CHICAGO (WLS) -- Oscar winner Helen Mirren and co-star Ryan Reynolds are getting rave reviews for their performances in "Woman in Gold," the true story of a mission to reclaim a family's legacy ripped away during war.
Director Simon Curtis said it all started with a work of art by Gustav Klimt. Maria Altmann's family was forced from Vienna during the war. Their home was ransacked of priceless treasurers. Joined by an American lawyer 60 years later, she fought to get back the famous painting.
"They were a proud family as part of the Viennese community and they would have felt totally safe. And, of course, they weren't. And that's one of the most poignant things of the film, that Maria's wedding in 1938 was the last big social event for the Jewish community before the Nazis arrive. And that struck me as being a very potent thing," Curtis said.
"There's nothing about the reproductions that prepare you for how wonderful it is in person," Curtis said of the Klimt painting. "It's smaller than you might think, but a really intense experience because you've got the naturalistic face of Adele Block Bauer surrounded by all this gold ornamentation and it almost feels like a 3-D picture."
Curtis said Mirren and Reynolds met on set.
"They liked each other from the get go, and they had a fantastic chemistry both on and off camera," he said.
Curtis' wife, Elizabeth McGovern of Downton Abbey, is in the film.
"She's one of Chicago's own. She was born in Evanston and now, of course, we live in London. But I was lucky to be able to persuade her to play the judge. She plays a very important part in the story," Curtis said.
Curtis also directed a play at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre.
"I've always admired Steppenwolf's work. I love that ensemble of actors and it was a very precious time," he said.
"Woman in Gold" opens at the Landmark Century Theatre on Wednesday and theaters everywhere on Friday.