The actor who played one of Hollywood’s most memorable Nazis has found his next role: as the founder of modern Zionism.
Christoph Waltz, who won an Oscar for his work in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” provides the voice of Theodor Herzl in a new documentary about the Zionist visionary. The film, “It Is No Dream: The Life of Theodor Herzl,” will celebrate its New York premiere on March 13, and features Waltz reading the words of the subject. As its name suggests, the documentary — produced by the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Moriah Films division — examines the impact of Herzl, whose response to European anti-Semitism played a crucial role in the establishment of modern Israel.
The part is a striking change of pace for Waltz, who proved both sinister and goofy as Col. Hans Landa — a character also known as the Jew Hunter — in the 2009 Tarantino movie. The 55-year-old actor hails from Vienna, where Herzl spent most of his adult life.
Providing narration for the documentary is Ben Kingsley, the Academy Award-winning star of “Gandhi” and “Schindler’s List.”
Other Oscar winners who’ve lent their voices to previous Moriah Films documentaries range from Morgan Freeman and Nicole Kidman to Elizabeth Taylor and Orson Welles.
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