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Paul Rudd Goes Undercover In ‘The Catcher Was a Spy’ at the Summer KCET Cinema Series on June 5

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Q&A immediately following with director Ben Lewin.

Paul Rudd stars in the true life story of Moe Berg, a former professional baseball player who agrees to travel behind enemy lines during World War II with a physicist to meet and, if necessary, kill the scientist leading Nazi Germany’s nuclear research program. The U.S. government recruited Berg, who graduated from Princeton and Columbia, for his intimate knowledge of Eastern European language and history during World War II. Outside of his MLB career, Berg spoke seven languages and had done successful circuits on numerous trivia quiz shows. As an intelligence operative, he interviewed physicists about the Nazi nuclear program and played an instrumental role in the U.S. effort to defeat Germany, later transferring to the CIA. The film also co-stars Guy Pearce, Paul Giamatti, Jeff Daniels, Sienna Miller and Tom Wilkinson.

“The Catcher Was a Spy” will be released on June 22 by IFC Films. The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Director Ben Lewin will be in attendance for a Q&A session immediately following the screening with Pete Hammond of KCET Must See Movies.

“It’s a crazy story and it’s a true story, and he really is one of the more fascinating figures I’ve ever read about,” Rudd said of Berg. “I read this script a while ago and I never forgot about it. I knew nothing about Moe Berg, but I can’t believe he existed, and the opportunity to try and discover something about the guy was absolutely appealing.”

The summer season of the KCET Cinema Series is generously sponsored by the James and Paula Coburn Foundation as well as Deadline.com. The season begins on June 5th and runs through July 31st. Season passes are available online via Eventbriteand individual admissions are available at the door for $25 each.

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