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A bold reimagining of Hitler, Barry J. Hershey's debut feature film "The Empty
Mirror" defies the Hitler taboo and explores what might have happened inside
Adolf Hitler's mind if, after World War II, he had been cut off from his role
as Führer and left to contemplate his deeds, the myths he created, and the man
he really was.
Remembering, analyzing and regretting, this Hitler begins to break down, to open
up and let loose the fantasies and illusions to which he so stubbornly clung and
which he foisted upon the world. Moving from the blackly comic to the hauntingly
emotional, Hitler is visited by a host of characters, real and imagined, ranging
from Eva Braun and Joseph Goebbels to Sigmund Freud.
A Lions Gate Films presentation, "The Empty Mirror" is directed by Barry J.
Hershey from a story by Barry J. Hershey and screenplay by Barry J. Hershey and
R. Buckingham. The film is produced by David D. Johnson, Jay Roach and William
Dance. Norman Rodway stars as a Hitler never before seen on screen in a performance
of enormous range and creativity. He is joined by a cast of European and American
talents including Oscar-winner Joel Grey as the infamous Joseph Goebbels, Danish
award winner Camilla Soeberg as Eva Braun, Glenn Shadix as Goehring, Peter Michael
Goetz as Sigmund Freud and Doug McKeon as Hitler's stoic typist. (See
cast.)
Hershey began this film odyssey in June 1987, when an image came to him: Hitler
standing next to a projector watching film images of himself. Initially, Hershey
saw it as a very short film. Yet this image daisy-chained into a whole series of
visual images, characters, dialogues, themes and scenes - ideas which were generated
for more than three years before commencing the writing of "The Empty Mirror". (See
creation narrative.)
While "The Empty Mirror" is an imaginary rather than an historical construct, the
images and ideas were influenced by Hershey's studies as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard
University. Courses in the visual arts, literature and religion - Buddhism and Taoism
in particular - stimulated and shaped this outpouring. (See
syllabi.)
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