After Germany’s defeat in World War I, Kaiser Wilhem II was forced to abdicate and ended up exiled in the Netherlands – remaining there until his death in 1941.
Now The Exception, based on novel The Kaiser’s Last Kiss, sees the former King and grandson of Queen Victoria played by Christopher Plummer.
Set in 1940, the Nazi forces have occupied Holland and Jai’s German officer is sent by to lead The Kaiser’s protection against potential assassination – that is until its’ discovered a plotter could be in his household.
Jai spoke exclusively about The Exception with Express.co.uk, including his chemistry with co-star Lily James.
Jai said: “The period itself has always fascinated me. What separated The Exception from other movies is that it’s not necessarily a war film.
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“It’s set in 1940 when the Netherlands has been recently occupied, but the crux of film is a love story between Brandt [Jai’s character] and Mieke [Lily’s character].
“But it’s also the Kaiser and his plight – dealing with his relevance to the throne and to Germany and the shape of the world.
“Those sort of things were what made it interesting to me, as opposed to looking at something strictly about battles.”
On the novel, he said: “I read the book. It’s different, an interesting one. There were some choices made, I thought, in out adaptation which were interesting.
“It wasn’t necessarily a wildly received book in its time, but I think it was well handled.”
While based on historical events the story has some fictitious tweaking, including Himmler’s visit.
Jai continued: “It’s centred around what we know about Kaiser Wilhelm and that period in his life.”
“But it is fabricated somewhat in order to create drama. I don’t know, I couldn’t put a percentage on [how much of] it [is true].”
On working Lily, he said: “[She] was fantastic. There was a lot of drama and some pretty heavy intimate stuff as well.
“Building that trust early on was really important for the both of us.”
The Exception is out in UK cinemas on September 29, 2017 and is available On Demand and DVD from October 2.