Michael Aloni hopes Hulu’s We Were the Lucky Ones will serve as a teachable moment for younger generations who may not be familiar with the history of the Holocaust.
Based on Georgia Hunter’s bestselling 2017 book, We Were the Lucky Ones tells the true story of the Kurcs — portrayed by Lior Ashkenazi, Robin Weigert, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Joey King, Amit Rahav, Logan Lerman and Hadas Yaron — as they do their best to survive and reunite during World War II.
In an interview with Us Weekly, the Shistel alum, 40, opened up about the powerful limited series, which follows a tight-knit Jewish family who are ripped apart during World War II. “It’s an important story to tell,” Aloni said. “It’s a great reminder of people who weren’t lucky, and a great reminder of what happened just not so long ago, and the basic nature of hatred and evilness that is not to be repeated ever again.”
“It’s a good way to get the audience who [may] not [be] familiar with the history of this world,” he continued, “and educate them in a way that they’ll be reminded of what happened.”
Michael Aloni, Hadas Yaron, Robin Weigert Getty Images (3)
“Above everything, the importance of the show [is] you are experiencing through the eyes of a family [and] a reminder of humanity, of strong bonds, of hoping, of longing of love,” Aloni said. “It’s kind of like a victory of love over hate.”
Aloni was grateful to have Hunter on set when it came to channeling his character, Selim, as it gave him an opportunity to dive into the character with the help of the author. When it came time to film, he was able to “let it all go — and it comes out on the screen.”
Michael Aloni, Lior Ashkenazi, Erica Lipez, Hadas Yaron, Joey King, Logan Lerman, Sam Woolf, Robin Weigert, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Amit Gupta, Amit Rahav, Georgia Hunter, Jennifer Todd Disney/PictureGroup
For her part, Yaron didn’t need to dig deep to get familiar with the emotions that came along with playing someone living during this time in history. Though she read Hunter’s book, “We as Israelis, we grew up with the Holocaust. It’s something we are very familiar with,” the Fill the Void star, 33, shared. “We all have family that [are] Holocaust survivors, so it’s kind of very much in our DNA. We know about it so much, we grew up with it.”
Us also spoke with Weigert, who plays Kurc matriarch Nechuma. The character “is still at work in me,” the Deadwood alum, 54, told Us. “Her capacity for love is so enormous, and her capacity to hold onto hope for her children is so enormous. For her, nurture is a form of a survival technique — a way that she survives hardship when she can pour this nurturing energy into her daughter or her husband. It is a kind of a life-giving energy for her.”
Jakob (Amit Rahav), Bella (Eva Feiler), Anna (Anita Adam-Gabay), Genek (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) and Herta (Moran Rosenblatt Vlad Cioplea/Hulu
“She never stopped having a purpose,” she continued. “There’s no point in the story that I found where she has no ability to conceive of a function for herself, and I think that really carries her through.”
Despite the heavy subject, Weigert says the cast found a way to keep things light when cameras went down. “We hung out all the time,” she told Us, noting the group played tennis, took to nearby cities during breaks in filming and ate at fabulous restaurants in Bucharest. “We loved each other so much. We had a great time together [and] just did a million things together.”
We Were the Lucky Ones is streaming now on Hulu
