''The Survivor'' is a 2021

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Barry Levinson Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for '' Rain Man'' (1988). His other best-known works are ''Diner'' (1982), '' The Natural'' (1984 ...

from a screenplay by Justine Juel Gillmer. Ben Foster stars as

Harry Haft Harry Haft (July 28, 1925 – November 3, 2007) also known as Herschel Haft, was a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp where he boxed fellow inmates to survive, the losers being executed. He was briefly a professional boxer in post-war G ...

, a real-life survivor of the

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

, where he boxed fellow inmates to survive.

Vicky Krieps Vicky Krieps (born 4 October 1983) is a Luxembourgish-German actress. She has appeared in a number of American, Luxembourgish, French, and German productions. Her breakout role was in the London-based period film ''Phantom Thread'' (2017), direct ...

Billy Magnussen William Gregory Magnussen (born April 20, 1985) is an American actor. He has been featured in the films '' Into the Woods'' (2014), '' Bridge of Spies'' (2015), '' Birth of the Dragon'' (2016), '' Game Night'' (2018), and '' Aladdin'' (2019), and ...

Peter Sarsgaard John Peter Sarsgaard (; born March 7, 1971) is an American actor. He studied at the Actors Studio, before rising to prominence playing atypical and sometimes villainous roles in film and television. He made his film debut with '' Dead Man W ...

John Leguizamo John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (, ; ; born July 22, 1960 or 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and film producer. He has appeared in more than 100 films, produced more than 20 films and documentaries, made more than 30 televisio ...

, and

Danny DeVito Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series ''Taxi (TV series), Taxi'' (1978–1983), which won him ...

co-star. The film had its world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

in September 2021, and was released on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

on April 27, 2022. The film received positive reviews from critics, particularly for Foster's lead performance. The film was Emmy nominated for Outstanding Television Movie.

Cast

Production

In November 2018, it was announced that Ben Foster had joined the cast of the film, along with

, who was supposed to direct the film from a screenplay by Justine Juel Gillmer, with

Matti Leshem Matti Leshem is an American film and TV producer. Leshem is the co-founder of New Mandate Films, an American film and television production company focused on Jewish history and literature. He is the son of Moshe Leshem, who was Israel's ambass ...

, Aaron L. Gilbert, Jason Sosnoff, Levinson and Scott Pardo producing under their New Mandate,

Bron Studios Bron Studios (stylized as BRON) was a Canadian motion picture company based in British Columbia owned by Bron Media Corporation. The company's notable productions included '' Joker'', '' Bombshell'', '' Queen & Slim'', ''Greyhound'', '' Judas and ...

and Creative Wealth Media banners, respectively. In March 2019,

, Dar Zuzovsky and

joined the cast of the film.

Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, five Grammy Awards, and has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards and a Tony ...

composed the film's score. The film was re-titled ''The Survivor'' from the working title, ''Harry Haft''.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

began in February 2019.

Release

''The Survivor'' had its world premiere at the

2021 Toronto International Film Festival The 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, the 46th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 9 to 18, 2021.Barry Hertz"TIFF planning ‘substantially bigger’ 2021 film festival compared to last year’ ...

on September 13. In October 2021,

HBO Films HBO Films (formerly called HBO Premiere Films and HBO Pictures) is an American production and distribution company, a division of the cable television network HBO that produces feature films and miniseries. The division produces fiction and non-f ...

acquired distribution rights to the film. The film debuted on

and

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

on April 27, 2022.

Reception

Accolades

References

External links

''The Survivor''
at

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Survivor 2021 films 2020s English-language films 2021 biographical drama films American biographical drama films Boxing films Films about the aftermath of the Holocaust Films directed by Barry Levinson Films scored by Hans Zimmer Films set in 1949 Films set in 1963 Films set in Brooklyn Films set in Coney Island Films set in Georgia (U.S. state) Films set in Poland Films set in Rhode Island HBO Films films Holocaust films 2020s American films English-language biographical drama films