Andy Serkis and Woody Harrelson have signed on to star in The Man with the Miraculous Hands, a WWII psychological thriller from Rampart and The Messenger filmmaker Oren Moverman.
Based on a true story, the film is set in 1939 and features Harrelson as Felix Kersten, a renowned, apolitical medical masseuse who becomes the personal physician to Heinrich Himmler (Serkis), the head of Hitler’s SS and one of the chief architects of the Holocaust. As the war rages and Himmler’s health declines while his authority continues grows, Kersten finds himself in a unique position to influence decision making on the highest level inside the Third Reich. He begins to play a dangerous game, using his medical skills as a weapon to influence Himmler, turn him against Hitler, and bring an end to the war.
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French outfit Vendôme Group (Oscar-winner CODA) is producing the feature together with Jerico Films and SND. SND will bow The Man with the Miraculous Hands in France and handling international sales, pitching the projet to buyers in Cannes next week.
Vendôme’s Philippe Rousselet and Jerico Films’ Eric Jehelmann will produce with Vendôme’s Fabrice Gianfermi and Jeremy Plager as executive producers. Moverman will direct from his own script. Principal photography is set to begin this Fall.
Serkis is attached to direct and star in Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (working title), the first of a new planned series of Lord of the Rings films for Warner Bros Pictures and New Line Cinema, reprising his acclaimed role of Gollum from the original LOTR trilogy. Harrelson most recently appeared in Laura Chinn’s Sundance tearjerker Suncoast, which went out on Hulu in the U.S. He co-stars in Greg Berlanti’s upcoming Apple Studios rom-com Fly Me To The Moon alongside Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, and in Last Breath, a survival thriller film from Alex Parkinson adapted from his 2019 documentary of the same name (co-directed with Richard da Costa) about a deep sea diving accident.
