THE CAST TALK BOUT THEIR CHARACTERS

INTERVIEW WITH MARTINA GEDECK (Ulrike Meinhof)
In  recent  years  Martina  Gedeck  achieved  acclaim  both  in  Germany  and  internationally  as  the  female  lead  in  the  Oscar-winning  drama  THE  LIVES  OF  OTHERS  as  well  as  in  Robert  de  Niro's  THE  GOOD  SHEPHERD  and  Oskar Roehler's ATOMISED (based on the novel by Michel Houellebecq). In 2008 she was awarded  the FIPA d'honneur  in Biarritz. Her upcoming  feature  films  include Helma Sanders-Brahms' CLARA, in which she plays Clara Schumann.  Martina Gedeck started her film career whilst still at drama school, starring in Dominik Graf's  TV-drama  "Die  Beute"  (1988)  and  his  feature  film  "Tiger,  Loewe,  Panther" (1989). She received her first Bavarian Television Award for the title role in Jo Baier's "Hoelleisengretl"  (1995).  She  won  the  German  Film  Award  in  2002,  the  Golden Camera in 2003 and was nominated for the European Film Award for the title role in Sandra Nettelbeck's BELLA MARTHA (2002). 

How do you feel about playing Ulrike Meinhof?
Playing Ulrike Meinhof was a role that I'd always dreamed of. I've been fascinated by this  woman  for  years.  It's  a  complete  mystery  to  me  how  an  earnest,  intelligent woman,  who  had  high  ideals  and  who  reached  so  many  people  through  her newspaper columns and had genuine political  influence, could give up her children, her career, her entire existence in order to change the world with a Kalashnikov. 

How did you prepare for the role?
I  read everything  I could get my hands on by and about Ulrike Meinhof.  I  talked  to people who knew her, watched  interviews and  films about her and studied her radio and  television work. And  I  also  studied  the way  she  talked  and  the way  her  voice changed over the years.

What  is  your  personal  opinion  on  Ulrike  Meinhof  and  the  RAF's  "armed struggle"?
There's something hysterical about the RAF's self-imposed duty to change the world and  fight  for  justice.  Their  conviction  that  their  mission  was  imperative,  their  readiness  to  "fight until  the  last drop of blood" not only bordered on  fanaticism,  it's also  an  expression  of  hysteria.  The  RAF  went  on  a  hysterical  crusade  against  a young,  still  fragile democracy, which  in  turn  reacted hysterically. The RAF's armed struggle was something that should have happened 40 years earlier when Hitler was pushing for war. That's when people should have revolted and called to arms. But in the 1970s, all this bloodshed and the murder of innocent people were not only cruel  and gruesome, but also politically wrong.

Have you been able to solve the "Ulrike Meinhof mystery" for yourself?
I  still have many  unanswered  questions  concerning Ulrike Meinhof.  If  she was  still alive  today,  I would ask her how she  felt about  the RAF  today, whether she  thought that the RAF achieved anything other than killing and injuring people which lead to a tightening of  the police surveillance apparatus.  I would want  to know how she dealt with  the  fact  that  she  is  responsible  for  the  death  of  innocent  people  even  though she'd been fighting against the nuclear holocaust and injustice.
 
What role can this film play in our understanding of the history of the RAF?
In Germany  this  film provides  the opportunity  to revisit some of  the stereotypes and legends that revolve around the RAF. The film offers the chance to view the history of  the RAF more  realistically. As a  result our  view of our national past might become more dangerous but it will also be more accurate.

How did you feel about filming inside Stammheim Prison?
For an actor there's always a thin line between fiction and reality. During the making of THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX this line became so blurred it was sometimes undetectable. We  stopped  "pretending."  For  the  people  we're  portraying  it  was  a matter of life and death, as an actor you have to pursue that kind of attitude at least to an extent. This is why filming in Stammheim Prison took my breath away - the past felt extremely close.
 
INTERVIEW WITH MORITZ BLEIBTREU (Andreas Baader)
Moritz Bleibtreu, born in Munich in 1971, trained as an actor in Rome, Paris and New York. He made his acting debut as a stage actor  in Hamburg, but went on  to star  in feature films such as Tom Tykwer's RUN LOLA RUN and Oliver Hirschbiegel's THE EXPERIMENT, for which he won the German Film Award. He also won the German Film Award for his part in Thomas Jahn's KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR.  For his part  in Oskar Roehler's ATOMISED he  received  the Silver Bear at  the 2006
Berlin  Film  Festival.  Bleibtreu  had  also  starred  in  Roehler's  previous  film  AGNES AND HIS BROTHERS. In recent years, Bleibtreu has appeared in several international productions, including Steven  Spielberg's  MUNICH,  and  in  Paul  Schrader's  THE  WALKER  and  ADAM RESURRECTED. His most  recent  roles  in German-language  feature  films were  the leads in Hans Weingartner's satire RECLAIM YOUR BRAIN and the German-Turkish gangster  movie  CHIKO.  He  is  currently  working  on  the  children's  film  LIPPELS TRAUM, and will soon be acting in Jo Baier's adaptation of HENRY IV. 

Who was Andreas Baader in your opinion?
No matter how you see Andreas Baader  in moral  terms, you can't deny  that he's a legend of some sort. And as such he's still haunting  the collective subconscious of German  society.  People  project  their  desires,  hostilities  and  anxieties  onto  his persona. That's why everyone -  including  those who knew him - has  their own  idea of  who  Andreas  Baader  was  and  everyone  will  defend  this  idea  because  they're convinced it's the truth.

