Scannain talks to director Sean Ellis and actor Cillian Murphy about their new film Anthropoid. The film is out now in Irish cinemas.
Listen in and hear what prompted Cillian to utter “Learning a new accent is like going to the gym for my mouth. In the mouth, that’ll be the title of my autobiography.”
Anthropoid is based on the extraordinary true story of the World War II operation to assassinate Nazi commanding officer Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich was the Reich’s third in command after Hitler and Himmler; he was the main architect behind the Final Solution and the leader of Nazi forces in Czechoslovakia. Nicknamed “The Butcher of Prague,” his reign of terror and brutality prompted Czech authorities in London to hatch a top-secret mission, codenamed “Operation Anthropoid,” which would change history forever.
One of the most terrifying and thrilling stories of World War II,Anthropoid follows two soldiers from the Czech army-in-exile, Josef Gabcík (Cillian Murphy) and Jan Kubiš (Jamie Dornan), who are parachuted into their occupied homeland in December 1941. With limited intelligence and little equipment in a city locked down under Nazi occupation, they must find a way to assassinate Heydrich, the man many saw as Adolf Hitler’s natural successor.
Written and directed by British filmmaker Ellis (Metro Manilla) and starring Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders) alongside Jamie Dornan (The Fall), the film also stars Toby Jones, Charlotte Le Bon, Sam Keeley, Anna Geislerová, Seán Mahon, Harry Lloyd, and Bill Milner.
Anthropoid is out now in Irish cinemas.