James D'Arcy in "Das Boot"

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James has been added to the cast of Das Boot , a German mini-series set during WW II, Deadline.com reported:

Tom Wlaschiha (Game of Thrones), Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men), James D’Arcy (Marvel’s Agent Carter) and Thierry Frémont (Juste un regard) round out the cast of Das Boot, as filming begins on the Bavaria Fernsehproduktion, Sky Deutschland and Sonar Entertainment co-production. The series is shooting in Prague, La Rochelle, Malta and Munich.

The four join an international cast including Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex), August Wittgenstein (The Crown), Rainer Bock (Inglourious Basterds), Rick Okon (Tatort), Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread), Leonard Scheicher (Finsterworld), Robert Stadlober (Summer Storm), Franz Dinda (The Cloud) and Stefan Konarske (The Young Karl Marx). Das Boot starts in autumn 1942, as U-boat warfare becomes increasingly brutal. While a very young crew put out to sea on a dangerous combat patrol, the Résistance rises in the U-boat port of La Rochelle.

The eight-part TV series is set right after the events of Wolfgang Petersen's 1981 Oscar-nominated anti-war classic Das Boot. Tony Saint, who wrote the BBC drama Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley, co-writes the Das Boot script with German screenwriter Johannes W. Betz, whose credits include the award-winning period dramas The Tunnel (2001) and The Spiegel Affair (2014). Andreas Prochaska is directing. Sky plans to premiere the series, budgeted at around $28 million (€25 million) across all five of its European territories in 2018.

According to Hollywood Reporter  Das Boot —The Series starts where the film ended: at La Rochelle harbor where the crew of the U 96 submarine surfaces only to be hit by an Allied bombing attack. Like the original film, which was based on the best-seller by German writer Lothar-Gunther Buchheim, the Das Boot series will be told from the perspective of the German soldiers. The new series, however, will extend that perspective to include characters from the French resistance, who help the Allies in targeting the German military. The producers say the series will have a strong, anti-war message. “Telling an anti-war story is now more relevant than ever,” said Bavaria Film CEO Christian Franckenstein.

Variety wrote about the project in 2016:

The TV drama primarily focuses on the German perspective of events, but also includes the experiences of French Resistance and Allied forces in the war. Running through all the action is Buchheim’s central theme: the blind fanaticism that drives young men into a senseless war.

Christian Franckenstein, CEO of Bavaria Film, said in a statement: “Today, more than ever before, anti-war stories need to be told. The notions of war and terror are ubiquitous. The misguided actions of young men driven to commit acts of terror by false ideologies are obvious.” Franckenstein added: “The 1981 film ‘Das Boot’ is unique, and we are approaching our work with the greatest of respect for this masterpiece. We want to build on the strong brand of ‘Das Boot’ and continue telling the story in a contemporary manner by making use of every filmmaking and storytelling technique available to us today.”

The series is expected to begin airing in 2018 across all the Sky territories: Germany, Austria, U.K., Ireland and Italy.

Oliver Vogel (“Dengler,” “SOKO Stuttgart,” “Dr. Klein”) and Moritz Polter (“Spotless,” “Crossing Lines”) are executive-producing for Bavaria Film. Marcus Ammon and Frank Jastfelder will oversee the production for Sky. Carsten Schmidt, CEO of Sky Deutschland, said: “With ‘Das Boot — the Series,’ we have once again found a subjectmatter that fits Sky perfectly and will excite our customers… [It] is the next step into the field of original  fictional productions at Sky, and others will follow. Sky… continues its transformation into an entertainment brand for the entire family.”

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