So how were you able to play Andreas Baader?
I had to keep the sum of what I had learned about Baader somewhere in the back of my head, and yet forget it and play my own Baader. In my opinion, he was driven by a  constant  craving  for  attention.  There's  little  evidence  that  he  was  intellectually motivated in the beginning. OK, in general terms he knew what the whole thing was about politically, and he was very anti-authority, but his intellect was born later, out of necessity.  Only  when  he  realised  that  he  wasn't  going  to  get  out  of  Stammheim Prison so easily, he shaped up intellectually and became the political leader who the RAF sympathisers wanted him to be. 

Andreas Baader is responsible for the deaths of many people. Weren't you ever concerned that your portrait of him might be too charismatic or too positive?
Baader must have been an incredibly charismatic, charming man. He used his charm and wit  to get people  on his  side. Especially  in  the beginning  he must have had a certain anti-hero magnetism that attracted people. That's how it's written in the script and  that's how  I wanted  to play him. Without wanting  to pass any moral  judgement, you  have  to  show  his  allure  and  the  audience  needs  to  understand  why  so many people  followed  this  man.  He  wouldn't  have  been  able  to  turn  so  many  people's heads if he hadn't had any charisma.

How was it working with Uli Edel?
Working with Uli Edel was brilliant. Uli is a director who guides you without giving you the  feeling you're being ordered around. And  that's a really great  thing  for an actor, especially since Uli knows exactly what you need and when you need  it - when you need encouragement and when you should be left alone. Also, he was able to tell us so much  about  the  time  and  the  left-wing  student movement,  because  he'd  been there, he'd been part of  it. He managed  to create an atmosphere, where we all got the sense that we were portraying was deeply personal to him.   

INTERVIEW WITH JOHANNA WOKALEK (Gudrun Ensslin)
Johanna Wokalek  studied at  the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar  in Vienna.  In 1998, whilst still a drama student, she made her cinema debut  in Max Färberböck's AIMÉE AND JAGUAR,  followed  by  the  three-part  miniseries  "Der  Laden".  After  finishing  her studies,  she  took  on  a  three-year  engagement  at  the  Bonn  theatre.  Since  March 2000  she's  been  an  ensemble member  of  The  Burgtheater  in  Vienna,  where  she appeared  in  Luc Bondy's  production  of  "The Seagull", Peter Zadek's  production  of "Totentanz" and Andrea Breth's productions of "Don Carlos," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "Emilia Galotti".  In  1999,  Wokalek  was  named  "Best  New  Actress  of  the  Year"  by  the  theatre magazine  "Theater  heute".  She  received  the  Bavarian  Film  Award  in  2003,  the German Film Newcomer Award  and  in 2006  the Adolf Grimme Award  for  the  lead role in Hans Steinbichler's HIERANKL.  In 2005 she played the female lead in Til Schweiger's romantic comedy BAREFOOT. In addition to THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX, Johanna Wokalek is also starring in  the upcoming mountain climbing drama NORTH FACE directed by Philipp Stölzl and Christian Frosch's thriller SILENT RESIDENT. Johanna Wokalek  is still an ensemble member of The Burgtheater  in Vienna, where she is currently appearing in William Shakespeare's "Wars of the Roses". She's also playing the  lead role in Sönke Wortmann's POPE JOAN, which is currently shooting in Germany and Morocco.

How did you approach the role of Gudrun Ensslin?
To me an essential part of Gudrun Ensslin's character was her  relentless  logic,  the absoluteness of her  thinking. That's what I concentrated on when  I played her, and, in a way, I had to become as absolute and relentless myself. While we were making the film, I wasn't able to judge her because that would have meant distancing myself from her. Of course  the crimes  that she committed and  that were  committed  in her name  are  horrific  -  there's  no  way  I  can  approve  of  murder  -  but my  job  as  an actress is not to find answers to all the questions concerning Gudrun Ensslin. Ideally, the audience will be finding their own answers to questions like "How far can we go in  the fight for a better world?".

What drew you to this role?
To  immerse oneself  in  the  otherness of  this person, whose actions are  so alien  to me,  and  to  find  some  kind  of  truth  -  that's  a  fascinating  challenge  to  me  as  an actress. When  I  first  read  the  script my  reaction was:  "I  can't  believe all  this  really happened  in Germany!" The history of  the RAF has many  facets and  the  film will,  I think, emphasise the complexity of the topic. 

How did you experience the making of the film?
Prior to filming, the main actors had to go to a shooting range and train with firearms, including  machine  guns.  This  stressed  me  out  completely.  Feeling  the  force  of  a weapon  so  physically  was  a  terrible  experience.  The  scenes  in  Stammheim  were also  incredibly  stressful,  because  we  created  a  very  real  sense  of  psychological pressure amongst the actors, which was very tiring.   

Like many  of  the other  actors  you  also  had  to  lose weight  during  the  shoot.  How was that?
To me  it was helpful  that many of us were on a  "hunger strike diet." This  feeling of emaciation made me  harder;  it  was  easier  for me  to  immerse myself  in  Ensslin's relentlessness.  You  also  have  to  remember  that  food  wasn't  really  very  important amongst young people at that time. I talked to one of the wardrobe assistants who'd lived  in  the  same  commune  as  Andreas  Baader  and  many  others  before  they became members of the RAF. She told me that at the time everyone was extremely thin and just lived on cigarettes.

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