'Resistance' News: Jesse Eisenberg to Play Marcel Marceau
Hollywood actor Jesse Eisenberg has been cast in the lead role of the upcoming film "Resistance," portraying well-known French mime Marcel Marceau.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the "Social Network" actor will portray Marceau's character during the Second World War and the legendary mime's involvement in the French resistance.
The movie will be directed by "Hands of Stone" helmer Jonathan Jakubowicz based on a screenplay that he wrote.
The story of "Resistance" is described to be in the same vein as "Life is Beautiful," and it will be detailing how Marceau did not only learn mime to survive, but to also save the lives of Jewish orphans whose parents' lives had been claimed by the Nazis.
Born as Marcel Mangel, Marceau grew up speaking Yiddish as the child of a kosher butcher from Strasbourg, France. He became most well-known for his stage persona as "Bip the Clown." He considered mime to be the "art of silence," and he performed the art professionally in different parts of the world for more than 60 years.
For his contribution in the French Resistance, Marceau was made Grand Officier de La Legion d'Honneur and was also given the National Order of Merit in France.
"Resistance" will commence production in early 2018. It will be produced by Claudine Jakubowicz and Carlos Garcia de Paredes, who previously worked together in "Hands of Stone." The film is set as a European co-production, and Baptiste Marceau, the mime's son, will be closely involved in the project as an executive producer and in the research of the film.
Aside from his portrayal of Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Network," for which he earned an Academy Award nomination, Eisenberg also appeared in films such as "Now You See Me," "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," "Café Society" and "Zombieland."
"Resistance" has no official release date yet.
