For Geoffrey Rush, ‘The Book Thief’ strikes the right balance

Taking Markus Zusak’s novel to the big screen, “The Book Thief” shows audiences World War II in Germany through the eyes of 10-year-old Liesel (Sophie Nélisse), with Death personified as the narrator. It’s an approach that suggests immediate contrasts and challenges, namely balancing the feel of the book with the facts of the matter. Speaking in Beverly Hills, 62-year-old Australian actor Geoffrey Rush, who plays Liesel’s adoptive father, Hans, explained how he made sure that director Brian Percival had a plan to manage mixing humanity and history, tragedy and theater.

“I knew Brian was a guy who’d directed ‘Downton Abbey’ and cinematographer Florian Ballhaus had shot ‘The Devil Wears Prada,’ ” Rush said. “I was trying to wrap my head around those influences. But what appealed to me about the character was the challenge of playing someone so seemingly ordinary — a house painter, a working-class guy. I thought, ‘Hang on, I’m doing this as a self-challenge. Obviously all of these people are highly creative; I shouldn’t brand them as having only one song to sing.’”

Even with such dramatic inventions as having Death (as voiced by Roger Allam) dryly narrate the film, Rush could feel a true respect for history and tragedy in the film and novel: “From having ultimately met Markus, he said, ‘My mum and dad were great storytellers, and they told me stories about when they lived in Germany and about their parents during wartime.’ And I think there are autobiographical details [in the novel and film], but it’s not about a specific person or people. So, there was a balance.”

VIDEO: Watch ‘The Book Thief’ cast and crew discuss film

Filming in Berlin’s Babelsberg studios also, Rush notes, offered more perspective. “On our film set, we had a majority-German crew who ranged from being bright young kids up to props guys in their late 60s, so you were constantly having conversations about the aftermath of that time in not only European but specifically German history, which was such a dark chapter.”

In “The Book Thief,” we see the horrors of World War II played out on the scale of the street where Hans and Rosa (Emily Watson) live with orphaned Liesel — a homey canvas aided in no small part by a stroke of good luck and bad weather. “We were going to start shooting on the street that we’d built on the back lot, because the street is, ultimately, a character in the film, but it was so cold,” Rush said. “I think it was the coldest Berlin winter in 60 years, and all the paint was peeling off the scenery, so we had to go inside and shoot all the kitchen stuff first — which turned out to be a blessing,” starting off with the more intimate, domestic scenes with Watson and Nélisse.

Rush also had to learn to play the bandonica, an accordion-like instrument that became a part of finding Hans’ voice and body in collaboration with director Percival. “I said to Brian, ‘I really don’t want to have cutaways to my face. When I’ve got the bellows out — this is where Hans expands and releases, you know what I mean?’ And I wanted [to capture] the fingering because there’s something nice about the clacking of the keys and that he’s got paint on his fingers. Good character dabs, I think.”

Asked which has changed more since his 1997 lead actor win for “Shine,” the industry or himself, Rush gives a low, quiet laugh: “I think the industry has. That period in ‘96, ‘97, which of course is etched deeply into my memory, was quite an adventure. But, it also happened to be that watershed year, quite distinctly. You know, it was Emily with ‘Breaking the Waves,’ ‘Sling Blade,’ ‘Shine,’ ‘Secrets & Lies,’ ‘The English Patient.’ And, within a year, that independent feel was already — the suits, let’s say, had already grabbed it and it was now a genre, you know?”

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