Łukasz Żal to DP Pawel Pawlikowski’s ‘Fatherland’— Shooting This Summer

In June 2023, production on Paweł Pawlikowski’s “The Island,” which was set to star Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara, was halted when bond companies refused to insure it ahead of the SAG-AFTRA strike. While Mara remained hopeful the film might one day be revived, Pawlikowski has officially shelved the project and moved on.

His next film, “Fatherland,” is already in motion and will begin shooting as early as this summer. Described as “ambitious” in scope, the project recently secured a €200,000 grant from Germany. It will be produced by Oscar-winner Edward Berger (Conclave) through his company, Nine Hours.

Now I’m getting word that Pawlikowski’s frequent collaborator, cinematographer Łukasz Żal, has joined the project. Żal, fresh off his acclaimed work on “The Zone of Interest,” was previously attached to lens “The Island,”making his involvement in Fatherland a strong possibility.

I’m wondering if, much like Pawlikowski’s last two films, this one will also be shot in Żal‘s stunningly lensed black and white. It’s a period piece, so it would make sense for both to continue on this monochrome-infused path.

“Fatherland” is an adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s novel The Magician, a fictionalized biography of German author Thomas Mann. Co-written by Pawlikowski and Henk Handloegten (Babylon Berlin), the film follows Mann’s life from his childhood in Lübeck to his exile in the United States, exploring his internal conflicts—between personal desire and family duty, bourgeois upbringing and artistic ambition—as he navigates historical upheaval and personal struggle.

Pawlikowski’s last two films, “Ida” and “Cold War”—both shot in black and white—earned widespread critical acclaim. He also directed the acclaimed 2004 coming-of-age romance “My Summer of Love.”