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Operation Finale is a white-knuckle thriller that also just happens to be based on a true story. Director Chris Weitz helms the story of Peter Malkin (Oscar Isaac), who—along with a crack team of fellow Mossad and Shin Bet agents—tracked down and captured the war criminal Adolf Eichmann (Oscar-winner Ben Kingsley) years after he helped manufacture the Holocaust. The film features a few fantastic supporting performances—including Nick Kroll taking a break from comedy, and up-and-comer Haley Lu Richardson as an Austrian teenager hiding her Judaism from a Nazi boyfriend (Joe Alwyn)—but the rising tension between Isaac and Kingsley is a sight to behold, worth the price of admission alone.

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Recently, I got the chance to sit down with Richardson and Alwyn in New York City. The duo discussed the emotional toll it takes to act alongside Nazi imagery, as well as the weight they felt from the story behind Operation Finale. The two young actors also discussed what they learned from working on-set with Ben Kingsley.

Check out what Richardson and Alwyn had to say in the player above, and below is exactly what we talked about.

Haley Lu Richardson and Joe Alwyn:

  • Specific moments in which the actors felt the weight of the real-life story they were telling in Operation Finale.
  • Filming an especially emotional scene between their characters that affected Richardson long after the director yelled "cut."
  • How they detoxed after a day on set handling and acting across from Nazi imagery and regalia.
  • What they learned from watching Ben Kingsley perform and work on-set.

Here is the official synopsis for Operation Finale:

The thrilling true story follows the 1960 covert mission of legendary Mossad agent Peter Malkin as he infiltrates Argentina and captures Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi officer who masterminded the transportation logistics that brought millions of innocent Jews to their deaths in concentration camps.

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Image via MGM
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Image via MGM

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