‘The Survivor’ star breaks down Harry & Leah’s emotional reunion scene – Hollywood Life – newsdubai

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The survivor is HBO’s incredible new film about the life of Harry Haft, a Holocaust survivor and professional boxer. The film, directed by Barry Levinsontells of Harry’s terrible time in Auschwitz and his willingness to be reunited with the woman he loves. Dar Zuzovsky plays Leah, the woman who is never too far from Harry’s mind. After years and years of being separated, Harry and Leah get an emotional and transformative reunion at the end of Leah’s life.

HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with the Israeli actress about being truly “connected” to co-star Ben Foster while filming the crucial reunion scene. Dar believes that Harry and Leah’s reunion was an act of “higher intervention” that liberated them both. She also opened up to what The survivor means to her on a personal level, as her grandparents are Holocaust survivors. Read our Q&A below:

I knew Harry Haft’s story before I saw the movie. Did you know his story before this role?
Dar Zuzovsky: No, I actually was not. When I got the manuscript, I immediately wanted to read the book. Harry’s son, Alan Scott, wrote the book about his father. That was when I became aware of it, but I did not know anything before. The manuscript is a little different than the book. It has more drama. The book really tells a story. I do not know if you should read it, but it is very slow and takes time before you understand. Each period of his life is in a different chapter. And here’s what I love about it, you jump between timelines. You start in Poland, and then you jump to the 40s in New York, and then you go to the 60s in Georgia. You never know where you are until the end of the movie. You get the whole picture and you understand what you just saw. It was a whole life journey.

Was Leah a real person?
Dar Zuzovsky: Yes she was. It is not the same as in the movie in the book. They were lovers in Poland in the city they grew up in. They knew each other because they were in the same neighborhood, but in the movie they meet each other at a time when they are when Harry is trying to smuggle some goods into a house . I think that part of the story is not in the film anymore, but it was in the script. So they actually have their first meeting when the war already started. But in real life, they met before and he has been trying to find her.

The film builds up to this beautiful reunion eventually. Leah and Harry finally see each other again as Leah is dying. What was it like filming the emotional scene with Ben Foster for you?
Dar Zuzovsky: First of all, thank you very much. It really warms my heart and you make me blush. It was one of those moments that I think one can never prepare for. You do not know what will happen on the date. You do your job. You study the grade. You do your research. You learn your lines and you get there and really hope the magic will happen. Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it does not. Luckily, I got to work with the most generous actor on the planet. He is so alive in every roof. He is such an amazing partner and he gives so much that I felt like I really liked to put all my thoughts and all my worries and everything aside and be in the now. The magic has just happened. We were really connected and our characters were really connected. It felt magical on the set. Everyone cried. It was an overwhelming moment and we knew it was going to work, because that’s the emotional key to the whole journey.

Do you think they both got the closure they needed after searching for it for so long?
Dar Zuzovsky: Yes, because I think it was Nietzsche who said, “He who has a why to live for able to endure almost everyone how. “In this case, and in most cases, love is the strongest force on earth. By holding on to it and having the hope that you will find that person, you actually find that while the journey seems like a quest for love, what really happened is that he found himself, and love was just the engine, the electricity he needed to continue, to keep living You need to get out of yourself to truly understand yourself. It’s not about her. It’s not about the beloved. It’s about making that fire shine in your heart. I think it’s it only way to survive such horrible things.I do not know if he would be able to survive something so horrible without having a cause, without having a purpose.

Has this film made you think more about the sheer power of love and its power to carry people through dark times?
Dar Zuzovsky: This particular story resonates with me on a personal level. It really hits so close to home. My grandparents are Holocaust survivors. My grandfather was actually in Auschwitz in the same concentration camp that Harry was. I’m a third generation Holocaust survivor, so I got to see their lives after the war. I was so lucky not to experience the Holocaust itself, but I witnessed the aftermath. I saw the consequences. I saw how my grandparents worked. We were not able to throw food. It was like we were going to try to throw something away, my grandfather would just take it and eat everyone’s leftovers. It was something I was used to. I did not think it was anything strange. That’s what life’s about. You do not throw food, and you do not play the piano between two and four. I feel like I am so lucky to have witnessed two people, two survivors, who found love after the war, who came to Israel and started families, created a beautiful life and had children. I am part of this legacy. It’s my life. So if you ask me if I believe in love, then of course I believe it’s the only thing worth fighting for. That’s the only thing that’s real. I see it every day. They are still together. They are the cutest couple in the world. They inspire me.

You get to work with the incredible Barry Levinson. What was it like to be under his leadership and help create this incredible story?
Dar Zuzovsky: I was shocked that I had to work with him because he is a legend. I come from a very small town in Israel. It was a dream. When I first met him, he was the cutest human being in reality, the most down to earth. Throughout the meeting, we did not even talk about the script. We talked about quantum physics and like everything else you can imagine, and about music and art. I was so lucky to see him work and watch him do his magic. I can only imagine it because he is so confident in himself and his craft and what he has to give he is just very free. He loves to search with the actors. There is a lot of time to try different things, make mistakes and do things that are not necessarily written in the script. For an actor, it’s a gift because you’re going to relive the moment and be there and have and feel confident and believe that you have someone who’s there with you and you can just play and try. It was a wonderful experience. I’m really lucky to have it as my first director here in Hollywood.

After watching Leah and Harry’s reunion scene, I kept thinking about how our lives are shaped by fate and destiny. She saw that newspaper clipping of Harry just as she was getting married.
Dar Zuzovsky: It is a very spiritual and also heartbreaking moment that she did not contact him because she got married the same day. She knew he was alive, and that was enough for her, that little piece of paper, for that was all she wanted to know. I think the fact that he came and saw her in her last days, just before she passed away, was a kind of higher intervention. They would not go out of this world without having that little moment of acknowledging each other, looking each other in the eye and seeing that they have been through all this horror and trauma and separation for so long and having someone who really knows you and know what you’ve been through and know who you were before. I do not think there is anything more liberating than that.