My Summer Lair Chapter #291: Could You Survive Alone In The Woods?
The Boy in the Woods: A True Story of Survival During the Second World War is a 2022 non-fiction book by Maxwell Smart.
It details the traumatic true-life survival story of a Jewish boy hiding and being hunted in the forests of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe.
Maxwell Smart’s harrowing memoir has been adapted into a feature film directed by Rebecca Snow whose previous WWII work was Cheating Hitler: Surviving The Holocaust; a 2019 Canadian television documentary. Working on that project about Holocaust survivors is where she discovered the heartbreaking story of The Boy in the Woods.
The Boy in the Woods (the movie) is about a fugitive forced to fend for himself in the forests of Poland. Child actor Jett Klyne plays Max a Jewish boy aged 12 from Warsaw, trying to evade capture during the second World War. His selfless mother tells him to run away from the Nazi trucks which they are about to board with his little sister. He does run away but is unable to find peace. And how, exactly is a boy supposed to survive in the woods? Alone?
Take comfort from knowing that Max grew up to write his memoir, he lives in Montréal and is a painter. But that also makes Max one of the fortunate ones.
Jett’s a creative actor; you’ll hear his youth in his voice but he delivers a strong performance with material that is difficult and dark. You’ve seen Jett Klyne before: he’s been in nerd TV shows like Supergirl, Deadly Class and WandaVision where he played Wanda’s son Tommy Maximoff. (As Tommy Maximoff he shows up in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels.)
Before we can talk about The Boy in the Woods though, I asked Jett about his sneaker philosophy. Dude was rocking some fresh Jordans when we sat down to talk at Ricarda’s Restaurant in downtown Toronto.
(During the interview the waitress brings his food. I left in the audio because it’s fun: you can hear us pause the interview for a French fry break. Which he gives two thumbs up. Ricarda’s has good French fries, pass it on…)
And as this conversation unfolds it turns out he has a onesie philosophy as well. Some needed levity as we revisit World War II and the personal connection he has with this challenging material.
Behold…the The Boy in the Woods trailer:
The Boy in the Woods is now playing at a cinema near you.
The Boy In The Woods @ W • T • F
Host Sammy Younan
Recorded: Saturday September 9, 2023 at 10:00 am (EST) at Ricarda’s Restaurant
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