BENNO FURMANN: The Hollywood Interview

BENNO FURMANN SCALES A SLIPPERY SLOPEBy
Alex Simon

German actor Benno Furmann was born in Berlin-Kreuzberg in 1972, cutting his acting chops on two high-profile German miniseries in his late teens, and then moved to the States shortly thereafter to study acting at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in New York. After appearing in high-profile titles such as Richard Loncraine's My House in Umbria, the Oscar-nominated WW I drama Merry Christmas, the Wachowski brothers' Speed Racer, and Christian Petzold's Jerichow, Benno Feurmann's star is further on the rise with the U.S. release of North Face, director Philipp Stoelzl's harrowing drama about two moutaineers (Furmann and Florian Lukas) in 1936 attempting to scale Switzerland's foreboding Eiger moutain, with the Nazi propaganda machine prodding them on what is seemingly a suicide mission for the glory of the Fatherland. Winner of the 2009 German Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay, the film co-stars Johanna Wokalek, Ulrich Tukur, Simon Schwarz and Georg Friedrich, the Music Box Films release opens in New York and Los Angeles on February 12, with wider release across the U.S. over the next few months.

Benno Furmann sat down with The Interview recently, in the penthouse of Santa Monica's famed Huntley House, the filming site of many legendary films, most notably John Boorman's 1967 masterpiece, Point Blank, to discuss topics cinematic, and otherwise. Here's what followed:




The film that I kept thinking of while watching this was another German film, Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot. Even though this took place almost entirely outdoors, it had that same sense of claustrophobic doom.

Benno Furmann: Yeah, a group of friends who are trying to retain their humanity and who are also fighting for a cause, but they're not sure if it's their cause. Yeah, it's a masterpiece, and I can see the parallels you're talking about.

Most of the actual climbing that we see was done by stunt people, and then the scenes between you and Florian Lukas were primarily shot in a studio where the Eiger was recreated, right?

Yes, we did a bit of the climbing ourselves, and the thing that shows the skill, the remarkable skill, of how this film was shot and cut together is that when I watch it, I can't tell whether it's us doing the climbing, or the stuntmen. Given our preparation, which was tough and beautiful at the same time, and I'm an experienced climber anyway, we spent a lot of time climbing in Turkey. Florian was actually not experienced at all, but he became an expert quite quickly, which is a testament to his dedication. So we went to Turkey, to France, and we got familiar with the climbing style, and also with the 1930s-era equipment, which is very different from what they have today. You really had to have a perfect sense of balance back then. It was very low-tech. (laughs) I remember at one point I smiled at Florian and said 'Here we are, preparing for a movie with the snow cracking under our feet. The sun is shining. We in one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and it's all for a job that we're being paid for.' Being an actor is the greatest job in the world. It really is. When we finally shot, I would have liked to do much more of the actual vertical stuff. I joked with Philipp, 'Whenever the stuntman gets tired, be sure to call me in.' So eventually, we both did vertical climbing, and what you see is a mixture of us, and some of the best climbers Europe has to offer. I really do enjoy doing my own stunts and being physical, though.

L to R: Benno Furmann, Johanna Wokalek, and Florian Lukas.

How was it working with Philipp? I know this was only his second feature, quite an undertaking considering.

Yes, he is mostly known for his music videos, but he's worked with some of the biggest names in the business: The Stones, Madonna. I think Philipp will really emerge as a major film director when this film gets released. His skill speaks for itself when you watch the film. He also gives the actors a lot of freedom. He's not one of these guys who gives you your marks and line readings. He's very instinctual, and a very good collaborator.
Did you have any trepidation at all doing the climbing?
Sure, especially now that I'm a father, I'm not as reckless or fearless as I was when I was a kid and in my 20s. I just can't take those sort of risks anymore, and don't want to.
The Eiger is still a notorious mountain. In fact during the filming of Clint Eastwood's The Eiger Sanction (1975), which was shot on location back in the days before CGI, a stuntman was killed.
Yeah, I remember hearing about that. Have you ever been there?
Yeah, I stood at its base when I was a kid, about 14.
Quite breathtaking, isn't it?
Yeah, and very humbling. I remember it as one of my first memories of feeling completely awe-struck by something natural.
It's always the natural things that are the most awesome, for me anyway.

Florian Lukas and Benno Furmann.

Did you and Florian Lukas form a close bond filming all those intense scenes together?
We did. Even though most of the work we did was in the studio, they had the temperature well below zero, so we were really experiencing harsh conditions, even though they were controlled, and we became very good friends, and learned to depend on one another, just as our characters do in the film. They had the wind and snow machines going so powerfully, we couldn't even hear each other, so we had to develop signals for when our lines were over so the other person could respond. Do that long enough, and you develop quite a bond with the other guy! (laughs)


But you were able to take breaks and thaw out, so to speak? Oh yeah, but that's part of what made it so extreme. We'd step outside the soundstage and it would be like 35 degrees Celsius. So we'd thaw out, and then go back inside and have the shock of the freezing cold again. In many ways, it's easier if you're just in a constant temperature, because your body adjusts. The back and forth really took a toll after a while. It was funny in the beginning because I think they thought "Ah, actors, they're wussies." But by the time we finished, I think there was some respect there. It was pretty grueling.

Benno Furmann, or his stunt double, on the north face of the Eiger.

I liked that the film was so honest about the politics of the time. It's interesting that the best films about Nazi Germany have come out of Germany over the last ten years, because for many years, Germans weren't even willing to address the war and the ugly legacy the Nazis left behind.

Well, I think it was necessary to have that cloud of shame for all those years. How could you not, when (the country) was responsible for strategically killing so many millions of people? Some people were very active in this machinery, some were voluntarily blind, and some were resistant. To have such a brutal awakening to go from being the leading nation in terms of science and art, at the beginning of the 20th century, to being known as the greatest mass-murderers of the modern age, I can understand this. I think the guilt and shame has lessened with each generation, but it is both logical and just that it took several generations for Germany to grow out of this guilt and shame. With my generation, we were bombarded with facts about the Third Reich all through school, to the point where, at times, it became unbearable, and I just wanted to shout 'Can we please move on?!' But, looking back, I'm glad now that my teachers didn't. I think we all feel a need to be extra-sensitive to history, and the Jewish people and the state of Israel. That said, I think that most Germans are able to now look forward, and acknowledge that those horrible days are behind us now.

The other thing I liked about this film, which Das Boot also addressed, is that not all members of the German military were Nazis, or even sympathetic to the Nazis.

Yes, exactly, and I think that is very important for people to realize. If you were in the SS or the SI, those were the hardliners. But the average soldier, the Wermacht, was not a Nazi party member. With our two characters in the film, the only way to get their certification as mountain guides, was to join the army. Both of our character were really apolitical. They just wanted to climb mountains.



Right, that was the irony: you couldn't find two guys who were less politcally-active or aware, and then they were turned into these symbols of German heroism by the Nazi propaganda machine.

Yeah, there was a big hype and lots of pressure, especially in '36, the year of the Berlin Olympics. They wanted to show the world that they were superior in everything. That's what really appealed to me about my character: he was all about ethics and totally disinterested in the idea of "glory." Glory will come as a natural side effect of doing what I do, and I don't see the point of climbing that wall just to prove to myself that I can. He's the quiet one. He's the thoughtful one. He's not the guy who will shout out loud "I did it!" He's happy and humble in a silent way.