Mark Ruffalo reveals why he said yes to All the Light We Cannot See

The well-known actor stars as the curator at the Museum of Natural History in Paris, but is always determined to give his daughter as much independence as possible in life, while also protecting her from the Nazis.

Ruffalo had worked with Shawn Levy on 2022's The Adam Project and was reunited with the director once again on this Netflix project. Speaking about his decision to do All the Light We Cannot See, Ruffalo revealed to Netflix: “It was great to reunite with Shawn. We had such a good time on The Adam Project.

"I was reticent about going back to Hungary. I had just shot there and I wanted to be home with my family, but he said to me, 'I want to do something beautiful with this story and I want to do it with you.' And that meant a lot to me."

Ruffalo continued: "He moved heaven and earth to get me there and really believed in me for the part. What was wonderful was just seeing him fly in that genre, which is something he’d never done before. He knew exactly what he was doing, though. He innately understood the story in a deep way.”

The new series sees Ruffalo's character Daniel try to conceal one of France's most precious and fabled diamonds to stop it from getting into the hands of Nazi soldiers. Finding refuge in Saint-Malo with his aunt and uncle, Daniel constructs a wooden model of the town to help Marie get to grips with how to navigate the new location.

Leading the cast is Loberti as Marie, but we also get a glimpse into the character's childhood via young newcomer actress Nell Sutton. Speaking about working with both actresses, Ruffalo also said: "The surprising thing about Aria is she’s a first timer, but she hit the set like a fish in water. She took to it. It was mind-blowing how easily she transitioned into it. She had the whole script memorised on our first read through. I’ve never seen anybody do that.

"She did want to know, up to a point, about acting methods, and I was happy to help her in any way I could. But in actuality, I became more of a surrogate father on set. She’s got two really great parents, but neither of them were able to be on set for the shoot, so my biggest job was just letting her know how well she was doing and seeing her blossom."

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The new four-part series landed on Netflix on Tuesday 2nd November and follows the story as it converges with the tale of Werner (Louis Hofman), a young boy who is drafted into Hitler's regime to work to take down illegal radio broadcasts.

According to the synopsis: "Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner over the course of a decade, All The Light We Cannot See tells a story of the extraordinary power of human connection — a beacon of light that can lead us through even the darkest of times."

All the Light We Cannot See will premiere on Netflix on Thursday 2nd November 2023. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is available to buy now.

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