‘Fauda’s Lior Raz joins film about hunting Eichmann

Israeli actor will appear alongside Oscar Isaac and Ben Kingsley.

By AMY SPIRO
Updated: SEPTEMBER 1, 2017 00:14
Lior Raz (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Lior Raz
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
He’s just about hottest Israeli in Hollywood – after Gal Gadot, that is.
It has been quite a month for Lior Raz, the co-creator and star of Fauda, one of the most buzzed about Israeli TV shows. First it was announced that Netflix had ordered two new shows from Raz and his co-creator, Avi Issacharoff.
And on Wednesday, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Raz will be joining the upcoming Hollywood film Operation Finale, which follows the hunt for and capture of Nazi mastermind Adolf Eichmann in Argentina in the ’60s. He’ll be playing alongside Oscar Isaac, who will portray Mossad operative Peter Malkin, and Ben Kingsley, who will be playing Eichmann. Raz will star as Isser Harel, the director of the Mossad at the time.
Raz told The Jerusalem Post that filming is set to begin in October in Argentina, and that he “never dreamed” he’d end up in a film opposite Kingsley.
Asked about his status as a hot commodity in Hollywood, Raz said since he’s currently in Israel filming the second season of Fauda, “the only hot thing I’m feeling right now is the burning Israeli sun.”
Raz was joined in that sun on Tuesday by US comedian Conan O’Brien, who has been in Israel shooting a travel special for TBS. The pair shot a scene for Fauda together in the raging desert sun.
Operation Finale will be directed by Chris Weitz and produced by MGM. Eichmann was one of the key figures responsible for the mass deportation and murder of Jews during the Holocaust. After World War II ended, he fled to Argentina, where he lived until he was captured by Israeli agents in 1960 and smuggled out of the country.
Eichmann was tried in Israel for war crimes and sentenced to death by hanging in 1962. He remains the only person Israel has ever tried and executed in its civil courts system.
Raz is also set to appear as the Magdala community leader in the 2018 film Mary Magdalene – his English-language debut. He’ll be appearing alongside Rooney Mara’s Mary and Joaquin Phoenix’s Jesus and fellow Israeli actors Hadas Yaron, Shira Haas and Uri Gavriel.


Related Tags
hollywood jews