Brooklyn-based independent producer David Kaplan, whose latest film Josephine won two awards at Sundance and will next be shown at the Berlinale, has set up his next ambitious project, Triumph of the Will, with a cast led by Sheila Haas (Unorthodox).
“Triumph of the Will”, which is currently being posted, is a large-scale historical drama set during World War II, written and directed by American film director Gabriel Nussbaum.
Haas, known for her roles in the Netflix limited series “Unorthodox” and “Shtisel,” stars in the film as a woman who leaves her husband in Amsterdam in 1937 to start a new life with her daughter in Berlin. She takes on a mission to help Jews escape from the country, working with the rabbi of the fire pit.
Samuel Levine, Tony Award nominee Betsy Eidem (The Unreasonable Man), Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory), John Carroll Lynch (The Walking Dead), and Philip Ettinger (Josephine) complete the cast. Kaplan Morrison, which he founded with Andrew Morrison three years ago, is producing the film with Nussbaum and Elizabeth Wood at Bank Street Films.
“This good man is trying to get people out of Berlin, but he’s probably more focused on doing a good job than saving himself or his new family,” Kaplan told Variety. “It starts out as a romantic drama about someone trying to find happiness and have the life they want, even if it’s a little irrational.”
Ultimately, Kaplan says, the film is not just a story of survival, but also of morality. Like “Josephine,” “Triumph of the Will” has a child at the center of the story. This is a 4 year old child. The new couple begins their escape from Berlin, but is faced with an impossible choice. “Since he’s not her father, they don’t have any papers to give her, so they have to decide whether to leave her in Berlin and fend for themselves and try to get her sent to America once they get there, or if they’re all left to die,” Kaplan says.
Triumph of the Will was filmed entirely in New York, with producers successfully recreating Amsterdam, Berlin, Lisbon, and Oklahoma.
“We’re all New Yorkers and wanted to shoot there because of the casting and crew,” he said. “If you can make a movie where you live, that’s great, because you’re spending money on your friends, on your community, on your tax base. I understand the economic argument for going somewhere else, but we have to spend money, and that money comes right back to our city,” Kaplan said.
In addition to Josephine, Kaplan Morrison has previously produced Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist and Mona Fastvold’s Ang Lee. Banner is currently developing the next film with Corvette and Fastvold, as well as a sequel to “It Follows” with Neon.
