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Interviews: ''Inside, I am probably still a boy after all.''
Geschrieben am Donnerstag, 01.Dezember. Um 14:09:32 CET
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Daniel Br?hl ("Good Bye, Lenin!", "The Edukators") is the shooting star of German film. To [German] interview magazine "Galore" the 26-year-old actor talked about teenage rebeldom and his desire for not having to play the adolescent hero any longer.
GALORE, Winter 2004.
Question: Mister Br?hl, you seem to have become a sort of alter ego on screen to director Hans Weingartner. After "The White Sound" you also played the lead role in his new film "The Edukators".
Daniel Br?hl: We do have a very special relationship. While shooting "The White Sound" Hans even started to call me his "favourite enemy", just like Werner Herzog called Klaus Kinski in his documentary. Sometimes we fight like crazy, but in the end we always find a common denominator, like in a good friendship, where you hate and love one another. Also, when shooting is over, we always stay in touch.
For example, once we met at my parents' home in Spain, where we got the idea for telling a story about the Basque terrorist group ETA. It would have become a great thriller that eventually turns into a love story. However, the ETA is a quite delicate issue in Spain and should rather be tackled by Spanish filmmakers. As a background, our story needed a terrorist threat, which doesn't any longer exist in Germany.
Question: That sounds almost regretful...
Daniel Br?hl: Oh my god, I just noticed myself. No, the regrets only relate to the story, we couldn't put into effect, in the end. My mother is Spanish and with her half of my family, so I have learned a good deal about the ETA. There were times, for example under Franco's dictatorship, when they fought on the right side and earned a lot of public support for it. Their good reputation changed of course in recent years, when the ETA turned into a mere organisation of unscrupulous brutal terrorists.
Question: In a very reduced form, you also find this fusion of illegality and romance in your role as Jan, the infatuated anti-globalization protester in "The Edukators".
Daniel Br?hl: Hans Weingartner was quite occupied with the issue of terrorism. He was born in 1970 and is a child of the '68 generation which, for example, very much romanticized the German terrorist group RAF. I was born eight years later and my parents, who had me very late, were already too old to join a student movement in 1968. In my parents' house this topic was therefore never really dealt with, it only was at school, at the most.
Question: All the harder it must have been for you to act with a certain revolutionary, juvenile energy.
Daniel Br?hl: It was, indeed. With some statements, I was afraid of looking ridiculous. There were moments when I didn't believe myself. Then the fear, the audience in front of the screen wouldn't believe me either, is all the stronger.
Question: Are you a total stranger to this kind of revolutionary energy?
![[Daniel Br?hl, Hans Weingartner]](http://www.danielbruhl.com/grafika/wywiady/withWeingartner.jpg)
Daniel Br?hl: On the one hand, young people nowadays don't have any new starting-points to change things. There is a certain indifference prevailing there. On the other hand, the slogans and philosophies of organisations such as the RAF seem very far away now, because they sound so na?ve . Of course I considered myself to be rebellious when I was young, just as most young people do. I also sang in a band. Only recently, when rearranging things, I found an old cassette. What you get to hear there just gives you the creeps. It had verses like "Cologne, what has become of you? That's not like you used to be." I was shocked. Honestly. I will keep this cassette under lock and key, that's for sure.
Question: Okay, it sounds na?ve, but at least emotional and a little disillusioned.
Daniel Br?hl: It sounds first and foremost pubescent! I used to be a bit lefty when I was young, latently nonconformist, and I had a couple of friends who once in a while lived in construction trailers until they got cleared or who committed themselves to the antifascist movement. But I was never the type to take part in organisations myself. The insights from outside were always enough for me. In this respect, I am glad that during the shoot we abandoned the idea to even extend this political discussion and put more emphasis on the romance as a second main focus.
Question: With your biggest success to date "Good Bye, Lenin!" you achieved your breakthrough. You even became known abroad. The hype around the film eventually grew big enough to almost make you feel uncomfortable.
Daniel Br?hl: It actually was like an avalanche. "Good Bye, Lenin!" is an outstanding movie which exactly matched the Zeitgeist and touched a nerve in people at that time, obviously not only in Germany but also in countries like France, Great Britain and the United States. The film definitely deserves this, but if I, as an actor, could wish for something, it would be that everything shouldn't descend upon one at once. I disliked it, because every other week newspapers were full of our happy faces and celebratory headlines. At some point, people must get bored with it, thinking: oh no, not him again! I am the same. When there is a big hype about something, you only wait for it to come to an abrupt end. When you are involved yourself, you get under enormous pressure which also frightens you a bit. With every new film I think: now people are going to attack you!
