‘THE SCRIPT WAS ONE OF THE BEST I'D READ IN MY LIFE'
51"”;
Dying “9 pagt
Tom Dawson talks to Karl Markovics, star of The Counterfeiters, about the responsibility he felt about reliving the Holocaust
hen the .>\ustrian actor Karl Markoxics \xas i'il‘SI \ellt the sci‘cenpla} tor the Holocaust thriller The ('oiiiili'r/i'i/crx h_\ his l'i'iend the director Stelan Ru/ouit/k}. he spent a neck
pondering \xhether or not to accept the central role of
Salomon ‘Salh' Soroxx itsch. The latter \xas a Rtissian .leu ish artist and master l'orger. held in Sachsenhauscn concentration camp. \xho participated in the .\'a/is‘ “()peration Bernhard' mone} — manulacturing scheme. which attempted to flood the .'\||icd economics \\i[il lake currenc}. like last )c‘;ti“s Hungarian drama l'il/('/('\\. 'l‘lii' ('oiinli'rli'ilciix allo\\s audiences a lircsh perspectnc on a familiar suhject. Here the .|e\\ ish countcrl‘eiters are led and clothed h} their captors. sleep it] heds \\ith \heets. and ha\'e access to medical treatment. while. through the nails ol their harracks the} hear the screams ot prisoners heing murdered. .-\ii}iiiic‘ tound sahotaging the l‘oi'ger} process risks instant e\ecution.
“the script \\ as one of the hest scripts I‘d read in m_\ lil‘c.‘ e\plains .\larko\ics. speaking in l‘luent lininsh on the Phone from Vienna. ‘| reall} “tinted to do it.
htit it‘s not just l’iction. 'l‘here's a “eight oi
responsihilit} to the sons and daughters and grandchildren of the Holocaust.‘
(‘onsetluentl_\ .\larko\ics deliheratel} a\oided researching and preparing for the part ol~ Sorou itsch. ‘I tried to forget as much as possihle ahout this time. This gu_\ didn't care ahout politics or histor}. l{\er_\thing changes in his small \\ot'ld. and he just has to get through e\er} da_\.'
Although the film is hased on a hook. 'I'lu' lh'i'i/‘s limits/top. h} another stlt'\i\or l’rom Saclisenliatisen. .-\dolt' Burger. it's .shot on handheld cameras from the perspecti\e ot‘ the gaunt. stone-laced Sorouitsch.
He's not a comentional hero \xhom _\ou like lrom the first second )ou see him.‘ reckons .\larko\ics. 'You can ne\ er he sure it )till like him or not. I think hecause _\ou see the stor_\ from his point-ol'-\ ic\\. _\ou
ask questions ahout )our o\\h responses and \xondcr
uhether _\ou \tould haxe heha\ed dil'l‘erentl} in that situation.'
The actor recalls his shock at seeing the studio set ol' 'l‘/it' ('ounti'rli'ilcrx tor the lust time. where he came lace to l'acc \xith e\tras milling around in SS uniforms. 'lt \xasn‘t that I thought that it “as an actual concentration camp htit that it took me right hack to \\ hat I tell “hell I lirst read the script. ('an we take this \xcight ot histor} 1’ Or. more preciscl). can he t‘ree oursclxes from this \xeight ot~ histor} and
lea\e otll‘se|\es outside oi it'.’ I tioticed that t\\o or
three \\ eeks alter shooting. i tell the \xeight oi the role \\ ith me.‘
()ne of the \isitors to the filming turned out to he the Hon t)l)-_\ear-old Burger. _\et at the time .\larko\ics kept a polite distance from a man \xho‘d e\l‘erienced "()Pei'ation Bernhard~ at first hand. 'I u as atraid he \\ou|d tell me ahout the character I \\ as pl:i}itig \\ hen it \xould haxe hecn impossihlc for me to adapt m_\ perliirmance.‘ the actor e\plains.
Since the shoot. lio\\c\cr. the [no men ha\e hecome good friends. 'He sa_\s that ex en alter the SS took him a\xa} l‘rom Mathausen concentration camp “here he had spent the )c‘tit's. he had a little hell}; He didn‘t care ahout ideolog} or \zi/is heing criminals. as long as there \\ as a chance for him to Inc for a da} longerf
The Counterfeiters is on general release from Fri 12
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