Meet Rudy (played by the charming Nico Liersche) in the very endearing “The Book Thief,” every mom’s ideal kind of friend to her very precious daughter.

The story and its characters sprang from the imagination of author Markus Zusak whose novel The Book Thief was published in his native Australia in 2005 and throughout the rest of the world in 2006. The book has sold eight million copies worldwide, held a place on The New York Times best-seller list for almost seven years and has been translated into over 30 languages. Additionally, it has won over a dozen literary awards, held the number-one position at Amazon.com, and appeared on numerous best-of-the-year lists.

Zusak’sbook and director Brian Percival’s (“DowntonAbbey”) film adaptation tell the story of Liesel (Sophie Nélisse), who is sent to live with foster parents, the kind-hearted Hans Hubermann (Geoffrey Rush) and his prickly wife Rosa (Emily Watson). Reeling from the tragic death of her younger brother, Liesel is sent immediately to her new “parents” and struggles to fit in – at home and at school, where her classmates taunt her as “dummkopf” due to her inability to read.

With the single-minded obsession of a budding scholar, Liesel is determined to change that. And she gets help. Her empathetic “Papa,” Hans (played by Geoffrey Rush) works day and night with Liesel as she pores over her first tome, “The Gravedigger’s Handbook,” which she walked off with following her brother’s funeral – an impulsive act of thievery that will have profound consequences for the young heroine.

Liesel’s love for reading and her growing appreciation for her new family are heightened when she befriends a new guest in the Hubermann’s home – a Jewish refugee named Max (Ben Schnetzer), who shares her passion for books and encourages Liesel to expand her powers of observation, even as he hides from the Nazis in a dark and dank basement. Equally transformative is her burgeoning friendship with a young neighbor, Rudy who teases Liesel about her book thievery even as he finds himself falling in love with her.

Rudy is a major transformative figure in Liesel’s journey with her exponentially growing love of books and the power beyond words. Liesel and Rudy become fast friends and do everything together, including stealing (“borrowing,” Liesel insists) books. In fact, it is Rudy who nicknames Liesel, “The Book Thief.”

While Liesel’s passion is books, Rudy dreams of being a champion racer. His idol is African-American Olympic hero Jesse Owens, who achieved international fame by winning four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Rudy even goes so far as to cover himself with black paint (which he stole from Hans’ work cart), in honor of his idol – a choice that’s none too popular with a town being consumed with the doctrine of Aryan supremacy.

Young German actor Nico Liersch describes Rudy as, “always happy, nice to everyone, and never sad,” and that description fits also the actor who plays him. Sophie and Nico became close friends during production – though Sophie would squeal with laughter through almost every take while shooting scenes where Rudy tries to kiss Liesel – much to the crew’s amusement.

Nico Liersch began his acting career in TV commercials. Roles in German television followed and, in 2012, he made his feature film debut in “Kokowääh2,” appearing with Til Schweiger, who also directed, and Schweiger’s daughter Emma Tiger Schweiger. It was Germany's biggest movie that year at the box office. Liersch lives with his parents and sister in Munich where he attends secondary school. He enjoys playing handball and tennis, and snowboarding. He loves music and is learning to play the drums.

Relive young love, first love in “The Book Thief” when it opens February 19 in cinemas nationwide from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

From Karen Rosenfelt, producer of blockbuster young adult movies such as the “Twilight” saga, “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks” and “The Devil Wears Prada” bring another potential hit among the young and the young at heart in the upcoming endearing movie “The Book Thief,” starring Sophie Nelisse with acclaimed award-winning actors Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson.

Based on the beloved bestselling novel, “The Book Thief” tells the inspiring story of a spirited and courageous young girl named Liesel, who transforms the lives of everyone around her when she is sent to live with a foster family in World War II Germany. For Liesel, the power of words and of imagination becomes a means of escape – and even joy – from the tumultuous events enveloping her and everyone she knows and loves. She is “The Book Thief’s” heart and soul. Indeed, it is heart and soul – as well as triumph and perseverance—that drive the film, which is rich in themes and characters that will resonate for every generation. A moving and poignant portrait of the resiliency of the human spirit, this life-affirming tale contrasts innocence (as embodied by Liesel) with the pervasive tyranny that marked the times and her homeland.

It’s the culmination of a journey that began in a coffee shop, with producer Karen Rosenfelt. Having shepherded the blockbusting “Twilight” and “Percy Jackson” franchises to the big screen, her interest in “The Book Thief” was piqued by an article she’d read in the Wall Street Journal.“It sounded immediately interesting,” says Rosenfelt.

She sought out the book, and charged through it in a single weekend. Within weeks, she had brought the book to Fox and the project had been optioned. “It was then a seven year journey to get to where we are today,” she reflects. “We wanted to be very careful because it was such a special book. We only had one writer and one director on board during the entire process.”

