Buck shoots UPI’s first German-language venture
One week ago, Detlev Buck (Same Same But Different [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) started shooting his latest project, the comedy Rubbeldiekatz.
It is produced by the director’s company, Boje Buck, with another Berlin-based producer, Film 1, and Universal Pictures International (UPI), which is making its first German-language co-production. The deal with the major was announced in mid-December by Christian Grass, who heads its international productions and acquisitions department (it is part of a strategy of breaking into the German market which has also given rise to a three-year distribution agreement with ambitious German producer UFA Cinema, a resurrection of Universum Film AG).
Rubbeldiekatz, the title of which refers to a solitary activity said to make one go blind, is scripted by Anika Decker, who penned Til Schweiger’s highly popular Rabbit Without Ears [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Rabbit Without Ears 2 [+see also:
trailer
film profile].
The film centres on a hapless actor, played by Matthias Schweighöfer (Friendship! [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), who is mistakenly offered a female role in a big Hollywood production. This improvised "Tootsie" accepts, despite the risk of being found out, and falls in love with the film’s female star (Alexandra Maria Lara) during the shoot. Buck also appears in the film, alongside Max von Thun, Maximilian Brückner and Denis Moschitto (Chiko [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).
Scheduled to last two months, the shoot will take place in Berlin (in particular Tiergarten), Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam, St. Peter Ording and Hamburg. UPI plans to launch the film in Germany, Switzerland and Austria next winter.
(Translated from French)
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
