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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 a 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 Kroll and Lior Raz—who plays Israeli intelligence agent Isser Harel in the film—in New York City. The duo discussed seeing Ben Kingsley in his costume for the first time—"He was Adolph Eichmann," Raz said—as well as feeling the weight of the history behind the story of Operation Finale. The two actors also touched on building chemistry with co-stars for this team-oriented film, as well as working on such a closed, tight-knit set.

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

Nick Kroll and Lior Raz:

  • Specific moments where the cast felt the history of the story being told in Operation Finale.
  • The incredible difference between Ben Kingsley at the first table read and Ben Kingsley in costume as Adolph Eichmann on set.
  • The bonding that happened between co-stars on the enclosed, tight-knit 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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Image via MGM