\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tSebastian Koch and Martina Gedeck in 2006\u2019s \u2018The Lives of Others\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSony Pictures Classics\/Everett<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe picture won the 2007 Best International Film Oscar. Friedman says she\u2019s been \u201cobsessed\u201d with the story ever since.<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s a potent tale about a playwright, Georg Dreyman (played by Thompson), his actress-girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland (Knightley) and Gerd Wiesler (Dillane), a master Stasi interrogator instructed to bug \u2014 every which way \u2014 the couple\u2019s apartment. In the movie, the roles were played by Sebastian Koch, Martina Gedeck and Ulrich M\u00fche, respectively.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tUlrich Muhe in \u2018The Lives of Others\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tFriedman notes that Donnersmarck\u2019s being \u201cincredibly respectful\u201d and \u201cvery much encouraging Rob and his team and me to sort of find our own voice within it.\u201d She stresses that Donnersmarck\u00a0\u201cdoesn\u2019t want us to do a faithful screen-to-stage adaptation. He\u2019s not remotely interested in that, and neither are we.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhat we\u2019re interested in is taking the characters and the heart of the story and the themes, and then finding our theatrical language. And what\u2019s exciting, is that he wants us to keep digging into the story and go as deep as we can, and take it to places that perhaps the film couldn\u2019t just in terms of how we theatrically manifest the literal surveillance,\u201d Friedman explains.<\/p>\n \n\tKnightley and Icke are friends. When he mentioned the project to her last year, she was sent a script \u201cand she read it and within 24 hours she was in,\u201d Friedman reports.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a remarkable role for her.\u00a0And she\u2019s not been on stage for a very long time in London,\u201d says Friedman, noting that the last time Knightley trod the boards in London was in a revival of Lillian Hellman\u2019s\u00a0The Children\u2019s Hour<\/em>, with Ellen Burstyn, Elisabeth Moss, Carol Kane and Tobias Menzies, back in 2011 directed by Ian Rickson. It was produced, as it happens, by Friedman.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tKeira Knightley<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichael Buckner\/Deadline<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tHowever, the last time Knightley took a curtain call at all was when she debuted on Broadway in an adaptation of Emile Zola\u2019s\u00a0Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Raquin<\/em>\u00a0at Studio 54 a decade ago.<\/p>\n \n\tThe actress does seem to favour works that deal with the secretive intelligence world and injustice. For instance, films such as\u00a0Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, The Imitation Game, Official Secrets\u00a0<\/em>and the Netflix drama\u00a0Black Doves<\/em>\u00a0appear in her file.<\/p>\n \n\tFriedman jokes that when she and the show\u2019s creatives discussed the casting of Wiesler, \u201cyou go, \u2018Well, who we need is someone like Stephen Dillane. Okay, let\u2019s ask Stephen Dillane!\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe actor\u2019s known to be, Friedman attests, \u201cvery choosy in the work he does and so it\u2019s a personal sort of thrill to be working with him because I think he\u2019s a genius. And Rob and I are just absolutely cock-a-hoop that he responded to the piece.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tDillane\u2019s probably best known for his ruthless Stannis Baratheon in\u00a0Game of Thrones<\/em>\u00a0and for his perfectly pitched performances in\u00a0Darkest Hour, The Tunnel<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Sherwood<\/em>. But he cut his teeth on the stage where he\u2019s been at ease in Shakespeare, Eugene O\u2019Neill, Ibsen and of course Stoppard, where one of his greatest triumphs was playing opposite Jennifer Ethel in\u00a0The Real Thing<\/em>\u00a0in London. They then transferred to Broadway where both won Tony Awards.<\/p>\n \n\tThompson\u2019s known for playing Benedict in\u00a0Bridgerton\u00a0<\/em>but knows his way on the boards\u00a0having appeared at Shakespeare\u2019s Globe three times; played the Almedia Theatre twice; and starred with James Norton, Omari Douglas and Zubin Varla in Ivo van Hove\u2019s scorching stage adaptation of Hannah Yanagihara\u2019s\u00a0A Little Life<\/em>. He was a fine Edgar opposite Ian McKellen and Sinead Cusack\u00a0in\u00a0King Lear,\u00a0<\/em>and he led the Royal Shakespeare Company\u2019s 2024 production of\u00a0Love\u2019s Labour\u2019s Lost<\/em>\u00a0in Stratford-upon-Avon.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Lives of Others<\/em>\u00a0film has become a classic; one of those movies that rewards in revisiting it.<\/p>\n \n\tWith a sense of alarm in her voice, Friedman notes that even though it\u2019s set in the 1980s, its story of invading, actually more like penetrating, private lives is totally pertinent now that we live in a chilling\u00a0age of extensive CCTV coverage of our everyday movements in public and the intrusive monitoring of our every keystroke on our electronic devices.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s become more and more powerful and resonant, and dare I even say it, relevant about surveillance,\u201d Friedman argues.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAnd how fragile our freedoms are and how easily our freedoms can be eroded without us even noticing,\u201d she adds with concern.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAnd all the themes and the ideas within it, even though they\u2019re very specifically set, are very universal and right now feel incredibly poignant,\u201d Friedman observes.<\/p>\n \n\tThe combination of surveillance and love makes for \u201csuch an unlikely love story,\u201d Friedman says. \u201cAnd the love story as in the relationship between Weisler, who\u2019s watching them and listening, and through their love, he finds compassion. And so it\u2019s a devastating love story. And at the heart of it, I think it\u2019s about kindness. He finds his kindness through an unbearable situation.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tSonia Friedman<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBaz Bamigboye\/Deadline<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tThe producer behind\u00a0Harry Potter and the Cursed Child\u00a0<\/em>and current West End smash hit\u00a0Paddington: The Musical<\/em> says that her connection with the material stretches back 15 years to when Donnersmarck approached the late Tom Stoppard to see if the playwright would be interested in working with him on an adaptation of the film. \u201cTom very quickly said, \u2018This isn\u2019t for me,\u2019 \u201d but he pointed the filmmaker in Friedman\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n \n\tThe producer finds the film \u201cabsolutely astonishing\u201d and has long been a fan. Also, she notes, it has been \u201ca sort of obsession of mine to find a theatrical form for it and a theatrical life,\u201d and the introduction through Stoppard to Donnersmarck gave her the impetus to explore the idea of bringing it to the stage.<\/p>\n \n\tA few years ago she approached Icke to see if he might be keen. \u201cHe\u2019s been so busy, and he turns so many things down, but he immediately responded to the story and the material and how incredibly theatrical it is,\u201d Friedman recalls.<\/p>\n \n\tThe reason for choosing the Adelphi, long known as a house for musicals, is because the play is both \u201cso epic and deeply intimate,\u201d Friedman says, while observing that Icke and designer Hildegard Bechtler and their teams \u201cwanted the biggest theater we could find in order to really examine how our lives are sort of surveyed from all corners.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tShe says that German-born Bechtler has been \u201cvery central to this\u201d because she\u2019s been \u201ca huge driving force to this happening because it\u2019s an incredibly important film for her and I think for so many Germans, as well as cinephiles and anybody who loves great storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLighting design is by Jon Clark, sound design by Giles Thomas, and the acclaimed Max Richter has been charged with composing a score that\u2019s an integral part of the plot.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-deadline-2019\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.jpg\")
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