Growing up in Israel meant that “We Were the Lucky Ones” actor Amit Rahav was taught about the Holocaust at any early age. His childhood in Tel Aviv included a school trip to concentration camps in Poland. “It’s mandatory in the curriculum,” Rahav tells Variety.
Then there were the stories at home.
“My grandma, who is the greatest and I love her so much, she is a Holocaust survivor,” says Rahav, best known for his breakout performance as Yanky Shapiro in Netflix’s 2021 series “Unorthodox.” “So the topic of the Holocaust was surrounding me and my family since I can remember.”
Based on Georgia Hunter’s bestselling book about her own family’s experience, “We Were the Lucky Ones” tells the story of her grandfather Addy (Logan Lerman) and his siblings’ fight to survive the Holocaust and reunite. Rahav plays her grandfather’s lawyer-turned-photographer brother, Jakob. Joey King stars as their sister Halina.
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Rahav sees his work in “We Were the Lucky Ones” as a way of honoring his grandmother. Before flying to Los Angeles from his home in Tel Aviv for the series premiere, Rahav showed her a trailer for the show. “My dad was there. My sister was there. We were all very teary,” Rahav says. “It was definitely a moment that I’ll never forget.”
“We Were the Lucky Ones” shot in Bucharest, Romania, for several months.
“Sometimes it was just hard to disconnect [at the end of the day] because you’re so engaged with the work and the sets were so incredible,” Rahav recalls. “They were so realistic. It was painful to walk around the sets and see the extras. It was scary. You’re an actor and you know that you’re there to do a job, but at points it seemed so realistic. It was like a feeling of time traveling. I mean that in the best way and in the worst way.”
The cast and crew leaned on each other. “We all lived in the same hotel, so we could have lots and lots of dinners together,” Rahav says. “We explored the city together. We had so many game nights. We used to watch movies together and just joke around and have slumber parties all the time.”
Rahav admits he was nervous how the series might be received as antisemitism is on the rise and Israel is at war with Hamas. He worried viewers might be wary of the heavy subject matter. “I do think that it’s important for us not to forget and see how cruel human beings can become and for this to be sort of like a cautionary tale,” he says. “After it premiered, I realized how important this show is currently and how crucial it is for people to see it.”
But he also understands when people want to tune into something that “doesn’t make them think too much.” In fact, as a recent temporary transplant to Los Angeles, Rahav began watching “Selling Sunset.”
“I passed their offices on Sunset Boulevard and the windows are pitch black,” Rahav says. “I was so disappointed. And there are signs on the windows that say, ‘Please don’t get near the window.’ I was like, ‘Wow, how did they know that? This was my next step. How could they tell that I was about to just shove my face to this pitch black window to see if they’re really there?’”
