film interview with german actor burghart klaussner

Renowned German actor Burghart Klaussner recently visited Australia to open the 10th Audi German Film Festival, which is screening in cities across the country. Klaussner has starred in over 50 films since the early 1980s, including Goodbye Lenin!, The Edukators, Michael Haneke’s award-winning film The White Ribbon, and the Hollywood hit The Reader. Klaussner also appears in three films within this year’s Festival Requiem (2006), The Silence (2010) and Goethe! (2010). The lovely Bernard Klaussner discusses his thoughts on the German film industry, his evolving career, and his most recent filmic works.

How would you describe the German Film industry?

It’s flourishing! We have a lot of good film schools right now, which is the basis… and we have very good German actors. I think scriptwriters have learnt to write stories instead of making reflections as well, which has improved our story telling. This is something that we always would have been better with. So the conditions are good now!

Did you always want to be an actor?

To tell you the truth, I have always, always wanted to be an actor, since I was seven years old when I played on the stage at my grammar school.

I then went to acting school in Berlin, but only for two years because they were happy to see me go – I was kind of a rebel! But anyway, I then went into theatre and I didn’t stop performing in theatre for the next twelve years, until I made my first feature film. Now in the end, my film career becomes more and more interesting, but I still do about one play a year.

You’ve starred in various films from different genres over the years – do you prefer to work in a particular genre?

I love doing comedy actually. But otherwise, when I’m choosing my roles, the script should not be uninspiring. And it should carry some sort of idea.

You were recently awarded the ‘Outstanding Individual Achievement’ prize at the 2010 German Film Awards for your performance as the Pastor in The White Ribbon. What was it like working with controversial filmmaker Michael Haneke?

Well good question. Of course Haneke is a very serious filmmaker. He is a master who is very skilled – but he came across as a gentleman who is very humorous and not at all conceited. So we had a lot of fun. But he knows exactly what he wants to do. And you would never get the idea of changing his lines. He really knows what he writes.

Then there was the fact that he wanted to film it black and white. Nobody would so easily dare to make a black and white German film today. Even German television who had money in the film said that they would not invest in a black and white film. But after we won the Palme D’Or and the other prizes, they were getting smaller and smaller and more silent, and gave the money more voluntarily.

Let’s talk about your films that are screening at the German Film Festival this year. Goette! is a tragic romance set in the 1700s. What was the production like? Where was the film shot?

Goette! wasn’t filmed in a studio – it was on original sites in the middle of Germany. We had an old castle that was empty and we decorated it, thanks to the art departments, who have been nominated for some awards in Germany.

In The Silence you play a detective who’s determined to solve a murder case – but what do you think is the message of the film in the end?

Ha ha. That would mean that we always have a message! Well I think the message is that you can never know the truth. You can never be careful enough; but in the end, what is the truth behind reality?

What are your thoughts on Australian cinema?

Well, I’ve seen them from time to time. And I love Australian actors and even some of them have worked in German cinema. So while Australian films are not as famous as the American ones, they are very entertaining!

For the full German Film Festival program visit www.goethe.de/australia

And don’t miss filmmaker Wim Wenders who will also be in Sydney to introduce his new film Pina on the festival’s closing night.