With an unusually-long-for-Toronto standing ovation at its premiere, Sony Pictures Classics film Nuremberg has made a big impression at TIFF. Director James Vanderbilt and his cast came by the Deadline TIFF studio to discuss their work on the film.

In Vanderbilt’s adaptation of Jack El-Hai’s book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, Rami Malek stars as real-life army psychiatrist, U.S. Lt. Colonel Douglas Kelley. Charged with evaluating Nazi second-in-command Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe) ahead of the Nuremberg trials, Kelley grapples with the concept of determining inherent evil, while trying to resist Göring’s narcissistic manipulations.

Vanderbilt explained that one of the key factors of creating the claustrophobia of Kelley and Göring’s meetings was the way they shot the cell scenes. “It was a set, but we built everything to scale,” he said. “Dariusz Wolski, the cinematographer, and I made a deal with each other that even though we could pull the walls, we weren’t going to do it. So it meant it’s not going to be as pretty a shot, and the camera operator is going to be up here, but you’ll feel the claustrophobia of it. We wanted to make sure that we did it that way.”

Malek said of the role: “I prepared by reading this delicious script that Jamie wrote. Simply put it was one of those things that you fly through immediately. Those are the things I’ve responded to in my career, and I know that’s a no-brainer. And then we got on the phone. I read Jack’s book, and when there’s something original to revert back to, there’s a wealth of knowledge there.”

Malek also pointed out that this year is the 80th anniversary of the trials and the 50th year of TIFF too. “I think having those things co-align is quite poignant at the moment,” he said.

Michael Shannon plays U.S. Supreme Court justice Robert H. Jackson, who must put together the international tribunal. “I have no business playing a Supreme Court justice,” he said. “But you know, you find yourself in these situations as an actor. The thing about Jackson that Jamie reminded me of the other day, is he didn’t even go to law school. So he was an autodidact. He taught himself everything he knew. He was kind of a fearless individual and very intelligent individual. I think people that accomplish things like Jackson accomplished, they just take the word ‘impossible’ out of their vocabulary. There’s nothing that’s impossible.”

Alongside Jackson is British prosecutor Sir David Maxwell Fyfe — a role taken on by Richard E. Grant. He said of his preparation process: “The combination of the script and the gift of YouTube is that you have the entire trial on YouTube so you can see the character that you’re playing, the real person in the real set, which was recreated by Eve Stewart, the production designer, to within a millimeter of what the original was, and that verisimilitude was extraordinary in itself.”

Also on the panel at Deadline’s TIFF studio was John Slattery, who plays Burton C. Andrus, a U.S. Colonel and commandant of the Nuremberg prison. “With the question of the inherent evil,” Slattery said, “everybody had very strong opinions by the end of World War II about this regime, but it was their job to put those feelings aside and handle the assignment given. And so that’s what the Colonel did. He had a very decorated, illustrious military career, and then was assigned this very difficult task at the end of it.”

Leo Woodall also stars as Howie Triest, a german-speaking Sergeant serving as a translator for Kelley.

To watch the full conversation, click on the video above.

The Deadline Studio at TIFF is hosted at Bisha Hotel and sponsored by Cast & Crew and Final Draft.

NUREMBERG

Section: Gala Presentations

Director: James Vanderbilt

Screenwriter: James Vanderbilt

Logline: Featuring powerhouse performances from Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Rami Malek, this gripping historical drama from writer-director James Vanderbilt (TIFF ’15’s Truth) chronicles the events that brought the Nazi high command to justice in the wake of World War II.

Panelists: James Vanderbilt, Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, Richard E. Grant and John Slattery.

Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics