Clive Owen Will Star in a New Thriller Set on the Brink of WWII

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Clive Owen

Clive Owen is set to star in Kristallnacht, a thriller about the night of anti-Jewish violence that preceded the Holocaust. Owen will play Wilhelm Krützfeld, a Berlin police officer who defied orders to aid the city's Jewish population. Variety reports that the movie will film in Austria early next year.

Kicked off by the assassination of a German diplomat by a Jewish youth, Kristallnacht ("crystal night", so named because of the shattered glass of storefronts and homes that littered the streets) saw German citizens, encouraged by the Nazi government, ransacking Jewish homes, businesses, and places of worship; it resulted in hundreds of deaths and laid the foundation for the unspeakable Nazi crimes to follow. During this brutal pogrom, Krützfeld warned Jewish citizens of marauding rioters, and personally intervened to prevent the destruction of the New Synagogue, the primary place of worship for Berlin's Jewish community. The film will follow his journey over the course of twenty-four harrowing hours as the city explodes with racial hatred.

Who Is Clive Owen?

Owen broke out in the UK as the lead on the TV series Chancer, playing a charming conman. He made waves internationally as the lead in the thriller Croupier, and subsequently starred in a number of high-profile films, including Children of Men, Sin City, Inside Man, and Closer; he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the latter. In recent years, Owen has been a regular presence on television, beginning with Cinemax's The Knick, where he starred as a troubled surgeon in turn-of-the-century New York. He has starred in the second season of American Crime Story (as Bill Clinton), Lisey's Story, and A Murder at the End of the World. This year, he played the title role in Monsieur Spade, a miniseries about Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade retiring to rural France. He is next set to star in the action thriller Cleaner alongside Daisy Ridley, and will also feature in Paramount+' upcoming series on the murder of JonBenét Ramsey.

Kristallnacht will be directed by Oscar-winning Austrian director Stefan Ruzowitzky (The Counterfeiters, Cold Hell). He also co-wrote the screenplay with Julius Grützke; it is based on an original script by Jonathan Frank and Scott Mann. It will be produced by Michael Benaroya, Danny Krausz, Marcelo Gandola, and Daniel Zuta, and executive produced by Ben Sachs, Seth Renshaw and Gregory McLachlan for Benaroya Pictures, Florian Krügel for Dor Film, and Chris K. Daniels for Cinelaunch.

Kristallnacht is slated to begin production early next year in Austria; no release date has yet been announced. It will be shopped at the upcoming American Film Market. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

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