EXCLUSIVE: Constantin Film is going undercover for Look Who’s Back, its big-screen adaptation of Timur Vermes’ bestselling novel that imagines the return of Adolf Hitler to modern-day Germany. The powerhouse German company is replicating the Borat model, thrusting its notorious central character played by unknown German actor Oliver Masucci into unsuspecting real-life situations in Germany.

Actual principal photography begins Saturday, but reaction to the “pre-shoots” with Masucci as Der Fuhrer has spread virally across the country, where the dark days of Nazi rule remain a blot on the German psyche. The shoot will take place all over Germany with a particular emphasis in Berlin.

The book, a publishing phenomenon selling 2 million copies in Germany alone, has proven a hot-potato subject across Europe. It has now been published in more than 40 countries. Constantin has maintained an iron curtain of confidentiality around the project for fear of blowing the cover of Masucci, purposely chosen as the lead for his lack of public profile.

David Wnendt (Combat Girls, Wetlands) is directing, with cast including Christoph Maria Herbst, Fabian Sawatzki and Katja Riemann. Producers are Christoph Mueller and Lars Dittrich; Oliver Berben and Martin Moszkowicz are exec producing.

The movie is a co-production between Mythos Film and Constantin, which will release in Germany in October 2015. Constantin also has international rights.