Showtime puts Holocaust docudrama on its list

"Varian's War" to tell story of Schindler-esque hero

By RAY RICHMOND

Showtime has announced development of "Varian's War," a Holocaust docudrama scripted by Lionel Chetwynd and being readied in association with Barwood Films and Griffin Prods.

Barbra Streisand and Cis Corman of Barwood are executive producers along with Michael Deakin of Griffin. Deakin brought the project to Showtime. Production is slated to take place in Marseilles, France.

"Varian's War" tells the Oskar-Schindler-esque true story of Varian Fry, the son of a wealthy New York family, a Harvard graduate and a fledgling editor who in 1940 flew to Marseilles, France as the representative of a private American relief committee that rescued more than 4,000 politicians, artists, writers, scientists and musicians from Hitler's war machine.

The group Fry rescued included such cultural giants as painters Marc Chagall and Max Ernst, writer Hanna Arendt and sculptor Jacques Lipchitz. Through Fry's efforts, they arrived safely in the United States.

Fry subsequently vanished and appeared to care little about claiming credit for his deed. Showtime calls the film "perhaps the last untold saga" of heroism during World War II.

Barwood is also developing the Holocaust-themed "Rescuers: Stories of Courage," for Showtime.