March 2002 - Nr. 3
Tom Tykwer’s New Film
An International Match Made in Heaven
TWIG - The high-budget movie that kicked off the Berlin International Film Festival this year was made by a German director, but like much of filmmaking these days, its roots and scope are international. Based on a script left behind by Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski, who died in 1996, Heaven is set in Italy, stars Australian actress Cate Blanchett, and was coproduced by X-Filme Creative Pool Berlin, the Hollywood studio Miramax, and Mirage Enterprises, a British firm.
"The idea behind Heaven is a journey from darkness to light," says director Tom Tykwer, whose film Lola Rennt (Run, Lola Run) attracted a relatively large U.S. audience in 1999. Tykwer’s new film tells the story of a young woman struggling to bear the guilt of murder. "When I first read the screenplay, I had just finished Der Krieger und die Kaiserin (The Princess and the Warrior, 2000), recalls Tykwer. "Heaven was a further development of something I had been working on for a long time. After five pages I was so involved in this story, it was as if I had written it myself."
Through an agreement negotiated by X-Filme, Tykwer retained the right to make the final cut and to work with his own team during the filming. Getting along with American co-producers was easier than he expected, he explains. "At first I was afraid even more people would get in on the action," says Tykwer. "But they turned out to be the most wonderful and cooperative partners."
