Berlin

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After the successful screening of Exodus to Shanghai at the 66. Berlinale,  the cast attended  the FashonTV After Party at THE PEARL in Berlin.

German actor Markus von Lingen, plays Hermann Deutsch, a sadistic evil mastermind elected as the leader of Führer Museum project to recuperate all paintings, especially that of ‘Prinz’ painted by Hitler himself of his first German shepherd and true love. With his companion Kurt, he terrorizes anyone he meets, finding pleasure in inflicting pain and mental torture. He attempts to not only seduce Fannia, disregarding his moral beliefs, but develops a indisputable hatred for Dr. Ho and the Morgenstern’s. He chases down anyone to the death, to carry out his tasks and encounter personal euphoria.

Film Festivals interviewed the talented actor and talked about what intrigued him to be part of the project, the challenges of the role, the character development process and more.

What made you decide to be part of this project?
I got the role from my English agent and what I really liked about it, is that the role is not this generic Nazi role, which every German actor gets to play once in a while, when you have a few sentences. In this film it's actually a real character, a real person, who has a development throughout the story, who has problems and it's not about him being a Nazi, it could be any regime. For me it was an interesting person to play.

How did you prepare for the role?
I prepared getting into the history, looking at film footage, trying to get as much information as possible about how it would be like living, working, making your career and so on.

When developing this character did you try to find a human aspect in Hermann?
Yes, absolutely. I tried to find out how would a person react under the circumstances.

You have been working as an actor for sometime. How was it to act with the other cast, since many of them were non-actors?
They were coached very well by a friend from Los Angeles, David Lipper and I thought they were pretty much up to speed. I got a lot from them, they were really good.

What was your biggest challenge?
My biggest challenge was that a lot of things weren't prepared. The director came up with a lot of new stuff, and I was terrified about these changes. Some days he would say tomorrow we are going to do this and this scene, that weren't even written so we had to just jump in. It freaked me out because I like to  be prepared (laughs).

Where are you based?
I live here in Berlin, but I'm regularly in London. I have representation in London as well.

How does it feel to be part of the Berlinale?
It's a honor, really a pleasure. Many people came to the premiere and enjoyed the film. it's great that the film is taking place here.

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Interview conducted by L. Fietz