Just the other day I was wondering about Steve Buscemi. It felt like there was a year or two you couldn’t see any picture without the actor’s involvement in some capacity, but recently he’s been less visible. He’s still a working actor, however, and he’s signed on board John Rabe, a Schindler’s List type story about the Nanjing massacre of the late 1930s.
Now, don’t expect to see Buscemi crying over the value of a ring and how many more people he could have saved with it. As brilliant as the actor is, he won’t be playing the German businessman whose story the picture features. Instead, Buscemi will play an American according to Variety - Dr. Robert Wilson, a doctor who remained in Nanjing during the occupation to care for the hurt and dying.
Daniel Bruehl also joins the international cast which stars German actor Ulrich Tukur (The Lives of Others) in the title role, a Nazi party member who was able to protect more than 200,000 Chinese citizens from the Japanese slaughter which took the lives of almost twice as many as Rabe saved.
I poke fun at the movies similarities to Steven Spielberg’s opus, but it is only in jest. The truth is heroes like Oscar Schindler and John Rabe deserve to have their stories told, regardless of how similar or different they may be. I’m excited to see Buscemi’s name attached to a project like this. Cult fans have known how powerful an actor Buscemi can be for years, but only by being involved in pictures like this will the actor have a chance at the acclaim he deserves.
