Lord of the Ring
“Triumph of the Spirit,” about survival in the World War II Auschwitz concentration camp, has lined up foreign distributors in every territory--except one.
Admitted producer Arnold Kopelson: “Germany is the holdout.”
“The German film buyers I talked to are concerned about how the Germans in the film will be treated--and about how the film will be received in the Germany of today,” Kopelson said.
Kopelson, who believes the film’s reception in Germany “offers the opportunity to separate the new Germany from Nazi Germany,” said Deutschland buyers who are now waiting to see the completed movie. In the final stages of post-production, the film will also be screened early next month for distributors here. Kopelson anticipates a late-year release.
“I have been deluged by calls from every studio,” Kopelson boasted. “I have to gloat a bit, since there was general (studio) apathy during my attempts to finance this movie.”
Starring Willem Dafoe, Robert Loggia and Edward James Olmos, directed by Robert M. Young, the $15-million “Triumph” is inspired by the real-life story of Salamo Arouch (Dafoe), a Greek Jewish boxer forced by the SS to fight other camp prisoners.
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