Question: Since "Good Bye, Lenin!" gained such public attention you will also get recognized in the street.
Daniel Br?hl: This is another situation I was thrust into all of a sudden and do not quite know how to handle yet.
Question: You could ask your girlfriend Jessica Schwarz for advice.
Daniel Br?hl: That's true. In this respect, Jessica is much more relaxed than I am because she's been used to the publicity much longer.
But to be honest: of course you also enjoy the attention. One always says it's stress and it gets on ones nerves, but, actually, it feels quite nice when you notice that people give you strange looks and wonder whether it's you or not. I must honestly admit here that it satisfies my vanity.
![[Tom Schilling, Jessica Schwarz]](http://www.danielbruhl.com/grafika/wywiady/Jessica02.jpg)
Tom Schilling and Jessica Schwarz in "Verschwende deine Jugend".
Question: The hype around you kept also continued in the German film business. Bernd Eichinger had planned to give you a role in "Downfall", one of the most prestigious German film-projects of all time. Why did it not work out?
Daniel Br?hl: When I received the script, I already had an offer from England for a role alongside Judy Dench and Maggie Smith. On the one hand "Downfall" interested me very much, but on the other hand you don't get an opportunity to work with Dench and Smith every day, do you? Besides, my role in "Downfall" would have been much smaller. That's why I eventually opted for the English production.
Question: The promotional line for this film called "Ladies in Lavender" sounds very romantic: "The story of two sisters who saved a stranger, and a stranger who stole their hearts"...
Daniel Br?hl: Wow, that's a hot summary, indeed. And, yes, Judi Dench falls in love with me. But I admit, it turned out to be too much of a romantic story in the end, for my taste. Also, I always wondered why of all actors I was chosen for this role because physically I did not meet the expectations of director Charles Dance. He was looking for someone like the youth in Luchino Visconti's "Death in Venice" - blond, angelic, soft. There must be something that makes filmmakers and audience see the romantic in me, however, I have no idea what it could be.
Question: But there is a certain yearning romanticism to be found in many of your roles. It was there in "No regrets" already.
Daniel Br?hl: That's true. One always appears romantic when playing a young guy who is in love. But generally speaking, softness is nothing I would relate to myself. Maybe it's because I seem to be so unmanly that everybody sees the romantic in me. But this will hopefully change in the near future, for I will be shooting a really funny buddy-story soon together with J?rgen Vogel. Sebastian Schipper who also made "Absolute Giganten" is going to direct the film. If the script stays like it is now, there will be hardly any romance in it, which I very much appreciate. I am really looking forward to working with J?rgen Vogel. I think we have a similar way of approaching our roles, although otherwise we have very little in common. After all, we belong to different generations of actors.
Question: From one of these generations to the other, there has undoubtedly taken place some change of type. How would you describe your actors-generation?
Daniel Br?hl: I talk about this often with fellow actors. J?rgen Vogel, Moritz Bleibtreu, Benno F?rmann or Til Schweiger are angular, strong men. The younger ones like for example August Diehl, Tom Schilling, Robert Stadlober or myself are almost the opposite, rather melancholy boys. At least, that's what we look like. Of course I am glad that this type is now more in demand but, personally, I don't see myself as a melancholic at all.
![[Daniel Br?hl, August Diehl]](http://www.danielbruhl.com/grafika/wywiady/Daniel02.jpg)
Melancholy Boys - Daniel Br?hl and August Diehl in "Love in Thoughts".
Question: But?
Daniel Br?hl: I am incredibly silly, but I can be an asshole as well. I probably do not dare to show that often enough, at least not onscreen. My friends, my girlfriend and my parents, however, know very well that I can be an asshole. But somehow nobody wants to see me like this in front of the camera; I am always offered the role of the good guy. I actually like playing it, but should there happen to be an opportunity some day...
Question: ... to play an enigmatic villain?
Daniel Br?hl: Someone who is shady, whom you can not assess immediately... , this I would indeed find interesting. One day I would like to play the nasty scheming rat, one whole movie through. Perhaps like John Malkovich in "Dangerous Liaisons" - that's my dream.
Interview by Edda Bauer
Translated by Lissy.
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durchschnittliche Punktzahl: 4.8
Stimmen: 5
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