Liev Schreiber Will Play Anne Frank's Father in Disney+ Series A SMALL LIGHT
Liev Schreiber has been cast in the role of Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank, in the upcoming Disney+ limited series A Small Light. The series is being produced by National Geographic, and it will tell the real-life story of Miep Gies, who played a critical role in hiding Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis during World War II.
Disney+ has also announced that Bel Powley (The Morning Show) will take on the role of Miep, Otto's secretary. The series will also star Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders) as Miep's husband Jan.
The series is said to be a powerful, eight-episode limited series that “tells the remarkable story of 20-something secretary Miep Gies, who didn't hesitate when her boss Otto Frank asked her to hide him and his family from the Nazis during World War II. For the next two years, Miep, her husband Jan and several other everyday heroes watched over the eight souls hiding in the secret annex. It was Miep who found Anne's diary and preserved it so that she and Otto could later share it with the world.”
It’s explained, "The series title comes from something Gies said late in her life: 'I don't like being called a hero because no one should ever think you have to be special to help others. Even an ordinary secretary or a housewife or a teenager can turn on a small light in a dark room.'"
"Miep kept her heroic work secret from her friends and family while also struggling with the everyday pressures of work, daily life in wartime under Nazi occupation, and a new marriage.” Miep is "an unlikely heroine whose inspirational story is timeless and deeply humanistic."
After Anne Frank passed away in 1945, Miep gave Otto his daughter’s diary that she had saved from getting in the hands of the Nazis. In 1947, Otto Frank published Anne's diary.
Susanna Fogel (The Flight Attendant) will direct multiple episodes of the eight-episode limited series, including the pilot. Joan Rater and Tony Phelan (ABC's Grey's Anatomy, Council of Dads) will serve as executive producers and showrunners of the series, which they also wrote.