» Daniel Craig: Strongman
Daniel Craig talks about his role in Defiance playing Tuvia Bielski, who led Russian Jews to hide from the Nazis by living in a forest
Was shooting in the Lithuanian forests during winter very gruelling?
We were there for two and a half to three months, and the weather got progressively worse and worse. We did the occasional night shoot and while we didn’t sleep out there in the forests, it was hard. We ate a lot and drank a lot of vodka; it seemed the only way to get through it. It was certainly the nicest way to get through it.
Was mastering the Russian language difficult?
I don’t think that I ever mastered it. I learned it phonetically and had a Russian coach. Liev [Schreiber, who plays his brother, Zus] had a head start on me because he‘d done a film in the Ukraine a couple of years ago. I listened to him and played around with it. I also had someone there on set who’d listen in and come over and give me advice. It was a little laborious, because while I’ve got a good ear, my language skills aren’t great. Learning new things is not my forte.
Did Edward Zwick approach you for the role?
Ed and I had been talking for five or six years; we keep bumping into one another. We’ve always said that we’d like to work together and when the idea of this script came up, we wanted to make it. I read it and said yes straight away.
Was your decision to accept based on the character or the story, or both?
I think it’s a complete mixture. What I find fascinating about this character is that he’s thrust into this situation. He’s reluctant; he doesn’t want to be the leader of these people, and certainly doesn’t want to be the one forcing all the decisions. But he’s forced into this situation, so then it comes down to the decisions he makes. They are really fascinating; why he decides to survive and live, as opposed to fighting.
Did you get impression that this was a very personal film for Edward Zwick?
I did. For anyone who’s Jewish I think it’s personal. And even for me. My grandfathers fought in the Second World War and saw a lot of what went on. It’s impossible not to feel some personal involvement and that’s why stories like this are still relevant. It’s very recent history and it doesn’t stop happening in the world. The First World War was the ‘war to end all wars’; and with the Second World War everyone said ‘That’ll never happen again’. And we’re doing a really bad job, because it keeps on happening again and again.
Did you meet any relatives of the Bielskis?
Yes, a whole load of them came and visited the set. Sons, cousins, nephews. It was great to sit with them and talk. They’re just a big New York family, as normal and as not normal as you’d want them to be. They’re very loving, tough, a physical family. Which makes sense; they went through a lot and are from that tough East European stock. We drank quite a lot together!
Could you relate to the character; he’s a bit of a bad boy…
I’m a very good boy; I don’t know where you get that from! No, I relate to certain aspects. I think it’s interesting that you can be a responsible child and a responsible young person, but the moment you become a responsible adult, that’s tough. I’m really trying not to become that, for as long as possible. But then things happen when you get a family and so forth. It’s good to be a child for as long as possible. Responsibility being thrust upon you, though, it is damaging, in a good way, or sometimes in a bad way. It had a huge effect on his life. He saved thousands of people but as soon as he left for America he didn’t want to talk about it. It had a massive emotional effect. He probably fought with demons his whole life afterwards. If he lived in Russia after the war, he’d have been a Russian hero. He tried to get on with his life.
How do you prepare for a role like this?
I just read a lot. There’s a book called The Bielski Brothers, which is a good biography. And of course there’s Defiance, which the film is based upon. There’s plenty of stuff written about it, and just being there in the forest was probably the best thing. After a week being in the freezing cold, stamping your feet, you kind of got into it. The forest was amazing. It’s a real wilderness, and once you get in there you can imagine what it was like. If I was in the German army chasing them, I’d think, ‘Forget it!’
Having played a lot of heroes, do you dream of saving the world?
No. I dream about a lot of things, but not that. I don’t know whether it’s just the way I look at things, but it’s one of the things I liked about this part. He doesn’t want to save the world. He just wants to survive and live, and I think we all feel like that. Even with the philosophy of ‘save one life and you save the world’, he still doesn’t really want to do it. He’s like, ‘Leave me alone. I want to get through this, with my family’. Then there’s that really fascinating moral switch which happens in his head – he can’t just save his family. If he’s there, he’ll have to save other people too. He can’t just save his immediate family. It’s a fascinating shift in his head, because really heroes don’t set out to be heroes. The vast majority of stories we hear about heroes are embellished afterwards, because they’re good for morale. They’re good for all of us. Usually, though, the truth is much more complicated and much more interesting.
Defiance is on general release at cinemas now. Interview courtesy of Momentum Pictures.
