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“Anke Engelke still gives me goosebumps.” Interview with director Aron Lehmann
With his graduation film “Kohlhaas or the Proportionality of Means”, he immediately won the Audience Award at the Max Ophüls Festival in Saarbrücken in 2012. Afterwards, Aron Lehmann, a graduate of Babelsberg’s Film and Television School “Konrad Wolf”, presented the anarchist fairy tale “The Last Pig” starring Herbert Knaup, in which a Swabian pig farmer fights against the agro-factories.
The 37-year-old filmmaker scored a major coup at this year’s Munich Film Festival. His youth comedy, “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World”, loosely based on Cyrano de Bergerac, was celebrated by audiences and the press alike—rare for any film this year. [030] staff member Dieter Oßwald interviewed the director.
Mr Lehmann, in your film “The Last Pig” there’s a line: ‘The world is a bloody dark place. That’s why we have to light beacons. Then maybe others will see it eventually too.’ Do you see your philosophical popcorn comedy as such a beacon?
I hope our “Girl” sends an exclamation mark in terms of what commercial cinema could also offer. How well that actually works will be decided by the audience over the next few weeks. In any case, I’m delighted that a major distributor like Tobis believed commercial cinema could be teamed up with young directors from the arthouse scene.
So would the fitting motto be: Fuck You, “Fack ju Göhte”?
You can’t really compare the two films. One’s a satire. And we’re a love film. When I hear people say Bora Dagtekin needs to watch out now, that’s completely daft. We can only dream of the seven and a half million viewers he had with “Göhte.”
Your film was celebrated at the Munich Film Festival more enthusiastically than almost any other. Are you not a bit unnerved by all these collective hymns of praise by now?
There are worse things in life! (Laughs) Hopefully I’ll make plenty more films, and the reactions won’t always be this positive. So I’m enjoying it, and above all, I’m happy for our young talents. With these incredibly strong characters, we’ve probably discovered a few new stars for cinema.
Your films always stand out for their unusual titles. How important are such titles for a film?
This title already existed when I got the script. We discussed a lot whether lads would find it cool too. Regardless of whether one likes the title or not, it just sticks with you. What I like most is that we don’t actually confirm the expectations the title creates: the whole point is that appearances aren’t what matter in life. And that’s why any girl can be the most beautiful girl in the world in the eyes of the person who loves her.
Youth slang in films can often sound as forced and naff as the “Youth Word of the Year”. How do you achieve an authentic sound?
You have to find the right people. Our writer Judy Horney polished the dialogue really well. The beats came from music producer Konstantin Scherer, who also works for Sido and Bushido among others. The lyrics for the song battles were by Robin Haefs, who ghostwrites for various hip-hop artists. These people are really on the pulse and know what they’re talking about.
What influence did the young actors have?
For me, it’s proved best when, after shooting a scene, actors can play it again according to their own ideas. It especially takes the fear away for young performers, fear of getting it wrong. My job as director, as I see it, is to enable actors to follow their own intuition and emotions. I’d find nothing duller than actors who only do exactly what I tell them.
Is casting YouTube stars and influencers the new marketing tool?
Unlike “Bruder vor Luder” with the Lochis, our YouTubers are just part of the film. We were looking for people with talent and access to their emotions. I’d think it negligent not to look for YouTubers in this age group. They’ve no shyness in front of the camera and absolutely love performing.
How do you get Anke Engelke as an actress?
Anke is incredibly well informed about German cinema and actually knew all my films. Of course, at first she says: ‘I know how this goes, you want me because you need a celeb name for the poster.’ I said I want her mainly because I need someone who can do comedy, but who also has depth, and who people like right from the off. That’s why I love actors like Robin Williams, Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler in their serious roles. If you see “Girl”, you’ll spot immediately how perfect Anke is: I still get goosebumps from the final mother-son scene. It was an absolute revelation.
Will there be Cyril’s nose as a marketing gimmick? As a badge to show true beauty comes from within?
We really ought to consider that. The mould for the nose already exists. We’d just have to make casts…
‘The Most Beautiful Girl in the World’ hits cinemas on 6th September.
Poster artwork: © TOBIS