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comedy. ‚Kokowääh‘ works the same way.“ Béla Jarzyk as writer and Til Schweiger as future
director then worked on the script intensely for five months. „The final draft with the ‚Schweiger-
Touch‘ was written by Til in good spirits, during the Football World Championship, after the
German 4:1-win against England“, remembers Zickler. „Then we knew: We are on the right path.“
Not until early May 2010, a decision was made for the production of „Kokowääh“. The filming then
started at rather short notice, on 21 st July. Filming went on for 38 days, until 17 th September. The
date was preset, for the film team was dependent on the summer holidays of seven-year-old lead
actress Emma.
Two fathers for Magdalena: the cast
„Casting was relatively easy this time. If you're casting a Til Schweiger film, all the most celebrated
actors in Germany will line up, but this time the choice was simple, for Samuel Finzi was to a 100 %
Tristan as we had imagined him; and in the screen tests with Jasmin Gerat and Til the exact affection,
tension and chemistry evolved, which are so important for this couple. We immediately wanted for
Jasmin to accept the part of Katharina. But Til also knew from the beginning that bestselling author
Katharina in his film should wear her hair short, and he asked Jasmin that very day to have her long
hair cut before filming began. Jasmin has such a beautiful, distinctive face that Til imagined it with a
modern short haircut“.
Many contemporary films are technically brilliant, but at the end of the day everything depends on
the chemistry between the actors being right. In the best case, the filmmakers find out during casting,
or at the latest during production, after the first two or three days of shooting. Tom Zickler relates
his experiences: „Our success might basically be traced back to the fact that we manage to get actors
together who match each other. This was the case in ‚Rabbit Without Ears‘ with Til and Nora
Tschirner, and this time it leads to very moving and emotional scenes between Emma and her two
film-fathers. It works, and from that arises the kind of stardust which will enchant not only a few, but
hopefully millions of cinemagoers“.
„For me it became clear rather quickly that Emma would have to play Magdalena“, Zickler continues.
„Til had played two or three scenes with her as a test, and Emma showed great eagerness to make
the film. Each week she kept asking: ‚Papa, when will we start shooting‘? She enters into it with
enthusiasm, and Emma's 13-year-old sister Luna will also take on a cameo in ‚Kokowääh‘.
But 28 days of filming are a great challenge for a seven-year-old kid. Then there are the legal
restraints to be considered: Emma was only allowed to work for three hours each day. To be able to
carry out the shooting schedule all the same, the filmmakers coordinated it with the Health and
Safety Office. During lighting adjustments, or whenever Magdalena, e.g. during dialogue scenes, is only
seen from behind because the camera is on her partner, one of four doubles was used. Zickler says:
„We casted them in such a way that looked very similar to Emma. They wore the same costumes
and the same hairdos – it was really funny, to have four versions of Magdalena romping about the
set!“
About the concept of Barefoot, Zickler says: „Like in the earlier films, we wanted to show Berlin as a
metropolis, precisely not just Kreuzberg and Linie 1, but as a city able to compete with London and
Paris. Kirsten Niehuus, head of the Filmförderung Berlin-Brandenburg, confirmed before shooting,
that ‚Rabbit Without Ears‘ gave Berlin as movie town an immense boost, because ever since, foreign
productions interested in filming in the capital make inquiries, too. Therefore we stick to this
concept, and search out attractive locations“.
For further information:
Beta Cinema Press, Dorothee Stoewahse, Tel: + 49 89 67 34 69 15, Mobile: + 49 170 63 84 627
press@betafilm.com, www.betacinema.com.
Pictures and filmclips available on ftp.betafilm.com, username: ftppress01, password: 8uV7xG3tB
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