Culture
Interview with actress Julia Jentsch: before and after the Silver Bear
“For me it was really such a present because I could receive the Berlin Bear in Berlin in my home town.”
Julia Jentsch – copyright Christine Fenzl
A few days before the Berlinale, German actress Julia Jentsch takes some time to talk about her acting career, her time as a juror at the Zurich Film Festival last year, her current project at the theatre in Zurich and of course her Silver Bear award for “Sophie Scholl – The Final Days”.
In 2005 she received the Silver Bear for the best actress in the film of Marc Rothemund, “Sophie Scholl – the Final Days”, which had an Oscar nomination for the best foreign language film. She still speaks about it as if it was yesterday and quickly sparkles light up her eyes. It may not have changed her life completely, but surely she got the media’s attention!
Julia Jentsch getting the Silver Bear for the best actress in the film of Marc Rothemund “Sophie Scholl – the Final Days” with President of the Berlinale Dieter Kosslick, Roland Emmerich (President of the Jury) and Bai Ling
At the time she was working in Munich rehearsing for a play; the director there would not let her go to Berlin. She would have almost missed the opportunity to pick up her prize personally, had the president of the festival, Dieter Kosslick, not found a last minute solution.
“For me it was really such a present because of course I could receive the Berlin Bear in Berlin, in my home town.”
You can feel how much she is still thankful to this day to the president of the Berlinale.
Julia Jentsch, today 34 years old, started her career in 2000 after three years at the Berlin acting school, the Ernst Busch Academy of Arts. She explains that while she choose to go to an acting school at that time, it was because she was not familiar with the acting business and had no contacts. She might have done it another way today, like going to workshops or looking for different acting teachers, people she really likes and would be a good fit for her.
Before her big success in Sophie Scholl she was in films such as “Angry Kisses” (her first film), “Julietta” (2001), but it was with the “Edukators” (Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei), an action film from director Hans Weingartner with co-actor Daniel Bühl, where she really got noticed.
Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch) and her brother Hans (Fabian Hinrichs) stand trial in SOPHIE SCHOLL-THE FINAL DAYS – copyright Zeitgeistfilms www.zeitgeistfilms.com
Then, came “The Downfall”, a film by Oliver Hirschenbiegel about the fall of Adolf Hitler during Nazi Germany. The film did so well that it was nominated for the best foreign film at the Oscars in 2004.
More recently she played “33 Scenes from Life” (2008) directed by the Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska and “Effi Briest” (2009) from Hermine Huntgeburth. At the moment you can see her at the movie theater in the film of Margarethe von Trotta, “Hannah Arendt”. She plays Lotte Köhler, the assistant of Hannah Arendt, who was a political theorist and publicist. Hannah Arendt retold the crimes of Nazi Adolf Eichmann for The New Yorker.
When Julia Jentsch is not working on a new movie, she is either acting for the TV or you can see her on the stage working for the theatre. Among many shows for TV, she was in “Tatort”, the “Crown Prince” and “Suddenly Gina”.
She loves the theater and would not want to ever have to chose between a life as an actress for the cinema or for the theater. She needs both to function well and it would be heart breaking for her to be forced to do so.
Since the beginning of her career she has worked many years in plays in Munich at the Münchner Kammerspiele in Maximilianstrasse. She played various characters and was in “Othello”, “Orestes”, “Antigone”, “The 10 Commandments” and “Die Nibelungen”.
A few years ago she became a mother; she admits that it is much more difficult to have a career working for the theater with a young child. She wanted to enjoy motherhood and bring her child to bed in the evenings, but it is impossible when you have to perform at night. That’s why for a while she could not accept job offers for the theater. After eight months at home, Julia felt like working again and her love for her work finally came back.
She started with a couple of films with smaller parts in the movies “Hannah Ardent” and “Strange Case of Wilhlem Reich” with co-actor Klaus Maria Brandauer. Her daughter, now 2 years old, travelled with her to Luxembourg, Austria and even Russia. No doubt the way she picks her movies has changed since she became a mother.
Julia went back to working for the theater when the director of the Zurich Schauspielhaus, Barbara Frey contacted her again last year. Julia had refused her offers before, but this time it was different. As her daughter was a bit more grown up, she accepted to read the script.
She will be playing Maggie the Cat in the play of Tennessee Williams “A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, directed by Stefan Pucher.
While Julia had worked at the Zurich Schauspielhaus before in the play “Major Barbara”, she had never worked with Stefan Pucher. Working with director Pucher is something she was really excited to do when she accepted the offer, curious to get to know how he works.
“The more we are working on it, the more I like it,” she says.
