General: Photography
Music: Always changing, but currently: Duke Ellington,Gabriel Rios,Gry.Bobby Darin,Chet Baker(i wish he d have recorded more..) Frank Sinatra,Rachmaninoff and Asher D because I have just worked with Ashley Walters on stage
Films: Here are just a few of my favorites,but i will constantly add new films in my random blogs."Yes" by Sally Potter, "Mickey and Nicky" by Elaine May,all films of Theo Van Gogh, "Ashes and Diamonds" and "Innocent Sorcerers"by Andrzej Wajda, "The Long Goodbye" and "Short Cuts"by Robert Altman, "Odd Man Out" by Carol Reed, "Anatomy of a Murder" by Otto Preminger, "The Killing" and"Dr.Strangelove" and "Paths of Glory" by Stanley Kubrick,"Les Aventuriers" by Roberto Enrico, "Missing" by Costa Gavras, "Des Teufels General" by Helmut Kautner,"Killing Fields" by Roland Joffe, "Plein Soleil" by Rene Clement,"Le Feu Follet"and "Lift To The Scaffold"and "Au Revoir Les Enfants"by Louis Malle,all Films by John Cassavetes,"Lawrence of Arabia" by David Lean,"L Argent"by Robert Bresson,"Dekalog"by Krzysztof Kieslowski,"Do You Remember Dolly Bell" and "Underground" by Emir Kusturica,"La Charme Discret De La Burgeoisie" and "Le Fantome De La Liberte"by Luis Bunuel,"Funny Games" and "Code Inconnu"by Michael Haneke,"Serkalo" by Andrei Tarkovsky,"The Servant"by Joseph Losey,"The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner"by Tony Richardson,"A Taste Of Honey"by Sheilagh Delaney,"Nordrand"by Barbara Albert,"Lovely Rita"by Jessica Hausner,"Indien"by Paul Harrather, "Straw Dogs" by Sam Peckinpah, "Badlands"and "Days Of Heaven" by Terence Malick, "Knife in the Water" by Roman Polanski,"His Girl Friday" and "Scarface" by Howard Hawks,"12 Angry Men" and"Network"by Sidney Lumet,"In The Heat Of The Night" by Norman Jewison,"Lady in Cement"by Gordon Douglas,"The Battle of Algiers"by Gillo Pontecorvo,"Un Flic"and "Le Samurai"by J.P.Melville,"L Avventura" and L Eclisse"and"La Notte" and "Professione Reporter" by Michelangelo Antonioni,"Rocco E I Suoi Fratelli" by Luchino Visconti,"I VItelloni"by F.Fellini,"The Last Picture Show"by P.Bogdanovich,"Five Easy Pieces"by Bob Rafelson,"Spring,Summer,Autumn,Winter and Spring"by Kim Ki Duk,"Tampopo"by Juzo Itami,"Buffet Froid"by Bertrand Blier,"Burnt By The Sun" and "Urga"by Nikita Michalkov,all films of Aki Kaurismaeki,Wong Kar Wai and Ingmar Bergman, "Kes" by Ken Loach,"Being There" by Hal Ashby and last but not least all films of Alfred Hitchcock tbc.
Television:I can only advise you to buy a video beamer.Viewed on a larger scale mostly everything you watch on Tv becomes unbearable and you realize there is only one program worth watching-the one you create by yourself!
Books: Knut Hamsun, George Orwell ("Why I Write","1984"), "The Way by Swann’s" by Marcel Proust, "Voyage au bout de la nuit" by Louis Ferdinant Céline, "Der Meister und Margarita" by Michail Bulgakov, Marguerite Duras,"Metamorphosis" by Ovid,"Ilias" by Homer, tbc
Heroes: Charlie Chaplin, Zbygniev Cibulski, Antoine de Saint Exupéry, Jacques-Yves Cousteau,Michael Caine,Alfred Hitchcock,Daniel Day Lewis,Bruce Robinson,"Magnet", tbc
Das deutsche Buch, das ich gerade lese ist "Das große Reiner Zimnik Geschichtenbuch" (Diogenes Verlag). Ich habe schon länger vor, daraus ein Hörbuch zu machen. Das erste Mal, als ich es gelesen habe, war vor ca. 14 Jahren. Ich habe noch Zuhause gelebt und ich glaube es war in der Büchersammlung meines Vaters. Der Autor ist in Niederbayern aufgewachsen und seine Geschichten sind mit einem Humor und einer solchen Menschenliebe geschrieben, dass einem ganz warm ums Herz wird. Meine Lieblingsgeschichte ist "Der Kran". Im Moment versuche ich, dafür einen Hörbuchverlag zu finden, der Interesse hätte, es mit mir aufzunehmen.AN ALLE,DIE DIESES BUCH GERNE VON MIR GELESEN HABEN WOLLEN:HELFT BITTE KRAEFTIG MIT.Merci
Lately I have finished reading "The White Hotel" by D.M.Thomas - a great novel for everyone interested in Psycho Analysis and Sigmund Freud. I came across it by recommendation of my English Agent Lou Coulson. There has been talks to make it into a feature film and I am sort of trying to be part of that project. "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" by Chuck Barris I can also highly recommend. I picked it up recently in an airport and I couldn’t stop reading. Great, wickedly suspenseful entertainment.Also i have to tell you about a truly amazing book called "THE WAR OF THE WORLD" by Niall Ferguson.In this book he re-tells the story of one of history s most savage periods of time:the twentieth century,where continental wars were fought for almost 100 years.I have found his book most stunning and inspirating when it comes to explanations and political background of why all this might have happened.He goes a long way from what i was tought at school and is often highly controversial and thought provoking.To me this age still is one of the great enigmas and i often asked myself how we became what we are today and why things have turned out the way they did.There has always been the received wisdom of dinner party conversations and this is a refreshing blast to all one might think he knows about our recent past.Apart from enjoying this book i was also very pleased to get a response to an email i have sent to Prof. Ferguson concerning a documentary i am working on.I was positively surprised that he was kind enough to take the time to answer on of his readers-even though he turned my request down to be the host of my documentary.Apart from this book i can also highly recommend the documentary he hosted for british Channel 4,"The War of the World".
--------FILMTIPP I:Ein Thema,dass mich schon länger beschaeftigt ist die Frage,wie Menschen in Situationen kommen koennen,sich gegenseitig zu töten und was sich verändert,wenn sie es tun.Dafuer gibt es ja nach wie vor ein gesellschsaftlich anerkanntes Berufsbild:Soldat.Die Israelische Regisseurin NURIT KEDAR hat dazu 2004 die Dokumentation "ONE SHOT"-"Der Todesschuss" gedreht.in dem Film geht es um Scharfschützen der Israelischen Armee in den besetzten Gebieten und ich habe noch nie einen Film gesehen,wo dieses Thema derart direkt und ehrlich behandelt wird.Der Film ist konsequent aus sicht der Soldaten gedreht und auch hier enthält sich die Regisseurin jeglichen Kommentars.Man bekommt dadurch zu sehen und zu hoeren,in was fuer schreckliche Situationen die Soldaten bei Ausuebung ihres Berufs geraten und was dieser Beruf aus intelligenten jungen Männern machen kann.Am Rande dient der Film auch als eine Parabel für die scheinbar unüberwindbaren Gewaltspirale im nachen Osten.Ein grossartiger Film!!!bitte schaut euch auch unbedingt "AND JUSTICE FOR ALL" von Norman Jewison an-ein wunderbarer film ueber das Amerikanische Rechtssystem,der ein wenig an "Ein kurzer Film ueber das Toeten" aus der DEKALOG-reihe von Kieslowsky erinnert.ich frage mich wirklich,warum wir heute nicht mehr solche subversiven und kritischen filme machen...
Gerade habe ich DER ASSISTENT fuer RTL in Berlin abgedreht.Das war ein Pilotfilm fuer eine Krimi-Serie mit Heinz Hoenig und mir in den Hauptrollen.Der fertige Film wird RTL gezeigt und die machen dann Testvorfuehrungen.je nach dem,wie diese laufen,geht dann dieses projekt naechstes jahr in die produktion oder nicht.Also alle,die mich in der Rolle des besessenen Assistenten von Heinz Hoenig in einer Krimi-Komoedie sehen wollen,sollten RTL in Koeln belagern.Die naechsten Projekte an denen ich beteiligt bin sind alle in England-mehr dazu unten.Ich hoffe,es ergibt sich bald wieder was in Deutschland...
The
The Royal Court production "Oxford Street"is over and i must admit that i miss my colleagues and the Theatre big time! On August the 8th i will start working for another BBC program:"THE CHOIR" is a six Episode film about a small town amateur choir.I will play the part of Nemanja Radic,a Serbian immigrant painter."THE CHOIR" will be directed by Cilla Ware and produced by Richard Burell.The project was penned by the incredibly witty and intelligent Debbie Horsfield who is also known for penning "Cutting It" for the BBC.I had another project lined up and unfortunately i had to turn it down because the bookers could'nt keep their initial promise to make both projects work for me,i.e.i will no longer take part in A SHORT STAY IN SWITZERLAND.
Reviews
Nicholas de Jongh
Paul Taylor
Dominic Cavendish
ich hoffe sehr,dass diese spalte bald mit Russischen und Asiatischen projekten gefuellt sein wird.seit meinem Dreherfahrungen in China und der Ukraine mache ich mich daran, auch in diesen Laendern in Zukunft zu arbeiten-wish me luck!!!
Dear friends,This weekend i treated myself to some oldfashioned Spagetti Bolognese the way my mother used to cook them when i was a kid.I had a Haloween night out and accordingly i had to stay in all Saturday,also because the Mancunian skies were collapsing on us with torrential downpours of heavy rain.my first reflex was to reach for my telefone to get some help but then i decided i better try to remember what the ingredients were and how she used to do it.it took me quite a while but it was a pelasurable exercise,because all of a sudden i conjured up a dozen completely useless memories from my childhood days in Hamburg and even fragments of dreams i used to dream when i was a kid.later in the day,while out food-shopping for my meal,i came to think of how lucky i was being brought up in a middle class family with amalgamated Latvian and German traditions and values and-most importantly- money enough to eat properly.i remembered my visit to the science museum in Manchester a couple of weeks ago where i learned that the people of the working class in England during the first industrial revolution were living on a diet of potatoes,weak tea and spirits only.in a way it is strange that the language of class has been removed from the public agenda these days.i am not saying that i completely understand what is going on in this country-after all the whole idea of living abroad for me is that i am living in a country that i do not understand because i am a stranger and that my life here is a lot easier because of that.i do not understand the soul of English people-i know many of them,but i still dont know how they feel and think and all that.however,when it comes to food my personal opinion is that the class system is very much alive even though everybody in this country pretends it is not.back in my school days we were at some point reading a study that FRIEDRICH ENGELS conducted on the conditions of the working class in England in 18hundred something.he catalogued the misery of the inadequate quality of food and living conditions of the working class.i do not think the point of food has changed at all.when you look at the food prices in supermarkets you will find out that the cheapest food is still the worst as it consists mainly of processed food that contains fats,processed starches and sugars.people on low income will obviously go for food that fills them up most cheaply.the only difference is that the advertisement industry these days makes the poor people believe that the low value food they buy is actually beneficial for them.hence the high figures of obesity and ill health in this country.my oppinion is,that it is not the ignorance of the people that makes them live on the same unhealthy diets like their predecessors in the industrial age-on the contrary,it is the strategies of the supermarket chains and food coorporations that target the poor and uneducated.take frozen chips for instance.they have undergone a quite complex processing journey that should make them more expensive than fresh vegetables and still you can have 100 calories of chips for about 2 pence as opposed to 100 calories of broccoli for about 51 pence.i have heard of malnutrition in my shool days but the extent of undernourishment in modern societies became aparent to me only when i came to live in England.in one of my favourite writers book,THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER by Goerge Orwell you can find a quite accurate description of the eating habits of working class people of 1930 Britain.were i to compare their habits to modern day England i have to say that there is not much of a difference when it comes to the nutritional facts.ten years ago in Latvia,you could only get organically grown fruit and veg and farmed meat for cheap,because the majority of businesses didnt have the financial means to use additives and preservatives to make a lot of money with their produce.now it is the other way around like in the rest of Europe and the common standard is to sell food that has been tampered with big time to make it more profitable“lets just add more sugar and a bit of colour and they’ll eat it anyway“.meanwhile,the rich have not only the educational background but also the necessary money to live on a a healthy diet and a long and healthy life. I think it is a shame the government doesnt try to tackle this problem of class division with proper education and market restrictions.because in a way,England seems to become more like a 3rd world country-only nobody seems to notice that there are actually people suffering from malnutrition.after all,they are eating something. Well,i probably should not cook Spagetti bolognese too often.... Until next week. Your Kris
Liebe Freunde,Diese woche ist viel passiert.wir haben einen neuen regisseur fuer unseren zweiten block des CHOIR PROJECT,METIN HUSEYIN und ich kann euch gar nicht sagen,wie froh ich bin waerend eines projekts gleich mit mehreren verschiedenen regisseuren zu arbeiten.CILLA WARE hat sich mehr auf den look der serie konzentriert und mit METIN haben wir jetzt einen regisseur,der sehr intensiv mit schauspielern arbeitet und präzisiert,was wir ihm als schauspieler anbieten.ich habe mich gestern versucht,an eine mahlzeit zu erinnern,die meine mutter frueher oft fuer uns gekocht hat und dabei sind mir ein paar gedanken gekommen,die ich in meinem Englischen blog untergebracht habe.ich bin sehr froh,das meine mutter oft fuer uns gekocht hat,auch wenn das nicht ihre lieblingsbeschaeftigung war.neben meinen dreharbeiten fuers Englische fernsehen versuche ich so viele filme wie moeglich zu schauen,um mich inspirieren zu lassen aber vor allem,um mein ziel nicht aus den augen zu verlieren.dabei ist mir eine kinoperle aus China in die finger gekommen UNIFORM(ZHI FU) von DIAO YINAN.ein verblueffend einfach gestrickter film ueber einen dry cleaner,der eines tages eine polizeiuniform ueberstreift,die er eigentlich zu einem kunden bringen sollte und mehr oder weniger unfreiwillig beginnt,ein gefaehrliches dopelleben zu fueren.der film ist derart einfach gemacht und die geschichte ist so simpel,dass man am liebsten vor freude herumspringen will.dazu muss man wissen,dass dieser film wie viele andere ein China zeigt,dass von den dortigen behoerden aus gruenden der staats propaganda nicht geduldet wird und der regisseur diesen film unter einem pseudonym und qvasi,im untergrund gedreht hat.man muss sich vorstellen,dass der film warscheinlich nie in China in den kinos zu sehen sein wird,sondern nur auf festivals weltweit und als dvd.wenn man die zensur in China vergleicht mit der zensur des geldes im rest der welt,dann gibt es da eigentlich keinen grossen unterschied.sogar ein regisseur wie AKI KAURISMÄKI ist der zensur des marktes unterworfen.sein letzter film,LIGHTS IN THE DUSK(2006) ist mit jungen schauspielern besetzt,weil sich seine mittlerweile 50-jährigen stammschauspieler nicht mehr an eine breite öffentlichkeit verkaufen lassen.was ihn allerdings auszeichnet,ist,dass er dieselben charactere und dieselben geschichten erzaehlt,die ihn einmalig machen.anstatt eines verzweifelten 50 jaehrigen hat man in seinem letzten film eben einen verzweifelten 25-jährigen hauptdarsteller. Ich hoffe,das ich in meiner arbeit einmal auch so eine konsequenz und ehrlichkeit erreichen werde.nächste woche schreibe ich einen laengeren deutschen blog Bis dahin alles gute und viel glueck Euer Kris