my provides are - - advisers were written on himmler had worked in the archive in the former ukraine where he had headquarters during the war not too far from hitler. in the summer 1982 my first year graduate school, i went to the archives and drove there with a friend and started to collect documentation and much of that went toward my a dissertation but also himmler's theory and not so much the origin of this book but it brought me to this location to be in touch with the witnesses and the jewish community and gave me a whole new perspective on the holocaust as it occurred outside the system or in the blood land as they are called. >> and you came across a particular photograph. >> during the course of my education and career in holocaust studies working at the holocaust museum in washington dc when i worked on these exhibits and then i would go on to direct at the mandela center a few years, i became immersed in the material of the evidence whether the large cartography on display the visual evidence, the artifacts, the testimony. i was working in the archives of my dissertation b

and goddaughters himmler's goddaughter was actually at this school, in a seaside town in england learningschool badge had a british flag and a nazi flag on it and i thought, "wow, there is a film in that." so the basis of this story is true real girls at this school, doing this stuff, and then we've written a thriller on top of it. judi dench, myself, and jim broadbent. >> seth: obviously, you are a very accomplished writer, but you had never written a screenplay before. did you find it daunting did you enjoy that process >> yeah. you were talking to amy poehler. she said, "don't do writing. you know this thing, 'cause you're obviously a wildly experienced writer, but, you know, i come from where you lived a lot of your life -- that sort of sketch thing i came from sketch, then i went into stand-up. i had to learn a whole new different thing. i couldn't do stand up but always -- i broke into pinewood studios when i was 15 and steven spielberg, had wrote -- about 17, 18, so i was trying to do a similar thing he got his career going, bam and mine took 30, 40 years a fine wine approach to ca