Focus Features has premiered the official trailer for The Zookeeper’s Wife based on a true story and starring two-time Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain. It’s interesting the studio’s opted for a March 31, 2017 theatrical release since the cast, director, and subject matter seem to signal Oscar material. Angela Workman (War Bride) adapted Diane Ackerman’s book and Whale Rider‘s Niki Caro directed the dramatic film set in Poland in WWII. In addition to Chastain, the cast includes Johan Heldenbergh, Michael McElhatton, and Daniel Brühl.
The Zookeeper’s Wife Plot: The real-life story of one working wife and mother who became a hero to hundreds during World War II. In 1939 Poland, Antonina Żabińska (Chastain) and her husband, Dr. Jan Żabiński (Heldenbergh), have the Warsaw Zoo flourishing under his stewardship and her care. When their country is invaded by the Nazis, Jan and Antonina are stunned – and forced to report to the Reich’s newly appointed chief zoologist, Lutz Heck (Brühl). To fight back on their own terms, Antonina and Jan covertly begin working with the Resistance – and put into action plans to save lives out of what has become the Warsaw Ghetto, with Antonina putting herself and even her children at great risk.
Watch The Zookeeper’s Wife trailer:
