Interview with TV SPIELFILM

Originally in German - translated by Evelyn Ebelsheiser & Trude Jensen

THOMAS KRETSCHMANN:
"the distant goal has been achieved"

One cannot have everything. Or? Thomas Kretschmann is more successful abroad than at home. That just might change. First step, the Second Channel of German Television movie The Solist.

TV FEATURE: Did you accept the leading part in The Solist in order to be more strongly present to Germany again?

Thomas Kretschmann: No. I did it because I like for the character. A straight-line cop who doesn't change his opinion a thousand times a day. He has his own way, based on his own moral concept. A concept that doesn't always suit his superiors.

TV FEATURE: It's an old-fashioned kinda guy, isn't it?

Thomas Kretschmann: Very old-fashioned, but that's a good thing. I like this old-fashioned straight-lineness and it is great to have such a figure as mouthpiece. He's someone who does not accept every law and regulation blindly. You learn to estimate that if you are predominantly in America, like I am. Their laws are not based century-long tradition, and therefore they are even more senseless there than elsewhere.

TV FEATURE: Like the extensive prohibitions of smoking? How do you survive as a smoker in California?

Thomas Kretschmann: (laughs) Badly. I can't smoke at home anymore either, because of the children. But it's okay.

TV FEATURE: 'at home', 'family' - not words that would be connected with you in the past. Do you feel at home in Los Angeles? Have you settled down?

Thomas Kretschmann: Absolutely, for the first time in my life.

TV FEATURE: You used to have an address in Berlin, but were always on route...

Thomas Kretschmann: I experienced a lot, and achieved nearly everything I wanted. I can enjoy that today. Go to bed at nine in the evening, because my child wakes up around seven, without having the feeling that I missed or are missing something.

TV FEATURE: Did you expect this to happen? To reach this particular point in your life?

Thomas Kretschmann: No, I didn't know there was such a point to be reached. I didn't plan a child, it just happened. I had a considerable stomach ache when the child was expected. No, worse : I was terribly scared. Then when it arrived, it was wonderful.. Perhaps this sounds stupid, but suddenly it was marvelous.

TV FEATURE: This does not fit the image of the guy with thousand affairs who does not allow anything to be "burnt". Is it all forgotten ?

Thomas Kretschmann: My reputation was a bit exaggerated. Things were written in newspapers, then copied, then doubled - and this kind of reputation's the result. One of the reasons why I never disclaimed that, was because I found it amusing. But I also constructed such an image for myself in order to gain more of a private life. And I didn't want to be classified as a "kind, good-looking young man ".

TV FEATURE: And? Did it work?

Thomas Kretschmann: Looking back, I don't know if it was such a good idea at all times. But I thought that if you come across as a freak, there will be some kind of distance. Maybe the distance became excessive. I realized that people were afraid of me without knowing me.

TV FEATURE: Your colleagues said that you are super-ambitious and arrogant.

Thomas Kretschmann: I am ambitious. Why shouldn't I be? When I do something, I want to do my absolute best. Arrogant? There has been people who considered me arrogant without ever having met me.

TV FEATURE: Did you just decide that "Now I'll present myself quite differently "?

Thomas Kretschmann: No. One day it just got silly. I don't pretend anything anymore. I don't have time, desire or energy to calculate anymore.

TV FEATURE: What do you consider waste of time?

Thomas Kretschmann: When I'm not working, I spend my time with my children. Most of my time. Sometimes I reflect on what I used to waste time on: mostly nonsense.

TV FEATURE: Do you regret anything?

Thomas Kretschmann: Not at all!

TV FEATURE: There's nothing you'd like to do differently?

Thomas Kretschmann: There's always details. But mainly I'm proud of the fact that I made my way in life very rigorously. I was a bit too stubborn when it came to certain things, which was unnecessary, like getting independent from and leaving Germany. After Stalingrad, I wanted to work more internationally. But it was completely unnecessary to be so absent in Germany that I had to say: "Hey, I make films in Los Angeles and in Rome, but I'm here. You can get me, if you want me. "

TV FEATURE: If you see the development that some colleagues in Germany have - do you ever think: I could've been there too?

Thomas Kretschmann: Of course.

TV SPIELFILM: Would you like to?

Thomas Kretschmann: I'm in a different position now, in Los Angeles. I've just made a film with Harvey Keitel, one of my idols. One cannot have everything, but I would like to have both. I have achieved the distant goal more than the near goal. Now I can work on the near goal.