Bleecker Street today has acquired North American rights to Denial, the Mick Jackson drama based on the Deborah E. Lipstadt book History On Trial: My Day In Court With A Holocaust Denier. Rachel Weisz has come aboard to star in the pic alongside Tom Wilkinson and Timothy Spall after Hilary Swank had been attached to the project when it was shopped at Cannes earlier this year.
David Hare’s adaptation recounts Lipstadt’s legal battle for historical truth against David Irving, who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier. In the English legal system, the burden of proof is on the accused; therefore it was up to Lipstadt and her legal team to prove the essential truth that the Holocaust happened.
Weisz is reuniting with director Yorgos Lanthimos in The Favourite after the two recently worked together on The Lobster. In fact in that case she is also replacing an Oscar winner, taking on the role to which Kate Winslet had been attached.
Gary Foster and Russ Krasnoff are producing Denial via their Krasnoff/Foster Entertainment alongside Shoebox Films. Participant Media developed the project with BBC Films, and they are co-financing. Cornerstone Films is handling international sales and distribution.
The deal was negotiated by Bleecker Street CEO Andrew Karpen and Avy Eschenasy, with Jonathan King and Gabe Brakin for Participant Media.
“In fact in that case she is also replacing an Oscar winner,” – Uhm, Weisz herself is an Oscar winner, so those movies losing an Oscar winner and getting another one shouldn’t be a big deal.
I can’t wait to see this movie coming out. Miss lipstadt apparently had to have a football team of lawyers to protect her viewpoint, usually, when this is done, you think you’re dealing with the Mafia or some criminal enterprise that needs to swing the truth, which by the way, was accomplished.
Will the movie tell how Holocaust denial is an imprisonable offense in most of Europe and Canada? Since when does the truth need such legislation to protect it?