Finding the right director to do justice to the material was crucial. Brian Percival’s work will be familiar to any of the millions of viewers worldwide hooked on the period television drama “Downton Abbey.” Percival says he was attracted to “The Book Thief” because it didn’t reflect every other film about this period in history. “We didn’t want to set out to make another Holocaust story,” he insists. “This is about a young girl growing up and it’s about our human experience. One of the most heartwarming things I felt while reading it was this overwhelming sense of the human spirit and just what that can overcome.”

It also, he suggests, provides a new perspective on death. “Because death is portrayed in a rye, slightly humorous way, and it’s not the terrifying vision of almost-hell that we’re sometimes given, a lot of people have approached Markus after reading the book to say, ‘I’m no longer quite so scared of Death as I was before.’”

With the film focusing ever more centrally on the titular Book Thief, it was essential that the filmmakers found the right young actress to play Liesel. In the end, the suggestion came from the man that had created the character in the first place, Markus Zusak. “I’d seen Sophie Nélisse in the film MONSIEUR LAZHAR,” he remembers, “and I remember saying to my wife, ‘Hey, that’s Liesel.’ You look at Sophie and you can’t imagine anyone else playing the character.” But with the highly experienced actors Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson on set, playing Hans and Rosa Hubermann, Nélisse has the benefit of a master class in performance to fall back on. They were the filmmakers’ first choices, and both admit they were swept up in Zusak’s narrative.

Says Rush, “Markus Zusak, who’s a Sydney boy, based it on the stories that he was told when he was in his adolescence by his grandparents. I had never heard of it, and I’m sort of surprised, because I subsequently learned from my 17-year-old daughter that all her friends had said, ‘Oh, is your dad going to be in THE BOOK THIEF? That book changed my life.’ It’s one of those phenomena.”

“I’m so thrilled to be doing this,” says Watson. “When I read the script I thought it was one of the best I’d read in years, and I really thought this was a character to get my teeth into. There wasn’t really much debate in my head.”

It was this moment that grabbed Watson. “You start by perceiving the story from a child’s point of view, and Rosa is the wicked stepmother. She’s an archetype. But then there’s a really interesting moment where it tells the story of the war from the point of view of very, very ordinary German people who are not buying the Nazi ideology, even though they’re caught up in it. For Rosa, it’s not because she’s particularly radical, she’s just getting on with her life when this moral choice lands on her doorstep. She has a split second to make a decision about which way to go.”

Rush recognized immediately that the story of THE BOOK THIEF is an uplifting one. “It shouldn’t be all dour and dark,” he insists. “From Liesel’s point of view, it’s like she’s entered a Grimm’s fairytale. She’s going into the dark forest of young adulthood and she meets a nice woodcutter, and a rather mean stepmother. And then, the more the film goes on, hopefully we’re rounding out those characters so that they have bigger dimensions.”

But for all the artists involved in putting THE BOOK THIEF together, the story remains rested on the shoulders of one little girl, who goes for another take on the Babelsberg back-lot. As Percival calls “cut”, Rush reflects on just how much talent he sees in Nélisse. “She’s sparky off-camera, but on-camera she looks almost as if she’s this cool existential philosopher, taking life as it comes. They’re very tiny little threads she plays with, but she has so much subtle, beautiful, engaging stuff going on in her mind. “The camera just loves her.”

“The Book Thief” opens February 19 in theaters nationwide from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

“The Book Thief” introduces us to a curious little girl by the name of Liesel Meminger played by Sophie Nélisse at the center of Markus Zusak’s novel of the same title. Liesel has a fascination with books and a desire to amass a collection of her own – pales in comparison to those being committed in the world in which she lives. She can’t possibly understand the tumultuous events happening around her, as war breaks out and she learns that a man named Hitler is responsible for tearing her family apart.

But as her foster father, Hans Hubermann, helps her read the pages of the books she’s so keen to take, and when she finds a friend in the Hubermann’s new basement-dwelling houseguest, Max, life begins to change for Liesel. Even in the darkest of times, the Book Thief learns the power of words, and how they can change the world.

In adapting Zusak’s novel for the big screen, director Brian Percival knew that it would take a special kind of young actress to get to grips with the complex sea of emotions that young Liesel experiences over the course of THE BOOK THIEF. He braced for a long search, encompassing thousands of kids from all over the world, in order to find the perfect Liesel. There could be only one out there.

Cast in the roles of Hans and Rosa Hubermann, Liesel’s foster parents, are the highly experienced actors Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson. Both agree that Nélisse has a natural talent for acting, and marvel at her commitment. “She has incredible discipline,” says Watson. “Her attention span is amazing and she has incredible self-possession. They’re things you really take for granted, but she also has a very instinctual, natural presence. She doesn’t need to be told what to do. She reacts, you see thought in her face, and you can’t fake that.”

Adds Rush, “She’s sparky off-camera, but on-camera she looks almost as if she’s this cool existential philosopher, taking life as it comes. They’re very tiny little threads she plays with, but she has so much subtle, beautiful, engaging stuff going on in her mind. The camera just loves her.”

