Photographs by GREG WILLIAMS
Words by Jane Crowther

Greg Williams joins Rami Malek as he premieres Nuremberg in London, and considers the all-star acting relationships that create on-screen drama.

When Greg Williams’ meets Rami Malek as he prepares for the premiere of his latest film Nuremberg at Claridges in London, he tinkles the keys of the piano sitting in his suite. In his Valentino tux, he matches the keyboard. In his latest film the Oscar-winner plays US army psychiatrist Dr Douglas Kelley, a real-life shrink who assessed the Nazi leaders on trial in the titular city in 1945. Among his patients was Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe) and the conversations the two men have helped unravel Hitler’s high command and revealed the horrors of the Holocaust. It’s a film that shows in unblinking detail the footage of the liberation of the concentration camps and asks questions about how men can commit such diabolic acts. In a world currently in turmoil, Malek sees the modern-day echoes in the chain of events depicted on screen, and the themes the film explores.

‘What it reminds you is, this could happen at any time in history – history does repeat itself, and it will repeat itself. I think the lesson that hopefully people get is what we do when things like this happen in our world? Are we complicit? Are we silent? Is it a call to action? Do we speak up? For me, this film is a way of speaking up. It’s a reminder. Every time we’re screening the film, I’m getting notes from people who are saying, ‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t make it after. I had to wrestle with some things in my mind.’ I think that’s very meaningful. I love when things are entertaining, but I’m very proud of the message that this film tells. I’m really proud of it.’

Key to the film is the cat-and-mouse gameplay between Kelley and Göring. Malek had quite the scene partner in Crowe. ‘I absolutely loved working with Russell, because he’s a titan,’ he says as he walks through the hotel to a waiting car, ready to take him to Leicester Square for the premiere. ‘One would think that he could have a massive ego but he was very generous with me. After our first take, he came up to me, and he said, ‘You’re bringing more to this character than I had seen on the page’. He didn’t have to do that. And I couldn’t tell if that was him just, you know, playing into the character, of wanting to be a bit charming and intoxicating. Or if that was actually just Russell being Russell, and putting his guard down, and saying, ‘Hey, let’s jump into this together, because it’s a powerful story, and we want to bring our A-game’. And we did. There were moments where it was incredibly tense between the two of us. Each take was different. That’s what you expect from someone at his level. I think we just raised our game. We all knew we had to.’

Malek takes a spin in the hotel’s revolving door for fun before making it to the car. Once settled in the back seat he recalls working with Leo Woodall, co-starring as a German interpreter with hidden secrets. ‘James Vanderbilt, our director, wanted us to meet because we were going to spend so much time together. It started with a lot of banter. I was able to take the piss with him – back and forth, you know, as a Brit. But I quickly realised that we were going to get along very well, and we did. We had each other’s backs through every moment. He has this effortless charm.’ Also on-board, Michael Shannon, playing supreme court justice, Robert Jackson. ‘Shannon and I have known each other for years, so that was an easy relationship to spring back into. He works so damn hard. He loves what he does to a degree that I wonder if there’s another actor who appreciates acting as much as he does. But he is one of the funniest people I’ve also come across. No one expects it, but he’s got this dry wit and charm. And I think he should have his own stand-up routine.’ Despite personal admiration and friendships, each working relationship with each actor was different. 

‘Russell could easily, in between takes, jump into a story about him visiting the Sistine Chapel, and them treating him as if he was Maximus, and we’d all be laughing. You’d get those great moments of charm, and that would, in a way, affect how we all related to him as Hermann Göring. You could see how someone could be so charming, even sitting across from him in that uniform. And it would remind you that evil doesn’t just get disguised as a certain uniform or a certain belief system. And then, in contrast, as funny as Shannon is, I know to leave him alone between takes. I have a sense that he wants to be in his personal space. You give that actor their space. And then you come in and bring something new to each take, which he did every time we were together. With Leo, we were able to joke around quite a bit because of the nature of our relationship. But then he ended up showing up to a surprise birthday party of mine, and you realise that relationship is going to continue for quite some time.’

With its subject matter, stellar cast and handsome production values, Nuremberg has something of an old-fashioned quality about it that recalls Kelly’s Heroes or A Bridge Too Far. Malek agrees that it’s the sort of film, in an established-IP landscape, that doesn’t get made very often these days. ‘Oppenheimer, on paper, is a film that shouldn’t be made, but was. That’s the same casting director we had – John Papsidera – who has assembled all of these great actors together. I think when you have people who gravitate to it from the acting perspective we had on board, but also designers – Eve Stewart, who’s an Academy award-winning production designer, cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, who has done all of Ridley Scott’s movies and the Pirates of the Caribbean films…. you get a sense that the film is timely, urgent. 

These people could go and be doing anything at this point. The reason that they chose this is because it had something special behind it. We’ve heard of the Nuremberg trials, but we didn’t know that this relationship existed between a psychiatrist, who was charged with discovering if these 22 Nazis were fit for trial. And that’s fascinating in and of itself.’

Malek was moved by the history of the project himself. ‘There are moments when we’re watching the footage of the atrocity in that courtroom. It was played for us for the first time. It’s gut-wrenching. James Vanderbilt built the film like a thriller, and then he gives you this gut-punch as well. I find it odd to use the word, with Nuremberg, “entertaining”. That might sound like a very strange juxtaposition, but it exists, and I think that’s what makes this film especially powerful.’

As the car approached the red carpet on Leicester Square, Malek admits he still gets excited stepping out into the glare of the spotlight, amid crowds of shouting fans and media, despite having debuted numerous films in the city. ‘I used to get nervous. I’ve now found a way to just chill out. Have a nice bath, a cup of tea. But it’s exciting. I’ll find this moment – as we’re about to step out of this vehicle into all of the madness – I will find the joy in it.’ He looks at the crowds waving pictures to sign and chanting his name. ‘There’s a lot of love…’