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Hes just saying hello.
Who is this person?
Why does he live on the roof of a local apartment complex?
Why does he stand sentinel, naked, on the roof each night?
Andrea said that this was the hardest film she ever made.
Did it feel hard for you?For me it was easy.
But thats because she takes all the weight on her own shoulders.
And makes sure the actors can live within this world that shes created.
She feels responsible for everybody.
Therefore it accumulates an amount of pressure that we cant even imagine.
We didnt have to prepare beforehand.
She gave us the lines a day or two before wed shoot the scene.
All wed know would be the themes that wed play.
We wouldnt even know where the others were coming from.
For example, Im accompanying Bailey on her journey and I often didnt know where shed come from.
Andrea would just tell me she was suffering or had a hard day.
But Andrea knew why and shed know if a scene wasnt working.
Shed prepared the film for so long.
Theyre not what you thought they would be and maybe the story also evolved.
I guess thats why.
I was like, Oh yeah, of course.
I would love to meet her.
Im shooting a movie in four weeks, otherwise Im free.
And he said, Okay, shell be in Zurich tonight.
All of a sudden, I was eating a bowl of rice with her in Zurich.
She told me that she had this fantasy of a naked man standing on a skyscraper.
He has a huge penis, half-erected.
And hes looking at a girl.
And hes some kind of Mary Poppins figure accompanying and comforting this girl.
I was like, Oh, wow.
Okay, Im in.
It wasnt about preparing or memorizing but surrendering to the moment.
Often there would be kids involved, and they would decide when to start shooting.
Andrea would never tell them what to do.
That set the tone for the two month shooting that we had.
There were no trucks on set, no huge cranes.
Nothing that would intimidate the working-class neighborhood.
We wanted to blend in and be a part of our surroundings.
But then it turned out to be the perfect costume.
And that brown skirt was definitely not one of them.
But it worked out.
And the sandals, too.
A little different than the costumes inPassages.Yes.
Those scenes where you stand on the roof naked are so fascinating and never explained.
Bird is not a story about a bird that finally flies toward the bright future.
Its also to do with your own spirit animal.
It can be a bird, but it can be a naked man on a skyscraper.
Or it can be a snake.
In Germany, we love to go to the saunas.
Everybody is naked in the saunas.
Its a very liberating and democratic and unifying experience.
When were naked we all look more or less the same.
Incredible how many of the features that set us apart from each other are gone all of a sudden.
Monkeys watching monkey stories on the big screen!
Do you go to Vabali in Berlin?
Thats one of my favorite nude saunas Ive ever been to.Yeah, Ive been there many times.
Yeah, its great.
I have to go again.
I might go next week.
When Im in town I go for a whole day.
You want to eat at least two of the burgers there.
What kind of teenager were you?
I started out as a contemporary dancer and performer in theater.
There were inspirational encounters, but also power structures that were not very helpful.
Its very hard to overcome your life as a theater performer and start working in the film industry.
You wonder how to get to know those people from another universe.
And I still do every project comes with one or two encounters that change the course of your life.
You dont need much.
Sometimes just a conversation, a look, a dinner, or another thing.
The level of poverty in Gravesend was pretty shocking to me.
The struggle people go through.
So he was high on cocaine trying to get chemo, doing drugs in the hospital.
He survived it all and hes now clean.
We went to a parking lot on a Sunday afternoon and he worked on my car for six hours.
And while doing that he was listening to a documentary about Hitler and Mussolini.
It was so absurd.
A wonderful person Id never have met in my bubble in Berlin.
Ill never forget him.
I was floating between those realities.
Therefore, I felt very free.
We could play with the kids and build sandcastles on the beach.
But I could also turn into a monster.
Thats an interesting range to play with.
Maybe I said something stupid!
I think what protects me personally is my family, the way I was brought up.
I come from a region in Germany called Swabia, and theyre very stubborn.
They dont believe in the surface, but in things underneath the surface.
Thats why theyre very scared of scratches on the car surface.
Theyre very greedy and angry, but when you get to know them, theyre kind.
Do you see yourself staying in Berlin?
Will you do more Hollywood or bigger-profile films?Sure.
All I need is an interesting part and an interesting movie.
Its not like I decided, Im going to be international.
Its just the way it is.
The most interesting projects in the last few years have been in countries other than Germany.
Every country comes with a new language, which is also a bit exhausting.
Im a bit lost.
For now, Im in Berlin, but I might also move.
My last question for you is theres a lot of karaoke in this film.
Whats your go-to karaoke?Chandelier.
Can you hit those high belts?I cant.
But I did it forMichael HanekesHappy End.
I forgot about that scene!I definitely cant hit those notes.
But the worse you sing, the more fun it is to do.
