She added: 'He made changes to the script in English, taking it back closer to the book - and then Edward himself translated the whole thing into German. 'Eventually we got the script to Edward Berger, who said he wanted to do the German story in the German language.'

We approached a lot of German directors and didn't get anywhere,' she told me. She recently told The Daily Mail's Alison Boshoff: 'I did the script in English and Ian Stokell and I did a lot of historical research, which is how we came up with the Armistice storyline.

Olympic triathlete Lesley bought the rights to the classic German book All Quiet On The Western Front and spent 16 years trying to get the film off the ground, all the while having to raise money to keep renewing the deal. MailOnline has contacted Daniel's representatives for comment. When asked how The Lost City star Daniel would feel about the film's incredible success, Lesley said he would be 'so supportive' and think it was 'amazing'. The team finally secured funding from Netflix after director Edward Berger signed on and they decided to cast all-German speakers in the adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's 1928 novel.Īustrian actor Felix was then cast in the leading role, while Daniel Brühl also took on a supporting role in the critically-acclaimed movie. However, she said they quickly realised the 'wonderful' actor wasn't right for the movie and his name unfortunately didn't raise the finances they needed. Lesley explained that Daniel 'loved' the script and the team were thrilled at signing the star, raising their hopes that they were finally going to get the film made. 'And we thought: 'What names are going to raise finance?' and at that time, Daniel Radcliffe was coming off the back of Harry Potter.' 'So we decided pretty early on, we would probably have to pitch it as English speaking with German accent. She told the publication: 'When we optioned the book 16 years ago, the landscape was so different, there's no way you could have done a German-language, film and raised any money for it. The Scottish producer said she had hoped his high-profile signing would convince bosses to back the World War One film, but Daniel's name did not rake in the funding needed. Success: The German-language war film starring Felix Kammerer has dominated awards season and looks set for more success as it has been nominated in nine Oscar categories

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