Steve Buscemi has joined the cast of the drama John Rabe. According to Variety, Daniel Bruehl will also star in this true story about a German business man who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.

The film's international cast also includes France's Anne Consigny, Chinese stars Lu Huang and Zhang Jingchu; as well as Japan's Teruyuki Kagawa and Akira Emoto. Ulrich Tukur is set to play Rabe, who, as a Nazi party member, was able to create a safety zone within his city to protect civilians from the Japanese, who were responsible for claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

Buscemi will play the real-life American Dr. Robert Wilson, who stayed behind in Nanjing to help care for the victims. The film began principle photography in Shanghai last week.