Film star Anna Schudt explains in an interview about “Das Boot” why films and series about German history should continue to be made.
The fourth season of the award-winning Sky series “Das Boot” (since 2018), which is set in the war year 1943, is available from this Saturday (September 23rd). In the six new episodes, Anna Schudt (49, former “Tatort” star) can be seen again as the opportunistic SS gold smuggler Bettina Gruber. The actress explains in an interview with spot on news what she thinks about the fact that the full brutality of wartime is still being shown in new films and series 80 years later. She also revealed what she won’t soon forget from filming.
Have you seen the original film “Das Boot” (1981)?
Anna Schudt: Since the series is something completely independent, I didn’t watch it in preparation. In addition, my story in the fourth season is a land story in which the submarine storyline plays no role. My character has her own opinion on how she uses the war for her own benefit. She doesn’t care so much about conquering countries, in fact she doesn’t care about the world war at all, but only about her own advantage.
The series “Das Boot” shows the horrors and atrocities of a past war. Why is this still relevant today?
Schudt: The past still shapes us today, which is why films and series should still be made about the First World War, the Second World War and about German history in general. A lot of this happened in my grandparents’ generation and so it wasn’t that long ago. The next generation has detached itself from this a bit, but everything is still present in us thanks to our upbringing and manners. It’s not for nothing that there are so many books about transgenerational trauma.
These issues should continue to concern us: firstly, so that we learn from them; Looking back can help prevent you from making the same mistakes again. And secondly, so that we can free ourselves from this history without forgetting.
What attracted you to the character of SS gold smuggler Bettina Gruber?
Schudt: I actually thought she stood out as a female character in this genre. Because how many female characters are there? How many female characters my age are there? That can be counted on one hand. Most of the time there is only one that you could actually play. And if she’s as interesting as Bettina in “Das Boot” here, then of course I’ll be happy to take it.
The role isn’t that big, but it’s still noticeable. How do you explain that?
Schudt: For me, it’s not always just about the quantity of the role. Of course it’s nice when you can tell a lot. This time my character is not one who drives the course of action. But that doesn’t matter at all to me because I deal with every role in the same way, regardless of whether it has 30 days of shooting or 10. I still have to understand it – and in this case it was very, very fun.
Her character could also play a role in a fifth season because she opens up new subject areas…
Schudt: I completely agree with you.
What won’t you quickly forget from filming?
Schudt: What I will definitely not forget from this filming are the rooms and the incredible equipment with which we as actors were catapulted into this bygone era. The size and power that these buildings radiate, and when everyone walked around in their costumes in the detailed interior, it immediately transported you to another time. That really got into my blood and I haven’t experienced that often.
I also won’t forget the lot of smoking, for example in the cinema scene. It actually used to be the case that everyone smoked like crazy. Even I can still remember that, but fortunately we don’t remember that anymore. (laughs)
What was it like filming in the cramped anterooms of the prison?
Schudt: That was exhausting because so many people from the entire filming team had to go into these small rooms. However, this also makes it less scary because there are cables everywhere and people are standing there in T-shirts or lamps. There isn’t too much of an association with torture.
What souvenir did you take with you from filming?
Schudt: I used to buy clothes from the productions, but then at some point I realized that I wasn’t wearing any because the clothes simply belonged to the character. And because I don’t like accumulating things, I stopped. I took a lot of photos of the “Das Boot” set with me in my cell phone, which I always enjoy looking at. But the best souvenir is always the film itself.
You’ve already seen the fourth season. What is your conclusion?
Schudt: The fourth season is really very exciting. But she also concerned me about another issue, about all those young men who were called “sewer rats.” And towards the end of the war, all the male human material they drafted was even younger. I remember my great-aunts once saying: “We would have liked to get married, but there were no men left.” That bothered me back then because I couldn’t imagine it.
And to have it made clear again this season that it was all about cannon fodder – regardless of qualifications – shocked me. War is cruel from start to finish, but this was particularly bitter for the entire generation.
Finally, a huge balancing act from war and death in earlier times to the busy life of these days: The series starts on the weekend in the middle of the Oktoberfest season. Are you interested in the largest folk festival in the world?
Schudt: I lived in Munich for 20 years and went to the Oktoberfest every Tuesday morning for family day. Otherwise I was once in a beer tent. Of course, I also know the general state of emergency during the Oktoberfest in Munich. I always found it incredibly funny when all the people walking around in dirndls and lederhosen who have probably never worn traditional costume in their lives. I think it’s funny, but I’m not going to go there, rent a place and go drink liters of beer. Others can do that.
And what can your fans look forward to next?
Schudt: I filmed the series “Push” in which I play a midwife – and am therefore at the other end of the thread because it’s about births and not, like in “Boat”, about death. And what also turned out incredibly beautiful is the children’s film “The Haunted Under the Ferris Wheel”. This is an adaptation of an old GDR series. In it I play the witch who comes to life.
“Das Boot”, season four, and all previous seasons can be seen exclusively on Sky and the streaming service Wow from September 23rd.