Many new adaptations have been made of this popular play of Tennessee Williams, who died thirty years ago. The première will be on February 22nd and the performances will go on for the next six months.
Last year in September Julia Jentsch was one of the jurors for the films in the German competition at the Zurich Film Festival. While this was not her first time as a juror, it was probably her most memorable. She still laughs thinking and talking about it.
“Really I thought I had the best jury president ever, she says talking about singer and actor Herbert Grönemeyer.
Julia would not mind breaking into Hollywood if the occasion would come but what she really wishes is to continue having many varied and exciting characters.
And if Julia had one piece of advice to a beginner thinking of this profession, it would be to follow your dream and see where it brings you.
The interview:
You were a juror at the Zurich Film Festival this year, what did this role mean to you?
I was very glad it worked out this time because, not for the jury, but to be at the Zurich Film Festival to be a part of it, I was invited several years before and never had the time to come to the festival or to the opening ceremony; so after I moved to Zurich then came the invitation …I was very glad and I enjoyed it a lot. I was surprised how big it has become. It became a really huge festival.
Why was the film of Pola Beck “Am Himmel der Tag” the best film?
For me, I think also the other jury members, we were fascinated by how intense and precise it was in every details; and we felt it was so composed so well. The acting was great, so you could see it was a director she could work with. We enjoyed the camera, the music, the editing. It was very special, everything came together so well.
It was not an easy decision because there were other movies we enjoyed a lot.
A little tip from Julia: go watch “Oh Boy”, a film from director Jan Ole Gerster, in the German competition section of the ZFF. She said it was a great film with special camera and music. “You can see it is a director who brings actors up to something”. It was a great experience, really special and fun.
Which was your most memorable moment at the Zurich Film Festival?
I know I enjoyed every moment and every day going there to meet this jury because it was so great, so kind and funny with interesting people. That was really on top of the many good films we could see. We had a good time together as a jury. And this, I enjoyed a lot.
Herbert Grönemeyer as the jury president was perfect. Really I thought I had the best jury president ever!, she shares in a excited tone, laughing and stressing on the word best. I had never met him before and personally he was very kind, very relaxed, very funny. It was very interesting to watch movies with him and to discuss with him. And also the others Marcel Hoehn, Florian Flicker and Peter Luisi.
You are from Berlin, will you be at the Berlinale this year? And if yes, what films are you the most likely to go watch, those in competition, the German films, the Berlinale shorts, the Forum, the Panorama?
No, unfortunately not this year because I am doing this theatre rehearsals at the time and we are getting closer to the première. The rehearsals are every day so I cannot disappear to enjoy the Berlinale.
It is also a pity because Malgoska Szumowska has a film in the competition this year and of course it would great to watch the film there and go to the party with her later because we are still in good contact.
Most of the time I watch movies of people I know. There are so many films, and of course, if they are people you know it is nice to have the chance to see their films.
At the end it does not matter if it is the panorama or the competition, forum or the panorama.
I read the Berlinale program and if there is something I am interested in or because there is the name of a director I like or a certain actor in the movie.
Of course, one or two times I am looking forward to the competition premières because it is a really special atmosphere, to be in this huge cinema to see the team afterward, to feel the atmosphere of the audience during the film; it is very intense and so special.
This is a kind of festival feeling that makes festivals so special.
Of course I like to enjoy this too, she adds laughing.
Julia made a film with Malgoska Szumowska “33 Scenes from Life” (2008.) Last year at the Berlinale, Malgoska Szumowska presented “Elles” with Juliette Binoche. “In the name of” is her new movie in competition at the 2013 Berlinale.
In February you will be Maggie The Cat in the Tennessee Williams play “The Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, what made you accept this role and what do you like about your character?
I like her intensity, her energy. She is in a hard situation in a family where she is not very well liked because they still have no children and for this family it is important to get the inheritance. Then, her husband does not want to have sex with her because obviously he has once fallen in love with a man and maybe he is more interested in having sex with men but he can’t say it. He has not had his outing….
She is in this situation and to stand up this and to still fight for her marriage and for her husband she still loves very much. To fight to get a good position in this family because she is also interested in this money because she came from a very poor family and now she is in a better situation and she does not want to give this up.
The more we are working on it, the more I like it.
When I first read it I thought it is the times of the fifties, it is far away from us, but now more we talk about it and go through the lines it comes much closer. And you know that this money stuff, having children or not is still around.
Julia explains the difference of theatres between Germany and here in Zurich where she is now rehearsing for Maggie the cat. At the Schauspielhaus it is an EnSuite theatre, where a play can be watched for a short period of time like six months. It is shown maybe 8 nights the first month and then decreases. In Germany like in Munich at the Münchener Kammerspiele where she was before, it is a Repertoire theatre, meaning a play can be shown for 4 to 5 years but only about two times a month.
