James Vanderbilt will never shoot another 25-minute take again.
Russell Crowe’s epic Nuremberg take
The Nuremberg director revealed Nuremberg’s epic courtroom scene between Russell Crowe as Adolf Hitler’s henchman Hermann Goring and Michael Shannon, as Robert H. Jackson – the US lawyer who helped prosecute Nazi war criminals during the Nuremberg Trials, was one continuous 25-minute take.
And, although Vanderbilt is thrilled with the end result, he admitted it was a difficult shoot for everyone involved.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: “Usually, you have the lawyers that will walk around, but the way that courtroom is set up, the prosecutor never moves. It’s just shot, shot, shot, shot, shot. We set up, and we were doing 25-minute takes with no cuts, and they were word-perfect every time because we took all the real transcripts.”
“After the first take, the entire courtroom of extras applauded Michael and Russell. Just watching those two gentlemen put on a master class…. I’ve never shot a 25-minute take in a movie in my life. I don’t think I ever will again. That, I think, was one of the most amazing [experiences].”
And James praised Russell for helping to get the movie made and his commitment to playing Goring.
He said: “Russell Crowe — he is one of the biggest reasons this movie exists today. We talked a lot about it. He said to me, ‘Look, it’s not a great mental space to live in for me.’
“But he fully committed and invested in the movie and did an incredible amount of research. He travelled around Germany to the different places in [Goring’s] childhood. He really put himself in depth to it. And I’m just eternally grateful for the commitment he put into this film and the work he did because he’s Russell forever. He doesn’t necessarily need to do that anymore, but he was as hungry as an actor as I’ve ever seen anyone, and that was a true gift.”