Bavaria Adapting Robert Seethaler Bestseller ‘A Whole Life,’ Embracing Horror With ‘The Privilege’ (EXCLUSIVE)
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Bavaria Filmproduktion, whose latest film, Oskar Roehler’s “Enfant Terrible,” is part of Cannes’ Official Selection this year, is next producing projects from acclaimed filmmaker Hans Steinbichler (“The Diary of Anne Frank”) and writer-director duo Felix Fuchssteiner and Katharina Schöde, makers of the hugely popular “Ruby Red” fantasy-adventure trilogy.
Steinbichler is directing an adaptation of writer-actor Robert Seethaler’s bestseller “A Whole Life,” which spans a solitary man’s life in a remote Alpine valley. Bavaria Filmproduktion, the feature film unit of German entertainment giant Bavaria Film, is partnering on the project with Vienna-based Epo-Film, co-producer of Sky Deutschland’s murder-mystery series “Pagan Peak.”
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“A Whole Life” reunites Steinbichler and Seethaler, who wrote the screenplay for the filmmaker’s 2008 drama “My Mother, My Bride and I.”
Seethaler’s works also include “The Tobacconist,” which served as the basis of Nikolaus Leytner’s 2018 release starring the late Bruno Ganz.
Bavaria Filmproduktion is also embracing genre film with Fuchssteiner and Schöde’s “The Privilege.”
“It’s a bit in the tradition of what Blumhouse does,” says Bavaria Filmproduktion managing director Markus Zimmer. “It’s going to be a very surprising project coming from a German company.”
“The Privilege” reteams Zimmer with Fuchssteiner and Schöde. As head of Tele München Group’s Concorde Filmverleih distribution unit, Zimmer produced the duo’s hit “Ruby Red” trilogy. The films, based on Kerstin Gier’s bestselling young adult novels, included 2013’s “Ruby Red,” 2014’s “Sapphire Blue” and 2016’s “Emerald Green.”
Zimmer exited Tele München in 2017 after two decades at the company and joined Bavaria the following year. (Tele München has since been integrated into the Leonine entertainment group.)
In addition to “Enfant Terrible,” which traces the turbulent career of legendary filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Bavaria’s upcoming productions also include Detlev Buck’s adaptation of the Thomas Mann classic “Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man,” about a handsome and gifted swindler who manages to swiftly rise from poverty to affluence.
Jannis Niewöhner, who starred in the “Ruby Red” films, toplines “Felix Krull,” which is due to resume production in June and expected to finish shooting by the end of summer for a 2021 release via Warner Bros.
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