Following on the heels of his success with BALLOON, the story of an escape from East Germany, with which we just sold out Toronto's Royal Cinema during the EUFFTO, actor-director Michael Bully Herbig (51) has several projects in the works. For Herbig, BALLOON was his transition into serious subject matter; the film garnered a million viewers. Before that, Herbig was known as a comedy specialist.
Variety recently reported that Herbig will tell the story of dazzling German magician-entertainer duo Siegfried and Roy.
The biopic is based on the real-life story of two young men who made a stellar international career out of the nothingness of post-war Germany, defying all odds to become the most successful Vegas act of all time. It follows their dreams -- which later included animals protection and conservation. Produced by and starring no other than Siegfried and Roy, and likely a tiger or two.
Not fake news: Also based on real events will be THE CASE CLAAS RELOTIUS about the disgraced former journalist, who was forced to resign from the prestigious German news weekly Der Spiegel after admitting numerous instances of journalistic fraud. "Both stories beg to be on the big screen," Herbig commented on these two latest projects.
His third directorial project in-the-making is also inspired by a true story, a yet untitled thriller about a young female soldier who takes up the fight for truth and justice after a sexual assault. The cast includes Rosalie Thomass (GREETINGS FROM FUKUSHIMA) and Friedrich Mücke, the lead from BALLOON. Filming is scheduled for 2020. Director Herbig is aware of the relevance of the story. “This issue is incredibly emotional. I really hope that this movie will touch and shake up audiences!” he said. The script will be developed by filmmaker Feo Aladag (WHEN WE LEAVE), the first time she writes a screenplay for a movie she isn’t directing. The journalist Nicole Rosenbach will help create the story as she has already written a stirring television documentary on the topic.
On screen (we showed you the tragicomedy HOTEL LUX, where he shines as an actor pretending to be Hitler), Michael Bully Herbig and comedian Hape Kerkeling, whose own coming-of-age story was just congenially captured by Oscar winner Caroline Link in ALL ABOUT ME, will appear together in a movie for the first time: Joseph Vilsmaier's THE GRIM REAPER AND EVERLASTING LOVE. Eleven years ago, THE STORY OF BRANDNER KASPAR, Vilsmaier's comedy about a fun-loving rogue who even fools death, took movie screens by storm. This follow-up is about death and the devil, with Herbig and Kerkeling as the infernal duo. The idea for the new story came from Herbig, who will again play the role of the all too human Grim Reaper. “I enjoyed the role so much that I insisted on playing it again,” he said. The theatrical release is planned for Easter 2020, as filming is underway in Bavaria and Austria.
image: Herbig on Berlin's Boulevard of Stars, cc photo Thomas Schmidt (NetAction)
