And
then there are literally dozens of German TV ads for blue-chip
clients, including the one with the roller-skating bull
designed to show that the stock market isn't as stuffy as
you think.
Felsberg
should know about the stock market: a recent public offer
took the merged Das Werk and Road Movies (of which he is
managing director) onto the Neue Markt and into the upper
echelons of the movie business. It is now one of those interlocking
media conglomerates that seem to characterise the current
German film industry: not quite as big as Kinowelt, not
quite as secretive as the Kirch Group, but solidly based,
with a turnover in excess of 100 million Marks.
"There's
a lot of cash on the market," explains Felsberg matter-of-factly
of the flotation. "Maybe it's because real estate funds
are not working the way they used to and expectations on
new media are very high in Germany."
Certainly,
there is a sense of both money and expectation in Road Movies'
offices on the third floor of an elegant old Berlin apartment
house just off the Ku'damm. There is space, technology,
discreet artwork on the walls and only one film poster,
beautifully framed but totally hidden by bits of paper stuck
all over it.
This
turns out to be because it is a poster for Hammett, the
only one of Wenders' films of which Road Movies does not
own the negative (it was produced by Francis Ford Coppola
and is, typically enough, mired in a whole series of complex
license deals).
Celebrating
its 25th anniversary next year, Road Movies is a long
way from the production company Wenders set up for Im
Lauf Der Zeit (Kings Of The Road) in 1976.
But Felsberg who has been md for 14 years
appears unfazed by the growth.
"I
didn't want to stay in the middle," he says simply. "I
would have been comfortable to be very small and make
two small films a year. But the most complicated thing
is to have four or five movies with a team that is too
small."
No
one is likely to think of Road Movies as a small-scale
player these days. It has a staff of around 30, with another
210 at Das Werk. It has produced films by Michelangelo
Antonioni, Ken Loach and a number of other top international
directors. And there are a lot more than four or five
movies in the pipeline: some 30 are in various stages
of development, with quite a few about to be delivered,
including the new Loach film, Bread And Roses,
which is a hot favourite for Cannes selection.
In
Berlin, however, the focus is on Million Dollar
Hotel, which opens the festival and goes on release
throughout Germany two days later.
"The
original idea for Million Dollar Hotel was
developed by Bono," says Felsberg (the U2 lead singer's
connections with Wenders date back to Wings Of Desire
and beyond).
"Nicholas
Klein wrote a script and it was going to be Mel Gibson's
first film as a director. Then along came Braveheart,
and the script wasn't ready.
"Then,
about four years ago, we took over. There was a script
developed called 'Billion Dollar Hotel', with the same
basic setting but set in the future the same style,
but in 2040 which didn't come out very well. We
worked on a couple of versions until finally, last year,
we decided we had one to go forward with.
"Even
without Mel Gibson on board, we had the financing in place
for the entire film. Then Bono and Wim and everybody felt
that we should go back to Mel and ask if he was interested
in being involved in the picture." Which, of course, he
was.
Felsberg
is not going to talk about salaries and total budgets,
but he will admit that Million Dollar Hotel has a $15
million below-the-line budget. "And then," he says, "there
are the rest of the cast members. And Mel."
Who
is presumably not working for his usual fee? "Absolutely
not," says Felsberg with the ghost of a smile.
In
some ways, I suggest, gesturing towards the poster covered
in bits of paper, the film could almost be the one Wenders
would have liked to have made when he shot Hammett,
but couldn't because he had neither the control nor the
special-effects technology. But Felsberg doesn't really
want to go down this route.
"Really,
for special effects, you have to work on special cameras,"
he says. "But, yes, absolutely. Wim's always interested
in any kind of new technique. I mean, on Wings, we had
special effects, but done in a traditional way. And you
should know that Hotel will be shown in CinemaxX 5 with
a Sony digital projector."
There
is still, he admits, some progress to be made on digitally
projected picture quality. "But then," he adds, "from
my point of view, the important question is to see that
it's possible."
He
looks down at my battered tape recorder, intending to make
a comment about modern technology, but thinks better of
it. "Six months ago," he says instead, "your computer was
double the price and quarter the capacity. The next generation
of video projectors will come in six months it's
definitely the way. And that will change the entire cinema
system."