Having lived in Munich the story of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose really touched me. What did it mean to you to win the Silver Bear for the role in “Sophie Scholl – The Final Days”?
That was really amazing, a very special time, of course it was great to get this part to have the chance to play such a character.
It was such a moving story, a real story a part of our history and also to do it in Munich. It was great for me because at that time I lived there but did not know the city. I did not feel so at home. To work in different places in the city and to know a story, which took place there really made something and made me get another feeling to the city.
And of course we were invited to the Berlinale. In December or January the director told us we would be there and of course everyone of us we said “Great!” It was a reward for the time, the work everyone gave to this project and especially the director who spent so much time on the film, getting money for the movie, the editing, finding the right music, never gave up the movie. Of course, it was great and to know we were receiving the prizes.
It was really exciting because at that time I was playing at the theater in Munich and they told me you have performances you can’t go to receive the Silver Bear. I was shocked because I felt it is so special, why can’t I go? Then, it was really not possible. But Dieter Kosslick was so cool and said we have never done it before, it is not the normal procedure but Julia you can come in the morning there is a press conference and we will give you the Bear. And this was really funny because the journalists did not know of course about it…. It was really funny for them too that they had this little part of the ceremony.
Julia Jentsch receiving the Silver Bear for Sophie Scholl – The Final Days at the Berlinale in 2005 – copyright Ali Gandtschi 2005
For me it was really such a present because I could receive the Berlin Bear in Berlin in my home town.
Not the night of the closing ceremony but I was not sad about it because they made this possible and found another solution and I was really thankful.
Do you think your success in that movie changed your life and if yes in what way?
At that time it changed my life in a way I did not have to deal before. Suddenly they were so many people asking me could you hold a speech there about this? Could you be a part of a this group for this political theme?…
I received so many invitations. It was really overwhelming. I could not even read all of these letters… Of course it was very kind and nice invitations, sometimes I felt sorry I could not respond.
That is something that changed. And there was a lot of press, pictures and I felt a bit uncomfortable with that. I felt now people will recognize me. Later it was fine but at the beginning I felt it was something new and I did not know what would happen with this.
Of course I got some international contacts with this for example this Polish and Czech films.
I think it had something to do with it.
How do you select the films you do?
There is something in the story or in the character that fascinates me or moves me when I am reading it.
The best time is when I start reading a script and I cannot stop and I go through different emotions. And I feel it would be interesting to be a part of it. Then, I look closer to the part that I have and sometimes it can be that you love the story and everything but you are not so interested in your part. It can be you say no to the project… On the other hand if there is something in the character no matter if it is a small or a huge role, when I have the feeling I am interested to find out how to play this, then I do it.
Julia Jentsch with Carlos Leal at the Zurich Film Festival
You have been acting for cinema, TV and theater, if you could only do one, what would it be and why?
Then, I think it would be the movies but I hope I won’t have to decide this way because I love doing both and for me changing between the two possibilities is what is really so interesting. It is when usually I do some theater, I have this longing to do movie and the other way around, she responds after a short pause, showing the decision did not come easy.
I think it is because the working process is so different. It is like a very natural rhythm.
What advice would you give someone who is just starting his acting career?
It is difficult to say because I know there are many different ways to come into this profession.
I can just give the advice from what I experienced that really if you have the feeling you want to be acting, then just follow this longing and try which way ever. You have to find out for yourself if you feel you need to go to an acting school that you need this type of learning or if you are person, who prefers just directly going to a theater or a movie and try getting into it, starting with something really little, smaller parts and then learn by doing.
If you have the feeling you really want to do it, trust this feeling and try it. It would be very sad if later you have the feeling you missed something because you have not tried.
Try it, find out, it is really important.
Are there any directors you would love working for in the future?
Oh there are so many, many of the directors I already worked with like Malgoska Szumowska, Hans Weingartner, Marc Rothemund and of course new experiences would be great like Wilfried Hauke director of “Eine Königliche Affäre” or Jim Jarmusch, director of “Coffee and Cigarettes”.
Would you love breaking into Hollywood?
Of course it would exciting, something special to see how they work there. There are many great directors working in Hollywood in Blockbusters or in independent movies – When it happens, I would not say no, she adds laughing.
But more than that, just I am hoping there will be more interesting parts for me and interesting roles like in the past. This is my biggest wish! either in Germany or in another country that the work stays fascinating and interesting because I had the chance to play various characters.
Thank you
