Let's go yellow press for a moment, as the Berlinale does too in their latest press info breathlessly called "Stars, Stars, Stars". On Thursday, the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival opens at Potsdamer Platz, and one of the most contentious issues each year seems to be who and how many international stars can be attracted to walk the red carpet at a European film fest (last year having been a hard-to-top highlight year with Brangelina and the kids visiting the Lego museum at Potsdamer Platz, if you must know). As in any non-English speaking country, the stars can elevate their popularity dramatically if they speak the guest country’s language (see David Hasselhoff's enduring fanbase in Germany). So here are my Top 5 Hollywood German speakers, for your amusement:
1. Keanu Reeves gets poetic in German. Should I run into him at his TIFF retro “Whoa. The Films of Keanu Reeves”, I will test him further.
2. (Half-German) Sandra Bullock at the Bambi German Media Awards 2000
and again at the Academy Awards 2010, as most fearless German speaking star.
3. (Half-German) Kirsten Dunst also never shy to speak German, here on the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.
4. Leonardo DiCaprio wins Best Grandson Ever for regularly visiting his German "Oma" in Oer-Erkenschwick (call me if you want to hear the right pronunciation).
5. Johnny Depp spricht Deutsch -- with near-native pronunciation, but less sense or reason (why am I not surprised).
Runner up: Christopher Lee (most gracious).
Out of competition: Arnold Schwarzenegger (best Austrian/German accent in any language).
by Jutta Brendemühl, Goethe-Institut Toronto
