RWF biopic.

Marco Kreuzpaintner (Trade, Krabat) aims to start shooting a film based on the life of Rainer Werner Fassbinder early next year. He's currently writing a screenplay with Harry Baer, who worked with Fassbinder both in front of and behind the camera. The Frankfurter Rundschau has the story: an actor, who'll play RWF from the age of 17 through to the director's death in 1982 at the age of 37, has been "found," but Kreuzpaintner isn't ready to reveal the name just yet.

But here's what could make the production a controversial one from the get go: Kreuzpaintner's also working "closely" with Juliane Lorenz and the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation. You may recall that it was only last summer that a hellacious storm was kicked up over complaints regarding what many see as Lorenz's stranglehold on RWF's legacy; there were also accusations that she's reshaping it to her own benefit. Some enterprising German journalist might want to look into exactly what sort of role Lorenz is playing in the making of this biopic. For now, we have the thoughts of Kreuzpaintner, 31, on what this film's to be about, as told to the FR. A few excerpts:

"I've asked myself how it can be that the most important German director, for us, since the Second World War hasn't himself received the cinematic recognition he deserves. I want to show the wildly driven man who was more talented than all the others in his time - a man who, in a country as conservative as the Federal Republic was in the 70s and 80s, was able to bring international recognition to German film again for the first time.... This is going to be a big biopic - though I don't really like the word. Much of the story will deal with Fassbinder's youth, which many don't know much about and which was spent for the most part in Cologne. The arc then stretches across those great days in Munich and to his frenetic downfall.

"Fassbinder will not be portrayed as the maniac or the people-destroyer. For me, the key lies in Fassbinder's own words: 'I only want you to love me,' which he also used at the title of a film. This great desire for love in Fassbinder - which at times would find perverse expression; in his work, but also at times in wonderful ways - is the theme of my film.

"The film should contribute toward Fassbinder attaining the love he always yearned for. Even though everyone now refers to him as one of the greats, we can't forget that, when he was alive, he was one of the most widely discussed but also hated people. He was anything but loved."

Well. I'm sure Kreuzpaintner doesn't want to turn RWF into a teddy bear, but still, a little skepticism may be in order. And maybe I'm nuts, but the first image that came to my mind when I stumbled across this story is Frank Giering as RWF. Only, he's way too old to play a kid of 17.

Posted by dwhudson at September 6, 2008 12:10 PM