Oscar-winner Sir Ben Kingsley has joined Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Ex Machina actor Oscar Isaac in the cast for the upcoming real-life inspired thriller, Operation Finale.
Kingsley's career has had a diverse full of ups and downs. After winning an Oscar for his transformative portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi in 1982, the respected actor has been seen in a wide variety of projects. He's frequently worked with highly-acclaimed directors like Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese, played a skewering of classic Marvel villain The Mandarin in Iron Man 3, and also made appearances in critical duds like The Love Guru and Bloodrayne. Kingsley has now signed onto a film that hopefully appears on the respected side of his resume.
As confirmed by Deadline, Kingsley is now set to play the Nazi figure Adolf Eichmann in Operation Finale, a true story based on the Israeli intelligence mission in 1960 to capture the war criminal and execute him for his wrongdoings. Eichmann was infamous for organizing the transportation of millions of members of the Jewish faith to deadly concentration camps across Europe during World War II, then fleeing to Argentina after the Axis parties surrendered. Isaac will play Peter Malkin, the obsessed, revenge-bent leader of the Mossad agency who lost his sister's family to the Nazis during the war.
The film will be directed by Chris Weitz, who himself has been involved in projects ranging from comedy About a Boy to fantasy adaptations The Golden Compass and The Twilight Saga: New Moon. The project started to gain traction after a spec script by newcomer Matthew Orton was purchased by MGM in 2015. Orton wrote the final script, with Bridge of Spies writer Matt Charman serving as executive producer. Other producers include Brian Kavanaugh-Jones (Insidious, Sinister), Fred Berger (La La Land, The Autopsy of Jane Doe), and Jason Spire (miscellaneous credits on The Hurt Locker and A Most Violent Year). Production on the film is set to begin this fall in Argentina.
The role provides Sir Kingsley with a chance to once again utilize his ability to slip into any ethnicity for any role. The actor is of Indian and British descent, but he's played a wide variety of roles that cover a diverse basis. The actor even had a major supporting role in Spielberg's Schindler's List, where he played a Jewish character during Nazi-oppressed World War II. The role reversal for Operation Finale speaks to his chameleon-like skills as an actor. His pairing with Isaac is intriguing, as he's one of the best up and coming actors in Hollywood, though the nature of the story makes it seem like they won't have much screen time together.
Source: Deadline