ZGram - 6/30/2003 - "'Hannibal the cannibal' to star as Irving the Holocaust denier"

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny:  Now more than ever!

June 30, 2003

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

From Portugal we have word that the Leuchter Film, "Mr. Death:  The 
Rise and Fall of Fred Leuchter" has recently played twice on national 
television.  It must have played dozens of times, by now, in dozens 
of countries.  Even though it was heavily edited from the original 
version that had, in a pre-screening, students ask each other in 
astonishment:  "What if the Holocaust DIDN'T happen?" it is still a 
powerful film - and Ernst Zundel gets to say in a most impressive 
scene in his most assertive and authoritative voice:  "We will not go 
down in history as genocidal maniacs.  We will not!" 

Now David Irving gets the satisfaction of seeing himself on the Big 
Silver Screen.  Although this film about his recent London Trial it 
is going to be a Jewish propaganda production and expected to have 
the traditional, politically correct storyline - Evil Holocaust 
Denier Charges Saintly Jewish Professor With Libel - it will not hurt 
the Revisionist cause.  Millions of people who were not aware of the 
Irving/Lipstadt trial will have some second thoughts about a lot of 
things they took as dogma before.

[START]

'Hannibal the cannibal' to star as Irving the Holocaust denier
By Catherine Milner and Chris Hastings
(Filed: 29/06/2003)

The trial of David Irving, the British historian branded a Holocaust 
denier by a High Court judge, is to be turned into a £10 million 
drama, expected to star Sir Anthony Hopkins.

Ridley Scott, the director of Gladiator and Alien, is to produce the 
film, based on the libel trial three years ago in which Irving was 
called an "anti-Semite and racist" who "distorted historical data to 
suit his own political agenda".

The declaration effectively ended Irving's career, during which he 
had argued that Hitler did not plan a "Final Solution" for Jews. His 
court defeat was hailed by campaigners against Holocaust denial.

The film is being scripted by Ronald Harwood, who won an Oscar last 
year for the screenplay of the Holocaust drama The Pianist. Scott is 
keen for the role of Irving to be played by Hopkins, who won fame as 
the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the 
Lambs.

One senior executive involved in the project said: "The film will be 
the definitive story of the trial and its role in the Holocaust 
story. As far as both Scott and Harwood are concerned, Hopkins has 
the first say on the role. The part is his for the asking."

The drama is being produced by HBO, the American production company 
behind The Gathering Storm, the recent award-winning drama about 
Churchill starring Albert Finney, on which Scott was the executive 
producer. The Irving libel trial came about after the American 
historian Deborah Lipstadt condemned him in her 1994 book Denying the 
Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory. Irving sued, 
saying the description of him as a man prepared to bend historical 
evidence "until it conforms with his ideological leanings and 
political agenda" was damaging to his career.

Irving - a heroic figure to some far-Right groups - represented 
himself during the trial, in which he argued that the number of Jews 
killed by the Nazis had been exaggerated and that there had been no 
programme of "systematic extermination".

However, Mr Justice Gray ruled that Irving was an anti-Semitic racist 
whose claims were demonstrably untrue, and ordered him to meet the 
£2.5 million costs of the case. An appeal by Irving was rejected and 
he has since been declared bankrupt.

Professor Lipstadt has discussed the script with Mr Harwood and is 
very enthusiastic about the film project.

"I am very pleased that Ronald is involved and that the film is being 
done by the team behind The Gathering Storm," she said. "There is 
always a danger with things like this that they can end up generating 
publicity for people who don't deserve publicity. I don't think that 
will happen here: these are serious people who will bring a 
professional and committed approach to the story."

Irving, 63, told The Telegraph he had not been approached by anyone 
connected with the project, but added that he would be happy to help 
whoever was going to portray him.

"I'm relatively relaxed about the whole thing," he said. "If it is an 
accurate portrayal, they'll have to reflect some of my arguments and 
show that I was fighting on my own against a massive team of lawyers."

He thought the American public found Holocaust dramas "a big 
turn-off", but added: "I think a story like this will work best as a 
courtroom drama. I just hope they give me a fair crack of the whip."

[END]

=====

(Source: 
http://www.fpp.co.uk/Legal/Penguin/films/Ridley_Scott/STel290603.html)