Russell Crowe will star in Nuremberg, an upcoming film based on Jack El-Hai’s The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WWII, Variety reports.
El-Hai’s book, published in 2013 by PublicAffairs, tells the story of Kelley, a U.S. Army psychiatrist who examined Nazi leader Göring before his war crimes trial in Nuremberg. In a starred review, a Kirkus critic wrote of the book, “El-Hai’s gripping account turns a chilling page in American history and provides an unsettling meditation on the machinations of evil.”
Crowe, the Oscar winner known for his roles in Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind, will play Göring in the film, while Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody, Oppenheimer) will star as Kelley. Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road, Nocturnal Animals) has been cast as Robert H. Jackson, the U.S. Supreme Court justice who served as the chief prosecutor in the trials.
Nuremberg is being written and directed by James Vanderbilt; he previously wrote the films The Amazing Spider-Man and White House Down, and helmed the 2015 film Truth.
“What an absolute honor it is to be working with such a tremendously talented group of actors,” Vanderbilt said. “Our partners at [entertainment companies] Bluestone and Walden have been incredibly supportive, and I cannot wait to bring this amazing true story to the screen.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
