Jonah Hauer-King(“The Little Mermaid”)and Anna Próchniak(“Baptiste”)are starring in the limited event series adapted from Heather Morris’s “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” for Sky and Peacock.
Now in production, the Peacock Original series is being produced by Synchronicity Films and will be entirely directed by Tali Shalom-Ezer, whose past credits include “Princess.” Claire Mundell and Jacquelin Perske are executive producers.
A global bestseller, “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” has sold more than 12 million copies around the world.
“In Auschwitz, a factory of death and dehumanisation, Lale and Gita’s love story is an act of defiance,” said Shalom-Ezer.“It is the choice to remain human. I’m inspired and honoured to bring this story to life, alongside the talented team of people assembled,” Shalom-Ezer continued.
Hauer-King said “these scripts heartbreakingly and vividly depict this appalling time in our history, and I feel proud to be honouring Lale and Gita’s remarkable journey.”
Próchniak, meanwhile, said“Reimagining Gita Sokolov and her story for screen has been one of the greatest honours of (her) career so far, as well as a heartrending experience.”
The cast of the series, whose title is also “The Tattooist of Auschwitz,” will be completed by Critics Choice Awards winner Melanie Lynskey (“The Last of Us”) and Jonas Nay (“Deutschland 83, 86, 89”).
The six-part show tells the powerful true-life story of Lale Sokolov, a Jewish prisoner who is given the job of tattooing identification numbers on fellow prisoners’ arms in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during World War Two. One day, he meets Gita when tattooing her prisoner number on her arm. They experience love at first sight, and so begins a courageous, unforgettable, and human story, told through one man’s memory and experience of Auschwitz-Birkenau; a tale of the very best of humanity in the very worst of circumstances.
The series is a co-production between Sky Studios and Peacock with NBCUniversal Global Distribution and All3Media International jointly handling international sales of the series.
STAN, Australia’s leading local streamer, is taking the Original rights to the series in their territory. Viaplay picked it up for the Nordics (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland), Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the Netherlands and Poland.
“The Tattooist of Auschwitz” is repped by All3Media International and was commissioned by Serena Thompson, executive producer at Sky Studios, and Zai Bennett, managing director of content at Sky UK. Morris is story consultant, while Evan Placey and Gabbie Asher are episode writers.