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Sir Michael's character is a Frenchman who is still on the run from the law in 1992 because of his distant past as a Nazi collaborator. His actions in 1944 led to the execution of seven Jews during the Vichy regime of World War II. The film, performed in English, is set up as a contemporary chase picture with flashbacks to the incidents of the war.
"It is difficult to play someone like that because you have no sympathy," the 70-year-old Caine told a Toronto press conference yesterday. Caine was in town to join English screenwriter Ronald Harwood and the two Toronto-based filmmakers, director Jewison and producer Robert Lantos, to promote their tough drama. The Statement opens here Dec. 12.
Caine said that he faced a challenge because his fictional character, Pierre Brossard, is "so far away from your own character -- which is one of the reasons that I took the part. Because, at this time in my career, I'm looking for challenges. I don't want to do fluffy little pieces.
"It was interesting for me because no man is a villain to himself. So I had to play him as a good man. But what I did to him, because I disliked him so much, was that I made him terribly sad. I think that racists are sad. Can you imagine, every morning, all your life, you get up and you hate someone you never met? What a terrible waste of time, so sad."
Strangely, Caine said he could not remember the specifics of his performance until he saw the finished film "because I just cut myself off from it. So it was difficult. But, for me, it was very worthwhile."
The film, based on the late Irish-Canadian novelist Brian Moore's book, is a fiction. But, like the book, The Statement is loosely based on very real events.
"From the first time I read the book, I thought it would make a wonderful film," the 77-year-old Jewison said, "and it was about a subject that I was old enough to relate to."
Jewison said he is fascinated by the true-life stories from that era because they illuminate dark elements of human nature. "Who did all these things?" Jewison asked rhetorically. "Not everyone worked for the Resistance."
One of the most startling elements of The Statement is the indictment of the Roman Catholic Church, which had a network of priests harbouring accused Nazi collaborators. The French post-war government is also criticized. In the film, as in life, former Nazi sympathizers rose to positions of power.
Harwood said Moore "was a distinguished Catholic writer" who "decided there was a story to tell and a secret to be revealed -- and I think he was right. That's the heart of the novel, the complicity between the Catholic Church and the French government. That's the trick of the story, so we simply followed Brian Moore's blueprint."
Lantos, who produced the 1991 film version of Moore's novel Black Robe, said of the author's approach: "In most of Brian Moore's books, you'll find that he is like the vigilante conscience of the Catholic Church. He was attracted to these spots in the world where the church had not behaved as he thought it should. And it was one of the reasons why I wanted to acquire the rights to this book in the first place."
The Statement, while a long shot, may be positioned for Oscar nominations with its late-in-the-year release.
Asked about these expectations, the wry Harwood exclaimed: "Ten Academy Awards nominations and huge box office: That's our expectations!"
Lantos was more sanguine yet still amusing: "First of all, there are no expectations. It's being released at this time because it's the time of the year for a serious movie to be in the theatres. But, if something like that (an Oscar nomination) happens, we would probably not give it back."