Working mainly in television, director Brian Percival has made quite a name for himself in the U.K., with his work on Downton Abbey extending his reach and reputation to this side of the Atlantic. In 2011, he won the primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special based on “Episode #1” of Downton Abbey. He was nominated again the following year for Best Drama Series Directing, this time on the strength of “Episode #7.”
Percival has also scored BAFTA TV Awards for his directorial efforts not only on Downton Abbey (2011) but also Shakespeare Told (2006). But now, just Percival’s second career theatrical feature, The Book Thief, is generating early buzz as a deserving contender this upcoming Hollywood awards season.
The Book Thief debuted on October 3 at The Mill Valley Film Festival in Northern California to an ovation and rave reviews. The movie is slated to make its wide release in the U.S. next month.
Based on the novel by Markus Zusak, The Book Thief stars newcomer Sophie N�lisse in the title role. She is a youngster who comes of age in an age of madness, growing up in Nazi Germany, thrust into the modest home of foster parents in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Munich in 1938.
Geoffrey Rush portrays her foster dad Hans, a kind man who bonds with her through their shared love of words as he teaches her to read. Unable to afford books, the young girl–who’s named Liesel–“borrows” them however she can, at one point courageously “rescuing” a forbidden novel, The Invisible Man, from the ashes of a Nazi book burning. She also steals books from the mansion of a woman who befriended her. The stories in the books provide warmth, security and a wondrous outlook on life that are in sharp contrast to the fear and turmoil in Germany under Hitler’s rule. Liesel’s stories also comfort Max, the Jewish son of Hans’ late World War I comrade. Max is in hiding from the Nazis, confined first to Liesel’s bedroom and then to the basement. Max asks Liesel each day to describe the outside world, encouraging her to make words her own as she grows into a gifted storyteller.
The challenging balancing act The Book Thief presented to Percival as a filmmaker was to convey the innocence of childhood against the horrific backdrop of a world at war and atrocities against humankind. Percival noted that no matter the extent of the adversity Liesel faced, her story is uplifting, a testament to the human spirit even when confronted with seemingly unrelenting evil.
“For me,” related Percival, “this story is about how a person can completely change his or her life by opening a book. It opens up a new world, one which allows you to remain positive even when the world you’re actually in is dismal. This is a story of many contrasts but ultimately there’s an optimism here.
“We see a girl who has the odds stacked against her,” Percival contniued. “She comes from a poor foster family, is illiterate yet eventually learns to read and love words. She grows from illiteracy to becoming a writer of great heart and wisdom.”
Percival noted that the success of Downton Abbey “opened the door for me in terms of the quality of scripts I started receiving…I think it played a significant role in my getting this opportunity [The Book Thief].”
While his first feature, A Boy Called Dad, was a valuable learning experience, it did not pan out the way he had envisioned, acknowledged Percival. Thus the choice of project for his second feature became all the more important.
Percival said he feels fortunate to have gotten the chance to make a film out of Zusak’s best-selling novel and with a cast including Rush, Emily Watson (as Hans’ wife, Rosa), N�lisse and Ben Schnetzer (as Max).
Finding a youngster to portray Liesel was a daunting task that went global, recollected Percival.
“We looked in England, Germany, Scandinavia, Austria, Switzerland, connected with casting directors all over, had people sending in tapes. Still no luck so we spread the net wider. We needed a girl who was feisty and had an inner strength yet at the same time had a vulnerable naivete and innocence.
“For lots of kids, we’d see one or the other but not both. Finally we came across Sophie and knew immediately there was something there, a spirit. There was something quite special about her. She has an incredible understanding for someone her age. She is a quick learner and instinctively knew how to play the scenes. So much of this film rests squarely on her shoulders.”
Choice collaborators While finding N�lisse took some time, other key contributors to The Book Thief evolved naturally and emerged in relatively short order.
For example, Percival gravitated towards a familiar collaborator, editor John Wilson, twice Emmy nominated for his cutting on Downton Abbey. Wilson also has made his mark in the feature world, having earned BAFTA and ACE Eddie Award nominations for Billy Elliot directed by Stephen Daldry.
Percival said that based on their working together on Downton Abbey, he and Wilson have “a mutual trust.”
Percival related, “I can leave him alone with the rushes and let him be free to do what he does. We can talk about things and then I can come back in a day or so to see what he’s done. He has a great taste level and makes great decisions.”
As for cinematography, Karen Rosenfelt, a producer on The Book Thief, had worked with DP Florian Balhaus on several projects and brought him together with Percival.
“I liked his work and thought he deserved greater opportunities than he had been given,” related Percival. “He has great widescreen shooting experience which was important to our film. He also comes from a German background and still keeps an apartment in Berlin. This gave his cinematography another dimension. He offered a genuine German perspective. This was an important story to him and he brought a lot to it.”
Percival also brings a great deal to his endeavors. He spent some 10-plus years directing European commercials, honing his visual and storytelling sensibilities. A major breakthrough came in his directorial career with the acclaimed short film About a Girl which in 2002 won the BAFTA Award as Best Short Film. Additionally it was named Best British Short at the 2001 Edinburgh International Film Festival and earned the TCM Prize at the London Film Festival, also in ’01.
About a Girl sparked Percival’s television career, which spans such TV movies as Pleasureland, The Ruby in the Smoke, The Old Curiosity Shop, the miniseries North & South and Shakespeare Told, and of course Downton Abbey.
