I’ve been fielding a lot of questions lately about the Hulu adaptation of We Were the Lucky Ones, like where we’re filming (we’ll shoot the bulk of the series in Romania), when we’ll begin (at the end of November) and whether I’ll go over for the shoot (absolutely, as often as possible!)–but the question I get the most, the one, I must admit, that’s been rolling around in my mind since the show became a reality, is: who will play your grandfather?
Well, I’m excited to finally announce that the role of Addy Kurc (or Eddy Courts, as I knew him) will be played by Logan Lerman. You might know Logan for his role beside Al Pacino in the TV series Hunters, or from the new film, Bullet Train, where he co-stars with Brad Pitt and Joey King (our Halina!), from Percy Jackson or The Perks of Being a Wallflower or from one of the dozens of other projects he’s worked on over the course of his prolific career. What you might not know about Logan (a little something I learned in the casting process) is that he’s a musician. Like Addy, he plays the piano.
I can’t help but smile as I picture Logan seated on a bench at the family’s Steinway in Radom, Poland, a pencil tucked behind his ear. Sometimes I imagine my grandfather beside him, sharing the keys, laughing over his shoulder as they tap out a Cole Porter tune. And then I blink and I pinch myself, because IT ALL FEELS SO VERY SURREAL. But this new life for We Were the Lucky Ones on the screen is real. It’s happening. Having Logan officially on board is a thrilling and visceral reminder of that.
I can’t wait to announce each of the other cast members playing Kurc family–stay tuned for details! In the meantime, I’ve leave you with some music. My grandfather’s. List (“Letter” in Polish) is first in the album. Performed by Vera Gran in 1937, it was a popular hit, broadcast over the radio in Poland before the war. If you’re wondering whether you might hear it (or a rendition of it) in the show, the answer is an emphatic yes. I can only imagine how happy it would make my grandfather to know that his story, and along with it, his music, will live on in this way. And I have no doubt he’d feel, as I do, that Logan is just the young man to play the part.
