1 of 5 | Sophie Nélisse stas in "Irena's Vow." Photo courtesy of Quiver Distribution
LOS ANGELES, April 15 (UPI) -- Sophie Nelisse said she hopes her film, Irena's Vow, in theaters Monday and Tuesday only, brings to life Irena Gut Opdyke, a Polish nurse who hid Jewish people from Nazis during World War II. Nelisse, 24, plays the lead role.
"She was never one to want to draw attention," Nelisse told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "She was a hero who operated in the shadows. Maybe that's why her story is not [well] known and that's why it's important to tell her story."
Gut Opdyke only began to speak of her experiences in 1975. Irena's Vow, written by Dan Gordon, is based on his play he wrote after talking with Gut Opdyke before her death in 2003.
"She received a phone call from a Holocaust denier telling her the Holocaust never happened," Nelisse said. "That really snapped her out of it, and she then decided to be vocal about it and tell her story."
By the time Gut Opdyke was giving televised interviews on news programs, she already was in her 60s. Nelisse said those still gave her clues into how Gut Opdyke might have behaved in her 20s.
"Mostly, what struck me was how full of light she still felt," Nelisse said. "In all of her interviews, she's so warm and bright, seems so happy and seems to be able to find the best in life, despite everything that she's been through."
Nelisse said Gut Opdyke's daughter, Jeannie, confirmed the actor had captured her mother's spirit.
"She gave me the most beautiful compliment, which was that we had a very similar essence," Nelisse said
Another challenge to Gut Opdyke comes when Nazi Maj.Rugmer (Dougray Scott) asks her to serve as his maid. The Jews she is hiding help Gut Opdyke in the kitchen without the major knowing.
"She was so worried, but at the same time had to keep this facade that nothing was going on and everything was under control when it clearly wasn't," Nelisse said. "I don't know how she did it. I definitely feel like I would have cracked under the pressure."
Later, Gut Opdyke enters a romantic relationship with Rugmer just to protect her refugees. Nelisse said that was "one of the hardest tasks for her to do in her entire life."
"She's just one who puts other people's needs before her own," Nelisse said. "If it meant having to step on her own values to protect people, she just did it and she didn't think twice about it, no matter how painful it was for her."
Irena's Vow was filmed in Poland between Seasons 1 and 2 of Nelisse's Showtime drama, Yellowjackets. Nelisse said modern conflicts sometimes intruded onto the set and put her World War II tale in perspective.
"We were also shooting on the border to Ukraine while the war was going on, so we felt the ramifications of the war so close to us," Nelisse said. "There were soldiers at our hotel and refugees at our hotel."
Nelisse said Irena's Vow also reminded her of her breakthrough movie, The Book Thief. Nelisse was 12 and 13 while filming the adaptation of Markus Zusak's novel.
In The Book Thief, Nelisse played Liesel, a German girl who steals books and shares them with a Jewish refugee her parents hide.
"It felt like [Gut Opdyke] is just the continuity of Liesel because they both share that same essence and that same courageousness," Nelisse said. "Also, I had done all the research on the Holocaust when I did The Book Thief."
Though Nelisse has accrued a decade of film and television projects since The Book Thief, she said "it feels like it was shot yesterday."
"It still holds a dear place in my heart," Nelisse said. "It's one of the projects where it felt the most like family to me, and I have so many great memories from that shoot. I just love to look back."
