THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ Trailer 2 (2024) Melanie Lynskey, Harvey Keitel

THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ Trailer 2 (2024) Melanie Lynskey, Harvey KeitelShow more

THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ Trailer 2 (2024) Melanie Lynskey, Harvey Keitel, Drama Movie
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Sky and Peacock debuted the teaser trailer for the upcoming original series “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” on Thursday.

The six-part limited drama series, based on the international bestselling novel by Heather Morris, stars Melanie Lynskey and Harvey Keitel and lands on streaming May 2.

Based on the true story of Lali (Jonah Hauer-King) and Gita Sokolov (Anna Próchniak), who met while imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust and World War II, the series is directed by Tali Shalom-Ezer.

“Do you want to write this down?” Keitel’s 80-year-old Lali asks Melanie Lynskey’s Morris, who responds with the words, “I think I’d just like to listen.”

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Keitel then launches into Lali’s story and memories of 60 years ago. Aspiring writer Morris listens to the recently widowed Lali as he recounts his past, confronts the trauma of his youth and relives his experience of falling in love in a dark place. In 1942, Lali, a Slovakian Jew, was deported to Auschwitz where over one million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.

“I was a young man in a terrible place. This is what it was every day,” Keitel’s character says over a shot of a bloody identification number tattoo given to a Jewish prisoner. “I found something there. Someone.”

Jonah Hauer-King plays young Lali in "The Tattooist of Auschwitz"
Jonah Hauer-King in “The Tattoist of Auschwitz” (Sky/Peacock)
Shortly after he arrives, Lali becomes a Tätowierer, a tattooist forced to ink identification numbers onto fellow prisoners’ arms. He then meets Gita when he gives her a tattoo, and they kindle a flame that outshines the horrors of the concentration camp. Gita and Lali vow to keep each other alive under the wrath of volatile Nazi SS officer Stefan Baretzki (Jonas Nay).

The trailer features snippets of the original score written for the show by Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer and Kara Talve, who also composed the soundtrack for the series.

“The Tattooist of Auschwitz” is executive produced by Claire Mundell through her company Synchronicity Films and is produced in association with Sky Studios and All3Media International. The series is a co-production from Sky and Peacock. Jacquelin Perske is Executive Producer and lead writer for “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” alongside episode writers Evan Placey (Associate Producer) and Gabbie Asher. Serena Thompson is Executive Producer for Sky Studios.
Sky and Peacock have unveiled a teaser trailer for The Tattooist of Auschwitz starring Harvey Keitel, Melanie Lynskey, Jonah Hauer-King and Anna Próchniak.

The six-part limited drama series is based on the international bestselling novel by Heather Morris, which is inspired by the real-life story of Lali and Gita Sokolov, who met while prisoners in Auschwitz during World War Two.

Series will launch on May 2, a few months after Jonathan Glazer’s Zone of Interest movie, which has been amassing plenty of Oscar buzz.

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This teaser trailer shows an older Lali (Keitel) retelling his experiences of Auschwitz to Morris (Lynskey). We also see younger Lali (Hauer-King) as he meets and falls in love with Gita (Próchniak). Shortly after arrival at Auschwitz, Lali is made one of the Tätowierer (tattooists), charged to ink identification numbers onto fellow prisoners’ arms. One day, he meets Gita when tattooing her prisoner number on her arm, leading to a love that defies the horrors around them.

The trailer includes an original score from multi–Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer and Kara Talve, who have also composed the soundtrack for the series.

Directed by Tali Shalom-Ezer, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is executive produced by Claire Mundell through Synchronicity Films and is produced in association with Sky Studios and All3Media International. The series is a co-production for Sky and Peacock. Jacquelin Perske is EP and lead writer for The Tattooist of Auschwitz alongside episode writers Evan Placey and Gabbie Asher. Serena Thompson is EP for Sky Studios.

NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution and All3Media International are jointly handling international sales. Australia’s Stan is taking the original rights to the series, with SkyShowtime taking rights for Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden.
Upcoming six-part series “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” is set in one of the most infamous concentration camps in history. And yet, “it’s a love story.”

“When Lali says that, you are supposed to question his words. But they did meet there, they did fall in love, they did survive and went on to live in Australia. They had a son and lived well into their 80s. In finding each other, they found a reason to survive,” says executive producer Claire Mundell.

A Synchronicity Films production in association with Sky Studios and All3Media International, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” is a Sky and Peacock Originals series, based on the bestselling novel by Heather Morris. Featuring Harvey Keitel and Melanie Lynskey, it tells the true story of Holocaust survivors Lali and Gita Sokolov.

When Lali (Jonah Hauer-King) is deported to Auschwitz in 1942, he becomes one of the camp’s tattooists, inking identification numbers onto prisoners’ arms under the watchful eye of Nazi SS officer (Jonas Nay). That’s how he meets Gita (Anna Próchniak). Around 60 years later, older Lali (Keitel) tells his story to Heather (Lynskey).

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“Their love is an act of defiance. It says: ‘You can’t take my humanity away from me’,” adds Mundell, who optioned the book back in 2018.

“Antisemitism was on the rise then as well, with surveys detailing how many young people weren’t fully aware of the Holocaust. It’s even more pronounced today. Hopefully, this story can remind people that we can choose to love rather than hate.”

