Remember Colonel Hermann Dietrich in Raiders of the Lost Ark? That arrogant Nazi officer heading the excavation project that Indiana Jones thinks is a very bad idea? Yes, the one whose head satisfyingly implodes when the Ark is opened. I had a strange experience this week when his disembodied voice kept floating through my head. Or rather not Dietrich’s but that of the actor who played him: Wolf Kahler.
In the previous generation, Anton Diffring seemed to often be the one playing these roles. Which, as a gay man coming from a Jewish family, must have been quite a complex set of thoughts and emotions.
Conrad Veidt, who played Major Strasser in "Casablanca" was one of Germany's leading actors before the Nazis took power - he had to get out because he was married to a Jewish woman. When the war came, he took every role as a Nazi offered, and played them as snarling nasty as possible. He said it was his contribution to the war effort.
Ahhhnuld is a real character. I was breaking my way into screenwriting in Hollywood with a side gig as a film journalist, and learned about The Terminator being made from an actor friend who was in it and told me it was going to be big. I did one day on location, to interview Ahhnuld - who at the time was a bit of a joke in some circles in Hollywood, including the one I ran in. They were shooting the scene where the Terminator kills the second Sarah Connor he finds, up in North Hollywood. Every kid in the neighborhood had quickly found out he was there and they were all gathered around the captain's chair he used when not shooting, set in the middle of the front yard. He was having a great time with the kids, letting their moms take photos of their son or daughter on his lap,and he was telling stories and it was altogether quite nice. When the shot was ready, he'd tell everyone he had to go to work, and if they would all be quiet, he'd be right back and they could all go back to having fun. You could have heard a pin drop on that street while they were shooting. When lunch break came, I accompanied him back to his trailer to have lunch and do the interview. I commented to him I'd never seen another actor do anything like that. To which he replied, "Then you have seen a lot of damn fools! Those kids - if it's not for them, I'm nothing! Of course I'm going to be as nice as possible to them." And that was the moment I realized he was the smartest guy I'd met in Hollywood. The movie made him the star he took the role to become, and nothing he did afterwards ever surprised me.
I actually met wolf kahler at Milton Keynes train station , he was awaiting a connection to London and I was changing to go north , he seemed pleased that I recognised him from the band of brothers , for the fleeting 5 minutes he seemed a sound fella 👍
I've just seen a clip of Wolf Kahler playing the Wehrmacht General from Band of Brothers ,came up on my Facebook feed quite by chance,so I know exactly who you are talking about .It got me wondering if a similar stereotypical situation exists for other nationaties when it comes to English language films ,Irish playing members of the IRA or an Alan Rickman type character like in Die Hard .
But being German and having to play Nazis because of your accent is another level.
I wonder Katja if the quality of the production matter too? Are the characters going to be portrayed as fully fleshed individuals or cartoonish Commando Comic villains? I imagine the latter must be frustrating for German actors in anglophone productions. I thought Hüller was first class in Zone of Interest. Very much looking forward to Requiems for the Firestorm.
In the previous generation, Anton Diffring seemed to often be the one playing these roles. Which, as a gay man coming from a Jewish family, must have been quite a complex set of thoughts and emotions.
Conrad Veidt, who played Major Strasser in "Casablanca" was one of Germany's leading actors before the Nazis took power - he had to get out because he was married to a Jewish woman. When the war came, he took every role as a Nazi offered, and played them as snarling nasty as possible. He said it was his contribution to the war effort.
Ahhhnuld is a real character. I was breaking my way into screenwriting in Hollywood with a side gig as a film journalist, and learned about The Terminator being made from an actor friend who was in it and told me it was going to be big. I did one day on location, to interview Ahhnuld - who at the time was a bit of a joke in some circles in Hollywood, including the one I ran in. They were shooting the scene where the Terminator kills the second Sarah Connor he finds, up in North Hollywood. Every kid in the neighborhood had quickly found out he was there and they were all gathered around the captain's chair he used when not shooting, set in the middle of the front yard. He was having a great time with the kids, letting their moms take photos of their son or daughter on his lap,and he was telling stories and it was altogether quite nice. When the shot was ready, he'd tell everyone he had to go to work, and if they would all be quiet, he'd be right back and they could all go back to having fun. You could have heard a pin drop on that street while they were shooting. When lunch break came, I accompanied him back to his trailer to have lunch and do the interview. I commented to him I'd never seen another actor do anything like that. To which he replied, "Then you have seen a lot of damn fools! Those kids - if it's not for them, I'm nothing! Of course I'm going to be as nice as possible to them." And that was the moment I realized he was the smartest guy I'd met in Hollywood. The movie made him the star he took the role to become, and nothing he did afterwards ever surprised me.
Perhap these anecdotes of individual struggle with the Nazi past help to explain the national struggle to rebuild the German military.
I actually met wolf kahler at Milton Keynes train station , he was awaiting a connection to London and I was changing to go north , he seemed pleased that I recognised him from the band of brothers , for the fleeting 5 minutes he seemed a sound fella 👍
I've just seen a clip of Wolf Kahler playing the Wehrmacht General from Band of Brothers ,came up on my Facebook feed quite by chance,so I know exactly who you are talking about .It got me wondering if a similar stereotypical situation exists for other nationaties when it comes to English language films ,Irish playing members of the IRA or an Alan Rickman type character like in Die Hard .
But being German and having to play Nazis because of your accent is another level.
I wonder Katja if the quality of the production matter too? Are the characters going to be portrayed as fully fleshed individuals or cartoonish Commando Comic villains? I imagine the latter must be frustrating for German actors in anglophone productions. I thought Hüller was first class in Zone of Interest. Very much looking forward to Requiems for the Firestorm.