Alex Ritman Daniel Brühl is getting back behind the camera to direct “Break,” a biopic about the tennis champion Gottfried von Cramm whose rise to stardom in the 1930s saw him face off with the Nazi regime in his native Germany. “All Quiet on the Western” front star Felix Kammerer will lead the feature, which reunites the actor, Bruhl and the team behind the Oscar-winning WWI drama. “Break” is based on a screenplay by Hossein Amini from Marshall Jon Fisher’s “A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played.” The InkFactory (“The Pigeon Tunnel,” “The Night Manager”) and their partners Marc Platt and Adam Siegel for Marc Platt Productions (“La La Land,” “Cruella”) are teaming with Malte Grunert for Amusement Park (“All Quiet on the Western Front“) and Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”) for Nine Hours on the picture, which will be told in German and English.
Von Cramm’s sporting career was set against the rise of the Third Reich, shot through with political and personal complexity and a high stakes love triangle, which meant he went into the 1937 Davis Cup in Wimbledon playing for his life. “From a contemporary perspective, the extraordinary story of Gottfried von Cramm is one that demands to be told,” said Brühl, who also serves as partner at Amusement Park. “Gottfried is a hero for our times.
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