Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

The new co-production Anthropoid, the filming of which will begin in the next few weeks in the Czech Republic, will be introduced to journalists for the first time at this year’s Karlovy Vary IFF.

Director Sean Ellis selected actors Jamie Dornan and Cillian Murphy for the lead roles, parachutists Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík. One of the main female characters, Gabčík’s partner Liběna Fafková, will be played by Czech actress Anna Geislerová. Jamie Dornan’s partner will be played by Charlotte Le Bon, known for her work in The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014).

Sean Ellis’s film is derived from a real historical event remembered as one of the most important and emotional moments in Czech history—the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Protector of Bohemia and Moravia during the Third Reich. The heroic act led to an intensification of German repression, but also set off many further resistance activities during World War II. Despite its tragic consequences, Operation Anthropoid helped strengthen long-dormant feelings of national self-confidence, patriotism and the personal bravery of individuals.

The assassination, along with the events that led up to it and its consequences, has been the subject of many domestic films and television productions. Now the story has caught the attention of an international artist, whose work promises to show Czech audiences a new and untraditional perspective on these familiar events.

Anthropoid  is being produced by US-based studio LD Entertainment.

“It is important that we, as Czech co-producers, have the chance to work with material so strongly linked with our history, but also imbued with the artistic vision which will be brought to the film by the whole team under director Sean Ellis,” says David Ondříček, whose company Lucky Man Films is co-producing Anthropoid.

Coming to Karlovy Vary to present Anthropoid are director Sean Ellis, actors Jamie Dornan and Aňa Geislerová and several producers: Chris Curling, who filmed Hannibal Rising in the Czech Republic in 2007, Pete Shilaimon, who helped produce an adaptation of Emile Zola’s novel Thérèse Raquin called In Secret (2013), Anita Overland, whose production credits include The Iron Lady (2011), for which Meryl Streep won an Oscar and Rush (2013), nominated for a Golden Globe, and Czech producer David Ondříček, winner of the Czech Lion for the film In the Shadow.

Irish actor and musician Jamie Dornan started his career as a model for prestigious brand names and fashion houses. His film debut as an actor came in Sofia Coppola’s historical drama Marie Antoinette (2006). Following that he shined in the television series Once Upon a Time and The Fall. Worldwide popularity came with the role of Grey in the erotic romantic film Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) and he has recently signed a contract for a sequel. In the film Anthropoid, which deals with the dramatic events around the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Dornan will play the role of one of the paratroopers, Jan Kubiš.

British director and screenwriter Sean Ellis made his name with Cashback (2004), a comedic short set during the night shift at a supermarket which each employee deals with in his own way. Two years later the Oscar-nominated short became the basis for a feature-length film of the same name. Ellis’ next film was the horror drama The Broken (2008), a few years after which he surprised his fans again with the sophisticated social drama Metro Manila (2013).

The film Anthropoid delves into one of the most emotional moments in modern Czechoslovak history. While on the one hand the heroic act amplified German repression, it was also an inspirational deed for many other resistance activities during WWII. Regardless of the tragic results, Operation Anthropoid helped fortify the long forgotten feeling of national self-confidence, patriotism and the personal bravery of individuals.