During the Nuremberg trials held in 1945 and 1946, top Nazi leaders were prosecuted, including Hermann Göring, who was second only to Hitler. While Göring's role is widely known, less attention has been given to American psychiatrist Douglas Kelley. Kelley spent over 80 hours evaluating Göring and 21 other high-ranking Nazis before their trials. As chronicled in Jack El-Hai’s book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, Kelley was simultaneously captivated and disturbed by Göring. He ultimately came to a troubling realization: such horrific behavior could arise anywhere, under any circumstances. The weight of this insight deeply impacted him for the rest of his life.

Filmmaker James Vanderbilt, known for his work on Zodiac, has drawn inspiration from El-Hai’s book for his new movie titled Nuremberg. In the film, Russell Crowe takes on the role of the flamboyant and confident Göring, Rami Malek plays the introspective Dr. Kelley, and Michael Shannon portrays Robert Jackson, the American Supreme Court Justice who led the prosecution at the trials and directly challenged Göring in the courtroom.

For Malek, the role reignited his thoughts on the nature of evil—something he pondered while playing the villain in No Time to Die. “While playing the Bond villain, I kept telling myself, ‘This guy is just evil.’ But soon I began questioning that,” he explains. He tried to embrace the idea of inherent evil, but his empathy complicated that belief. “Just like Kelley, I found the ordinary nature of it all unsettling," said Malek. "These horrors aren't confined to one time or place—they can happen under any regime. And too often, we look the other way.”

Vanderbilt saw an eerie real-life parallel to fictional crime tales, such as The Silence of the Lambs, where Kelley engages in a psychological battle with a charismatic sociopath. “Göring wasn't a villain caricature—he was witty, sociable, and seemed like a family man,” said Vanderbilt. “That’s what made him even more dangerous. He clung to power, no matter the cost to others.”

Shannon observed the commanding presence of Crowe while filming. “Russell leaned fully into Göring’s magnetic personality,” he notes. “He made the other Nazi characters feel like a cohesive group—even those with no lines. He led them as if they were part of a performance.”

Crowe had been attached to the project since 2019, by which point Vanderbilt had already spent several years developing it. But just before production began, another Holocaust-themed film entered the conversation: Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar-winning The Zone of Interest. That film offered a restrained portrayal of atrocity—it took place near Auschwitz, showing little but implying much.

“We were already in pre-production when I saw The Zone of Interest,” Vanderbilt recalls. “I thought it was a brilliant perspective.” He isn’t concerned that his own, more traditional approach might seem outdated in comparison. “There’s room for all types of storytelling,” he insists. “Ours is perhaps more classical. A friend of mine jokingly calls some serious films ‘spinach movies’—you know, the type you're supposed to watch because you feel you should. I wanted to avoid that feeling with Nuremberg.”

Shannon believes the film’s significance goes beyond history. “It’s essential viewing,” he says. “Everyone should see this film and reflect on it because its message feels incredibly relevant today. But even beyond that, it’s a compelling piece of cinema. It tells a tough story in a powerful way.”

Though The Zone of Interest avoids showing graphic imagery, Nuremberg takes a more direct approach. The film includes actual five-minute footage from concentration camps, which was presented during the original trials.

The day they filmed that courtroom scene left a mark on Shannon. “I felt uncomfortable acting while watching that footage,” he says. “I didn’t want the camera on me. It felt wrong, somehow disrespectful. If you notice, after I introduce the footage, they don’t cut back to me. That probably says a lot about how uneasy I felt.”

Vanderbilt, however, praises Shannon’s performance. “Michael brought such depth to every moment. And sometimes, what we feel during filming shouldn’t be easy. I told the cast not to view the footage beforehand—I wanted genuine reactions. On set, we gathered 300 extras, set up a real projector, and had a quiet moment before we began. The emotions captured in that shoot are honest.”

One topic Vanderbilt appears more hesitant to address is the film’s release amid rising fascist rhetoric globally. Today, individuals with alarming ideologies can express themselves freely and remain celebrated, which draws some uncomfortable parallels to the film’s themes.

The script includes poignant moments that resonate in the present, such as Göring praising Hitler for making Germans feel proud again. Vanderbilt clarifies he wrote that line back in 2014, before its modern parallels became obvious. Still, he chose to keep it. “I understand the urge to relate it to today,” he says. “Good stories always reflect the times in which they are viewed.”

While Vanderbilt may avoid overt political commentary, Malek is more frank. “That line about making people feel ‘German again’? It’s chilling,” he says. “It mirrors something we hear today—and I think your readers will know exactly what I mean.”

Shannon doesn’t hold back either. “The danger isn’t in the film,” he says solemnly, “it’s around us. We fall for this charm too easily, and that could be our undoing. We seek entertainment when we should be seeking awareness. It’s deeply troubling.”

He speaks candidly about the current climate in America. “This country feels like it’s in constant crisis. There’s this disturbing cocktail of overconfidence and self-hate. Every day feels a bit darker. I’ve never seen it so dysfunctional—it’s honestly humiliating.”

By the end of Nuremberg, Kelley is called out for criticizing his country while promoting his Nazi research. One wonders how the film’s marketing team will respond to Shannon’s blunt reflections. “I’m sure they’ll be horrified by what I’ve said,” he admits. “But to be honest, I don’t care.”

• Nuremberg arrives in UK cinemas on 14 November and will premiere in Australia from 4 December.