Entitled Enemy of My Enemy, the joint American-Polish production by The Power Hound Pictures and the Polish Film Institute is said to be one of the biggest Polish productions of all time.
PAP/Public domain
Award-winning James Bond producer Jayne-Ann Tenggren is set to begin work on a new film about Polish national hero. Witold Pilecki.
Entitled Enemy of My Enemy, the joint American-Polish production by The Power Hound Pictures and the Polish Film Institute is said to be one of the biggest Polish productions of all time.
Jayne-Ann Tenggren’s previous productions include Skyfall, Spectre and 1917.Ian West/PAP/PA
The screenplay by actor-writer Matt King is based on Marco Patricelli’s critically acclaimed book ‘The Volunteer’, which was one of the first to bring international attention to the story of Pilecki.
Taken on as historical film consultant, Patricelli said: “Since 2018, screenwriter Matt King and I have been working intensively.
The screenplay by actor-writer Matt King is based on Marco Patricelli’s critically acclaimed book ‘The Volunteer’, which was one of the first to bring international attention to the story of Pilecki.Press materials
“The film is intended to accurately depict life in the Auschwitz camp. I went there many times to refine certain details of the script.”
He added that the lives of camp prisoners would be portrayed as realistically as possible, saying: The Americans were interested in such details as the way of transmitting information inside and outside the camp, chess games made of bread, etc.”
Known for voluntarily leading an undercover operation where he volunteered to be arrested and sent to Auschwitz, Pilecki managed to document the horrific conditions inside the death camp which he then revealed after managing to escape.Pictured: the first page of Pilecki’s report written in June 1943.IPN/PMA-B Archive
Known for voluntarily leading an undercover operation where he volunteered to be arrested and sent to Auschwitz, Pilecki managed to document the horrific conditions inside the death camp which he then revealed after managing to escape.
After the war, he was arrested by the communist authorities and executed in 1948.
Pileck’s great-grandson Krzysztof Kosior who helped advise the filmmakers said: “I was thrilled to read the script and to be working with the filmmakers.
Pileck’s great-grandson Krzysztof Kosior who helped advise the filmmakers said: “I was thrilled to read the script and to be working with the filmmakers.Andrzej Grygiel/PAP
“I am grateful this film is being made and that a global audience will know my great-grandfather’s story.”
Still in its early stages, and currently without a director, the producers say they plan to shoot in locations in Italy and Poland.
To read more about Pilecki’s Auschwitz report click here.