts of goodness portrayed in the film that inspired him.
    "I think also there are so many tragic stories from the Holocaust and World War II that to find one that was triumphant and a kind of testament to the intrinsic goodness of our nature as human beings was really exciting to me," he told Reuters. He was also thrilled by the prospect of working with Craig, his other co-star Jamie Bell and the director Edward Zwick. What cinched the deal though was when his family agreed to travel with him on location in Lithuania, he said.
    Zwick, who directed "Blood Diamond" and "The Last Samurai" among other movies, also said he wanted to make the movie because a story like it has never been told before.
    "In fact, there's never been a film that talked about the resistance and there have been hundreds that have talked about the victims.
    And I think the same spirit that these people were possessed of - the same will to resist, the same life force, the same ferocity of spirit is the same thing that animated the lives of the six million who died and we tend to forget that," he said.
    "Defiance" which also stars Alexa Davols hits theatres in January.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register