From the movie "My Neighbor Adolf" (United King)
Scottish actor David Heyman boasts a dizzying resume - he has appeared in so many films and series, it's easy to get confused and attribute roles he has nothing to do with.
So, for example, I also fall into the trap and believe his Wikipedia entry, which states in black and white that he participated in "Brave Heart".
Even though I don't remember him from there, I stupidly ask him a question about his appearance in it during our conversation, and add to that a long introduction about my best friend from the division who watched the hit fifty times when it came out.
"I apologize, Avner, my dear friend, but I have never appeared in 'Brave Heart,'" the veteran star says in response.
Fortunately, Hyman is a charming man, who calls me by my first name and adds "my dear friend" even though we've never met before, and doesn't take the mistake about his life story to heart.
He has no ego, and he doesn't care if you ask him about a movie he didn't appear in instead of the movies he did star in, and there is no shortage of them.
Now he stars in "My Neighbor Adolf", an Israeli film internationally produced by Leon Prodovsky.
We're talking ahead of its release this weekend, and unlike the norm these days, the veteran Scottish actor is asking not to do it on Zoom.
"I don't like talking on Zoom," he explains.
"For me, it's much more intimate to talk on the phone."
Heyman was born in Glasgow in 1948 and began his acting career in the early seventies.
He starred for 12 seasons in the famous police drama "Trial & Retribution", played the legendary promoter Malcolm McLaren in the film "Sid and Nancy", and also appeared in the films "The Jackal", "The Tailor of Panama"
Opposes the cultural boycott of Israel.
David Heyman in "My Neighbor Adolf" (Photo: United King Films)
"My Neighbor Adolf" takes place after World War II, and more precisely in 1960, just after the Mossad captured Adolf Eichmann in Argentina.
Heyman plays a Holocaust survivor who lives in South America, and as the name of the film implies, suspects that his new neighbor is none other than the Nazi oppressor.
At first, the local Israeli embassy is not impressed by his suspicions, so he is forced to act on his own, and over time, more and more signs accumulate for him that the neighbor is the Führer.
"From the moment I read the script, I fell in love with the character and said to myself 'how fun it would be to breathe life into her on the screen,'" says the actor in an interview with Walla!
culture.
"The script was beautiful to me. It's not a 'Holocaust movie' - it's a story about hate and fear, but also about hope and redemption, and above all about forgiveness. I think that forgiveness, whether individual or collective, is one of the most wonderful human acts." .
The film reminds us that Adolf Hitler was also a painter.
As an artist yourself,
"Hitler was an artist, and he was also a man who loved his family and loved animals. That's how it is. There is good and bad in all of us, and everyone has the ability to commit terrible violence. Abner, my dear friend, I have been a pacifist all my life, but if someone harms my family, I'll take 16-M and turn it into strawberry jam."
What is your relationship with your neighbors?
"I live in a shared house, so this is a very important question. Bad neighbors can make your life miserable, Avner, my friend. Basically, we are part of a great community. The upstairs neighbors are the nicest people you can imagine. They are real sweethearts. However, there is a neighbor One from hell. She has a good heart, but she is very territorial. She constantly barks at everyone."
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"I'm in favor of open dialogue."
David Heyman (Photo: Beta Cinema and Locarno Festival)
The premiere of "My Neighbor Adolf" took place at the Locarno Festival last summer.
A group of Israeli filmmakers appealed to the festival and called on it to cancel the screening, because the film was supported by the Rabinovitch Foundation, whose conditions do not allow funding for those who "damage the symbols of the country", "celebrate the Nakba" and the like.
"I wasn't aware of this controversy, you're refreshing me," says Heyman.
"As far as I'm concerned, the film presents a great story that needed to be told, and artists should keep an open dialogue. In any case, I saw 'My Neighbor Adolf' as an international film, not an Israeli film."
Indeed, "My Neighbor Adolf" is an international production.
The Israeli producers Haim Meckleberg and Esti Yaakov-Meckleberg raised the Tower of Babel here.
Behind the camera was Prodovsky, an Israeli director born in the Soviet Union, and the filming took place in Colombia.
The co-producers are Polish and so are many of the crew members, led by photographer Radek Ledzok.
On the side of the Scottish Heyman stars the veteran German actor Udo Keir, who plays the suspicious new neighbor.
Most of the time the characters speak in English, but there are also dialogues in other languages, for example Yiddish.
"I have always loved Yidish. I saw a performance by the Heidi Theater in Israel and it was so colorful and full of history and passion. Yidish is like a poem," he says.
"I had a private teacher in Yiddish for the filming. She brought me together on Zoom with some Holocaust survivors from Glasgow, who wanted to talk to me about this film and the previous films. They had reservations about 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.'
They thought he focused on the German side and not the Jewish side, and that he had too much sympathy for the Nazis.
I don't agree, I think it's a great film whose humane message has gone to every child in Scotland.
" "In any case, it was inspiring to meet Holocaust survivors.
They did not let hatred destroy their lives.
They had a twinkle in their eyes and a lot of sense of humor, and even at the age of ninety, they were constantly flirting with me."
What was it like to work with an old and colorful actor of the stature of Udo Keir?
"As soon as he got to the first rehearsal, I told myself he was going to steal the show. He doesn't shut up, and makes more noise than any other actor I've worked with. He's a wonderful publicist of himself. As long as you're willing to listen to his stories, you can get along great, and he was We have fun together."
Perfect match.
David Heyman and Udo Kier in "My Neighbor Adolf" (Photo: United King Films)
I have to ask you questions about other roles, and this time about productions that you actually participated in.
Did Malcolm McLaren ever give you feedback on how you played him in Sid and Nancy?
" "We were supposed to meet, but then he saw the movie and it turns out he didn't like what we did, so he canceled the meeting."
This was in the 1980s. Fast forward to the present day - You recently appeared in an episode of Endor, the talked about Disney Plus series. I guess that was a different experience than My Neighbor Adolph.
"Sure.
I went from a relatively low-budget production to a production that had 26 assistant directors and five hundred people in total, not to mention the helicopters in the air and the corona protection measures.
It's much more difficult to maintain your integrity as an actor in such a situation."
And what do you think of the series?
"I haven't watched it."
Really?
"I don't like to see myself on the screen. To make art is to compromise, and you're always disappointed. I'm very critical of myself, that's how I've always been. I'm only willing to see myself in one case - when it's in a public screening in front of an audience. It's a different experience. I saw the 'My Neighbor Adolf' in its screenings at the Locarno and Tallinn festivals and it was a pleasure. It's fun to see that the art you made manages to touch people."
I apologize again for the mistake about "brave heart".
"It's really fine, Avner my dear friend."
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