Crime scene: The Lord of the Forest
This is how the actors felt the shoot in Corona times
On the set of “Tatort: The Lord of the Forest”: The actresses Ines Marie Westernströer (left) and Brigitte Urhausen did not have to wear a mask during the shoot.
© SR / Manuela Meyer
The “Tatort: The Lord of the Forest” is the second case of the Saarland team. The cast reveal what it was like on the set during the pandemic.
On Easter Monday (April 5), the first sent the new team of investigators from Saarbrücken to work again at 8:15 p.m. For the second time the inspectors Leo Hölzer (Vladimir Burlakov, 34), Adam Schürk (Daniel Sträßer, 34) and their colleagues Esther Baumann (Brigitte Urhausen, 41) and Pia Heinrich (Ines Marie Westernströer, 35) flicker in “Tatort: Der Herr of the forest “across the screens. The bloody murder of an 18-year-old schoolgirl needs to be solved.
The shooting of the crime thriller took place in June and July 2020 – in the middle of the corona pandemic. Of course, this also had an impact on the production of “Tatort”: “For some scenes in which we couldn’t keep the distance, we had to be quarantined for five days beforehand,” Ines Marie Westernströer tells in an interview with the broadcaster. The work on the set had to be adjusted extremely. “Fortunately, all these restrictions did not have a negative impact on the work at all, it was very concentrated and good work,” said the 35-year-old.
Actor Vladimir Burlakov also remembers the shooting well: “Everyone on the set wore masks. That’s a strange feeling. But the hygiene concept and the regular corona tests made us feel very safe.” After a few days, it finally became normal, “which everyone adhered to,” explains the actor from Leo Hölzer.
The corona measures were “a very small evil”
Daniel Sträßer also praised the solid hygiene concept and the smooth process – despite the corona pandemic. But of course there are also disadvantages: “The measures certainly slowed down some processes or made them more cumbersome and stole time and money in one corner or the other.” But by and large everyone got along well with it. For his colleague Brigitte Urhausen, it was “a relief to finally be able to work again”.
There is a simple reason for this: “For me personally, after two postponed or canceled theater productions and the week-long lockdown, the protective measures on set such as constantly wearing a mask, disinfecting, keeping your distance, lunch behind plexiglass panes, multiple tests and quarantine were a very small evil that you like has accepted. ” In addition, they are very privileged as actors on the set: “We can at least take off the masks in front of the camera.”
In the first case, the actors hardly knew each other
The team of four stood for “Tatort: The Lord of the Forest” for the second time together in front of the camera. In the first case, “Das industrious Lieschen” (April 2020), the actors hardly knew each other, as Urhausen reveals. “I met my colleague Ines Marie Westernströer at the casting, Daniel Sträßer and Vladimir Burlakov only on my first day of shooting.” It is not uncommon, however, “that you only get to know your colleagues shortly before the first drop”.
Nonetheless, it is an advantage if the artists get to know each other a little better over time: “Then you understand the game situation and, above all, the relationships between the characters better and faster. It can also lead to more spontaneous, exciting moments, which maybe even were not planned, “says the 41-year-old.