Harvey Keitel Joins Cast of Upcoming Sky and Peacock Original Drama, The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Academy Award®-nominee Harvey Keitel (The Irishman, Youth) to play lead role as the modern-day Lale Sokolov in the Sky and Peacock adaptation of the globally bestselling novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, by Heather Morris, produced by Synchronicity Films in association with Sky Studios.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is inspired by the heart-breaking true-life story of Lale and Gita Sokolov. Lale (Jonah Hauer-King) arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1942, and shortly after arrival, he was made one of the tätowierer (tattooists), charged to ink identification numbers onto fellow prisoners’ arms. One day, he meets Gita (Anna Próchniak) when tattooing her prisoner number on her arm. They experience love at first sight, and so begins a courageous, unforgettable, and human story. Under constant guard from a volatile SS officer Baretzki (Jonas Nay), Lale and Gita became determined to keep each other alive.

Around 60 years later, Lale (Harvey Keitel) meets novice writer Heather Morris (Melanie Lynskey). Recently widowed, Lale finds the courage to tell the world his story. In recounting his story to Heather, Lale, in his 80s, faces the traumatic ghosts of his youth and relives his memories of falling in love in the most horrific of places.

Harvey Keitel says about The Tattooist of Auschwitz: "The love story in this project, in the face of the horror, gives testimony to the spirit and the goodness of people."

Additional cast members joining the series include Tallulah Haddon (Kiss Me First, The Last Duel) as Hanna, Mili Eshet (Beyond the Mountains, Hills) as Ivana, Yali Topol Margalith in her first screen role as Cilka, Phénix Brossard (Little Joe, Benjamin) as Leon, Ilan Galkoff (Good Omens, Hilda) as Aaron, and Marcel Sabat (Tenet, The Windermere Children) as Tomas.

Previously announced lead roles include Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid, World on Fire) and Anna Próchniak (Baptiste, Warsaw 44) who are set to star as young Lale Sokolov and Gita Furman. Melanie Lynskey (The Last of Us, Yellowjackets) will star in the series as New Zealander Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz novel and Jonas Nay (Deutschland 83, 86, 89) will be joining the series in the role of Stefan Baretzki.

Produced by Synchronicity Films in association with Sky Studios and All3Media International, The Tattooist of Auschwitz was commissioned by Serena Thompson, Executive Producer at Sky Studios for Zai Bennett, Managing Director of Content, Sky UK. Claire Mundell is Executive Producer for Synchronicity Films. Lead Writer Jacquelin Perske is also an Executive Producer on the project and Heather Morris is Story Consultant. Evan Placey and Gabbie Asher are episode writers. Director Tali Shalom-Ezer is attached to direct all six episodes.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz is currently in production, the series is a co-production between Sky Studios and Peacock with NBCUniversal Global Distribution and All3Media International jointly handling international sales of the series. Stan, Australia’s leading local streamer is taking the Original rights to the series in their territory, with Viaplay taking Viaplay Series rights for Nordics (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland), Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the Netherlands and Poland. It will be available on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW in 2024 in the UK & Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria & Switzerland.

About Sky

Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of Comcast Corporation, a global media and technology company that connects people to moments that matter. Across six countries, Sky connects 23 million customers to the best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own award-winning original content.

Following the launch of Sky Glass, we now offer customers our strongest ever line-up of products and services. As well as the new streaming TV with Sky inside and everything integrated, customers can enjoy the award-winning Sky Q with all your favorite channels and apps in one place, and with Sky Go you can now access an even better experience on your devices. Sky TV has new channels, new shows and new deals with Peacock, Paramount+ and more. Sky Mobile was voted Best Pay Monthly and Best Value Pay Monthly network by Uswitch, and with Sky Broadband we’re offering our fastest speeds yet.

Building on the success of Sky Originals like Chernobyl, Gangs of London and Brassic, we are doubling our investment in original content by 2024 through Sky Studios. Our new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, is expected to create over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK over the first five years alone. Sky News provides impartial and trustworthy journalism for free; Sky Arts is the UKs only dedicated free-to-air arts channel making the arts accessible for everyone and Sky Sports, our leading sports broadcasting service, brings customers some of the biggest and best global sporting events from the Premier League to Formula 1 and everything in-between. Sky Cinema is the home of Sky Original films with brand new films launching every month alongside an unrivaled range of the latest cinema releases and on demand library.

We believe that we can be a force for good in the communities in which we operate. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030 and we’re proud to be a Principal Partner and Media Partner of COP26 – the UN Climate Change Conference. We take pride in our approach to diversity and inclusion: we’ve been recognized by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity, and we’ve set ambitious 2025 targets to continue to increase diversity and representation. We’re also committed to investing £30million across our markets over the next three years to improve our approach to diversity and inclusion, and to tackle racial injustice.

About Synchronicity Films

Synchronicity Films is an award-winning scripted production company owned and run by BAFTA winning producer and executive producer Claire Mundell.  Synchronicity has a growing reputation for high quality adaptations of critically acclaimed IP such as the Sunday Times / New York Times bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz; Andrew O’Hagan’s Mayflies which was produced for BBC1 last year.  Upcoming projects include Hanif Kureishi’s The Body; Graeme Armstrong’s The Young Team and Booker shortlisted His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet.

Synchronicity produced BBC One psychological thriller The Cry, adapted from Helen FitzGerald’s novel by Jacquelin Perske. The company is also active in film with credits including Karen Gillan's The Party's Just Beginning; BIFA / BAFTA nominated Only You by Harry Wootliff; and Andrew Haigh’s film Weekend.

About Sky Studios

Sky Studios is Sky’s original programming arm across Europe.

We develop, produce and commission original drama and scripted comedy for Sky’s 23m customers and beyond. Building on the success of critically acclaimed Sky Originals including Emmy-winning Gangs of London, BAFTA-nominated Landscapers, international hits Babylon Berlin and Das Boot, as well as upcoming series Day of the Jackal, M. Son of the Century, and Helgoland 513. 

With commissioning talent and production capability across the UK, Germany, and Italy, we seek out the best untold stories from original voices while working in creative partnership with today’s best writers, producers, and on-screen talent to bring viewers stories that they will love and remember.

About Peacock

Peacock is NBCUniversal’s streaming service. Peacock delivers a world-class slate of exclusive originals, on-demand libraries of hit TV shows, plus critically acclaimed films from the vaults of Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, Illumination, and Hollywood’s biggest studios. In addition, Peacock taps into NBCUniversal’s unmatched ability to deliver a broad range of compelling topical content across news, sports, late-night, Spanish-language, and reality. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.

About Stan

Stan is Australia’s leading local streaming service and unrivaled home of original productions.

Stan’s original production slate includes hit thriller series Black Snow starring Travis Fimmel; The Portable Door starring Sam Neill and Christoph Waltz; the Stan Original Dating series Love Triangle, a modern take on the struggle for love; Bump, a modern parenthood drama starring Claudia Karvan; Gold, a taut thriller film starring Zac Efron in his first Australian production; Wolf Like Me, a genre-bending drama series starring Isla Fisher and Josh Gad; and countless other acclaimed original series and films.

Stan’s studio partnerships include NBCUniversal, Starz, Lionsgate, Showtime, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros, Disney, all3media, BBC and more. Through these partnerships, Stan offers Australians unlimited access to thousands of hours of premium entertainment – with an outstanding lineup of blockbuster movies and exclusive premieres. For more information, visit stan.com.au.