Jonah Hauer-King as Lali Sokolov & Anna Próchniak as Gita Furman in Auschwitz.
Martin Mlaka / Sky UK
Landing the right tone was crucial, she admits.

“We don’t shy away from very distressing material. But for me, that darkness and horror only accentuate the miraculous nature of their love. I have no doubt that’s why so many people have read the book. This couple gave each other hope and in telling his story, Lali gives it to us.”

“The Tattooist of Auschwitz” – shot mostly in Slovakia, where the couple was from – is directed by Tali Shalom-Ezer, while Jacquelin Perske serves as executive producer and lead writer. Serena Thompson executive produces for Sky Studios.

After her six-year journey trying to bring the series to life, Mundell hopes it will move audiences.

“It certainly moved me. It’s a huge, epic story, so how the hell do you take that on and do it justice? It felt like a big challenge, but at Synchronicity, we love projects that are inspired by real life and have something important to say.”

The company is also behind “The Cry” about postnatal depression, shown at Series Mania in 2019, and “Mayflies” about a man considering euthanasia.

Harvey Keitel was the only actor for the role, she stresses.

“We only offered it to him. I know how much work he put into researching Lali and how important it was for him to convey a survivor. There are so few of them left and some never discussed their past. Even with their families.”

Lynskey, fresh off “Yellowjackets” and a stint on “The Last of Us,” took on social worker-turned-writer Heather Morris.

“We were looking for an actor who could convey empathy, curiosity, resilience and the kind of humanity the real Heather Morris has. When she met Lali, she was in her early ‘50s. She had an interest in writing, but always left that to the side. It became the last significant relationship of his life, really,” observes Mundell.

“In our society, we are very agist. We disregard elderly people and their wisdom. Jacquelin, our lead writer, was very intrigued by the book’s foreword, where Heather described her meeting with Lali.”

“Instead of just regarding it as a period piece, [adding it] allowed the audience to understand it really happened to this man. This trauma never left him: It was with him every moment of every day. In a way, what they were doing was like therapy. In the story, Heather represents all of us.”

Harvey Keitel as Lali Sokolov and Melanie Lynskey as Heather Morris walking through the streets of Melbourne.
©Sky UK Limited.
Already familiar with the book, other cast and crew members also came knocking, starting with “The Little Mermaid” star Jonah Hauer-King and a certain Oscar-winning composer.

“Jonah had read it in 2018 and tried to get the rights, I think. I went to lunch with him, intending to pitch him the project. Instead, he was pitching himself to me. Hans Zimmer was no different. People ask me: ‘How did you get Hans?!’ They have blown us away with what they have done.”

The priority was to put “real humanity and directness into the statistics,” also through multiple close-ups of actors playing those who never left Auschwitz.

“It’s a particularly striking feature of the show. Sometimes, if you just look at the numbers, it numbs you. Having these faces throughout the series – young people, old people and children, looking directly at us – is an appeal to the audience: ‘Remember.’ Behind every statistic is a human being.”

“The Tattooist of Auschwitz” will be available on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW in the U.K., and Peacock in the U.S., from May 2. NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution and All3Media International are jointly handling international sales.

“They are hardly any territories we haven’t sold it to,” admits Mundell.

“I made a promise to Heather we would do everything in our power to get this story out to the biggest possible audience, in the most respectful way. I am carrying the baton now, passed on by Heather. Before, she made the same promise to Lali.”
Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” just turned 30 years old and has been celebrated all over again, especially in a great THR oral history; Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone Of Interest” was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best International Feature, and it seems like remembering the horrors of Holocaust is a topic of the moment again. It’s pretty perfect timing for “The Tattooist Of Auschwitz,” a mini-series about this very subject.

Starring Melanie Lynskey, Harvey Keitel, and Jonah Hauer-King, “The Tattooist Of Auschwitz” is based on the international bestselling novel by Heather Morris. The series is about the powerful real-life story of Lale Sokolov (Keitel), a Jewish prisoner who was tasked with tattooing ID numbers on prisoners’ arms in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during World War Two.

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In the series, Keitel plays the older version of the man looking back on his life as a younger man in the camps (played by Jonah Hauer-King). Melanie Lynskey stars as the novel’s writer, listening to and documenting the older man’s memories.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is an event series inspired by the real-life story of Jewish Holocaust survivors Lali and Gita Sokolov. Lali (Jonah Hauer-King) arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1942, and shortly after arrival, he was made one of the tätowierer (tattooists), charged to ink identification numbers onto fellow prisoners’ arms. One day, he meets Gita (Anna Próchniak) when tattooing her prisoner number on her arm. They experience love at first sight, and so begins a courageous, unforgettable, and human story. Under constant guard from a volatile Nazi SS officer, Baretzki (Jonas Nay), Lali and Gita became determined to keep each other alive.

Around 60 years later, Lali (Harvey Keitel) meets novice writer Heather Morris (Melanie Lynskey). Recently widowed, Lali finds the courage to tell the world his story. In recounting his story to Heather, Lali, in his 80s, faces the traumatic ghosts of his youth and relives his memories of falling in love in the most horrific of places.

“The Tattooist Of Auschwitz” will be available on Peacock in the U.S. and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland on May 2, 2024. Watch the trailer below.