Philipp Stölzl and his international crew shoot The Physician

by Bénédicte Prot

19/06/2012 - Munich-born director Philipp Stölzl (photo), initially famous for his music videos (notably for Rammstein, Garbage, and Madonna) then acclaimed worldwide for the adventurous North Face (2008) and his poetic Goethe! [trailer] (2010), is now shooting The Physician in English for UFA Cinema. For the film, talented screenwriter Jan Berger (Kebab Connection) has adapted The Physician by Noah Gordon, a novel that sold over 21 million copies worldwide.

It’s the eleventh century, and Rob Cole is a penniless English orphan who decides to journey to Persia to study medicine, in a quest to beat death itself. The story is to be acted out by a star-studded cast, featuring British actor Tom Payne as Rob Cole. He will appear opposite Oscar-winning actor Ben Kingsley as the great master Ibn Sina, as well as Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, French actor Olivier Martinez, and young English actress Emma Rigby who will play his love interest.

Hagen Bogdanski, who was notably behind the Oscar-winning images of The Lives of Others [trailer, film focus] will be director of photography. Famous visual effects company Pixomondo will be in charge of the film’s special effects.

Shooting, to last over 60 days until September in Germany and Morocco, is being overseen by producers Wolf Bauer and Nico Hofmann. The Physician is co-produced by ARD Degeto and Beta Cinema. The latter is in charge of international sales and has already reported several interesting pre-sales agreements since Cannes (to Dea Planeta for Spain, Monolith for Poland, and Imagem for Latin America), as well as others about to be signed. In Germany, Philipp Stölzl’s latest film will be distributed by Universal.

(Translated from French)