But for Nélisse, this is a challenge readily accepted and further talks about her role in the following q&a (by Joe Utichi):

Q: What do you love about playing Liesel?

A: Well, she’s really tough and she’s really fun to play because she goes through a lot of different emotions. At the beginning she was thinking, “I’m a bit scared and a bit intimidated,” and then while the movie goes on she’ll get more tough and courageous. She’s so amazing to play because it’s not just an easy role. It’s interesting to play with.

Q: Do you see any similarities between you and Liesel?

A: She’s a fighter, a bit like me. I won’t really give up when I want something. She’s courageous and she never gives up, which is most like me.

Q: What is it like to work with Emily Watson and Geoffrey Rush?

A: They’re so good because they’re professional and I can learn so much from them. They’re inspiring in how they work, how they act and their preparation beforehand. Sometimes they give me advice, which is really good. It’s so fun to get the chance everyday to be sort of spoiled to be with them.

Q: What kind of film do you think it’s going to be?

A: I think that it’s an inspiring movie, because as much as it’s about the war, it’s not depressing. It is sad because of the fact of what happened, but it is sort of another way to see things in this movie. Words are like life. Liesel learns to read and she survives because of that. That applies to your own life; if you’re having a hard path you can look on the other side of things. And because of words she can see the world in a prettier way.

Q: Do you read a lot?

A: I like books that I like. I mean, you know some people don’t like a book and they’ll just finish it and say, “Okay, it was bad.” But if there’s a bad book I have to read, I’ll think, “This is boring. I won’t read it at all.” If it’s a good book I’ll read it really, really quickly and go, “Okay, I want to read the other one.” If it’s bad it’ll take me like ten years to read it!

Q: What are your favorite books?

A: I really like journals – diary kinds of things, girl stuff. But my bestfriend showed me a book that I liked. At first I didn’t think it’d be my type of thing. It was a mystery/fantasty sort of thing about animals, called FABLEHEAVEN. It’s really good. I really like it and I read all four of them. It’s a big book, but they’re really good so these are my favorites.

Q: What is it about acting that you enjoy?

A: I just love to play a role that’s not mine and to try other things that I never tried before. It’s amazing to go into other characters and to really be like that character.It’s hard - it’s a job - but it’s so fun, and then you can look at yourself and say, “I’ve experienced that,” and it’s fun to do.

Q: Do you watch a lot of films?

A: Yes, films are not like books, so even if they’re boring, and even if the movies are bad, I’ll watch them anyway. I know it’s stupid but I like these little stupid movies. My dad’s like, “Why do you watch these stupid things?” And I’m laughing at myself because I’m watching it, but I really like all movies.

Q: Who are the actors you’d really like to work with?

A: I really like Johnny Depp because I think he’s hilarious in “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Maybe Jessica Chastain, I think she’s good. There are a lot of good actors. Most of the actors I’d like to work with, all of them have so much to give me.

Q: Are you an actor for life now?

A: Yes. Unless people stop liking me and won’t hire me! But as as long as I have an opportunity, I’ll keep going.

An inspiring and moving story, “The Book Thief” will open February 19 from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

Based on the globally acclaimed best-selling book “The Book Thief” by Australian author Markus Zusak, 20th Century Fox’s latest movie of the same title introduces us to a German girl named Liesel Meminger at the heart of the story.

Set during World War II in Germany in January of 1939, Sophie Nélisse takes on the role of 9-year old Liesel – a foster girl living outside of Munich brought to a community where amongst those whom she learned to love, finally discovered her ultimate passion – books.

At a time when uncertainty looms, Liesel is brought to her foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann (played by Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson respectively) while her younger brother Werner dies along the way to the Hubermanns. In the cemetery where her brother is buried, a book entitled “The Grave Digger’s Handbook” found its way to Liesel’s hands, the first of her collections from which she’d eventually become “The Book Thief.”

The powerful material that is “The Book Thief” is transformed into an affirming, life changing movie from the production team that brought “Life of Pi” to the big screen and from Brian Percival, director of several episodes of the high profile series “Downton Abbey.” Percival has found the movie’s heroine upon seeing Nélisse’s audition tape. "It was quite uncanny, this kid. I was taken right away," says Percival. "It was this mixture of naive innocence but at the same time she's actually quite ballsy. You feel that you can get kneed in the groin at any point."

Nélisse who also played a starring role in “Monsieur Lazhar” in 2011 shares that her role in “The Book Thief” was daunting. Narrated by Death, the story’s tough emotional content which Nelisse’s character Liesel comes of age in an intolerant society within a war had Geoffrey Rush raving on Nelisse’s performance. "I've had the opportunity in my career to have played opposite some extraordinary actresses and Sophie is just a true, natural original," says Rush. "She's a gifted performer who has an instinctive and highly creative rapport with the lens.”

Soon to steal our hearts, “The Book Thief” will open February 19, 2014 in cinemas from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

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