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Russell Crowe’s “extraordinary commitment” to Nuremberg is best understood through director James Vanderbilt’s casting rationale: Crowe was his first choice to play Hermann Göring, and Vanderbilt wanted an actor who could make the Nazi leader’s humor and charm convincing as well as chilling. The sources document that creative choice and Crowe’s effort to understand Göring’s motivations; they do not establish a particular training regimen or physical transformation.
Why did James Vanderbilt choose Russell Crowe?
In an interview with The National WWII Museum, Vanderbilt said Crowe was the first person he cast. He wanted “somebody who obviously was a great actor,” and saw a challenging quality in Göring: he could be funny, charming and gregarious.
That charm matters to the film’s psychological story. Vanderbilt said Göring needed to be capable of seducing Douglas Kelley, the U.S. Army psychiatrist assigned to assess him. The point is not to excuse or soften Göring’s crimes, but to show how charisma could operate alongside menace. The film’s later courtroom scenes and historical footage provide a counterweight to the prison-cell relationship.
What does “extraordinary commitment” mean here?
Premiere-era reporting supports describing a deliberate casting choice and a performance Vanderbilt considered layered and unsettling—not a specific behind-the-scenes preparation method. Stars and Stripes reported that Crowe signed on in 2019, helping move the production forward and attract cast members and financiers. Vanderbilt described his performance as “three-dimensional” and “chilling.”
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Stars and Stripes also quoted Crowe after a conversation with podcaster Joe Rogan. Crowe said, “A lot of things in this story are way bigger than what we know and commonly understand,” and added, “That’s what I was looking for, to try and find a way to understand his base motivations.” Those remarks point to an effort to explore what drove the character; they are not evidence of a particular routine, physical transformation or other private preparation.
What is Nuremberg about?
The 2025 historical drama is written and directed by Vanderbilt and stars Crowe as Göring and Rami Malek as Kelley. It is based on Jack El-Hai’s nonfiction book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, which focuses on Kelley’s encounters with Göring. The film follows the Allies’ effort to hold Nazi leaders accountable while Kelley and Göring engage in a psychological contest, according to The National WWII Museum.
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Vanderbilt told the museum that he encountered El-Hai’s short book proposal in 2012, used his own money to option the material, and then began researching and writing. In a Los Angeles Times first-person essay, he explained that the story expanded beyond the prison-cell dynamic as he learned more about the trial. The adaptation also brings in U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson’s role in securing the proceedings and Howard Triest, a translator who worked with Kelley. Vanderbilt described the expansion—not narrowing the material—as the hardest adaptation problem.
How does the film connect the characters to the trials?
The Nuremberg proceedings give the film’s personal conflict its larger stakes. The National WWII Museum describes 13 total trials from 1945 to 1949, beginning with the International Military Tribunal in 1945. Its overview says Nazi leaders were tried for crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity and conspiracy.
Stars and Stripes reports that the main trial began on November 20, 1945, after the four Allied powers signed the tribunal charter, and that 22 top Nazi officials stood trial. The same report says 12 defendants were sentenced to death after verdicts on October 1, 1946. These figures refer to the main trial as reported by Stars and Stripes; the museum’s figure covers the wider series of proceedings.
The production also sought to connect its courtroom scenes to the historical setting. Vanderbilt told The National WWII Museum that the courtroom was recreated from original plans and that actual liberation footage was used for the trial scene. Stars and Stripes likewise reported that the film was shot in Hungary and that its courtroom was reproduced from the original building plans. Vanderbilt told the newspaper, “We worked really hard to be as accurate as possible.”
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why does the casting choice shape the film’s approach?
Vanderbilt’s account suggests that Crowe’s role is not simply to portray a notorious figure as monstrous from the outset. The character must be persuasive enough for Kelley’s relationship with him to feel psychologically credible, while the larger trial story makes clear what that charisma cannot conceal. The film’s expanded focus on Jackson, Triest and the courtroom places the intimate contest inside a broader account of accountability.
For Vanderbilt, that broader history also carries national meaning. As quoted by Stars and Stripes, he said, “I hope we did you proud, because I think this is a really proud moment in the history of the U.S. military and of our country.”
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Further reading
Readers who want the nonfiction source can look for Jack El-Hai’s The Nazi and the Psychiatrist. Vanderbilt’s interviews with The National WWII Museum and Creative Screenwriting discuss the film’s historical and adaptation choices.
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