Searching for Bodo

The new film that director Tom Tykwer is currently shooting with the team of "Run Lola Run" in his native town Wuppertal is a "real Heimatfilm" (sentimental film in idealized regional setting). "Der Krieger und die Kaiserin" (The Warrior And The Empress) with Franka Potente in the leading role appears to be really sentimental. "It's a melodrama", says the 34-year-old about his fourth film for which he also wrote the script.

Fans of Lola will probably guess already that a lot of surprises are awaiting them. "We're not shooting 'Lola's still running' here", says producer Stefan Arndt with a smile. This time, Franka Potente runs after the unemployed ex-soldier Bodo (Benno Fürmann). Her red hair has gone blonde. "I had to think in much more naive ways than during 'Run Lola Run'", says the young star. Tykwer's new project is full of mysteries and secrets. "Unruly characters make up this film", he says.

Sissi (Potente) works as a nurse in a psychiatry. After an accident she wants to win Bodo over (he saved her life), but he refuses. Instead, he hatches a half-legal plan with his brother Walter (a very cool Joachim Król) and the gunrunner Schmatt (Jürgen Tarrach) to make life more comfortable for the trio. "Sissi likes the films with Romy Schneider very much, and while searching for Bodo she discovers love and has to face more and more problems with the world as she knew it", says Potente.

Despite the huge success of "Run Lola Run" (the film was very successful at the German Film Awards and remained in the top 20 of the US box office for three weeks), Tykwer does not feel any pressure to succeed. "I have far too much to do right now and so I don't have the time to worry anyway", says the director who discovered his love for the cinema during his time as a projectionist in Wuppertal. The team didn't want to tell yet when the new film will be released or whether Franka Potente will sing and rap on the new soundtrack as well.

German source: Oberösterreischische Nachrichten, 10 August 1999.