Principal photography began at Studio Babelsberg today for Anleitung zum Unglücklichsein, a romantic comedy with a stellar cast by hit director Sherry Hormann (Desert Flower) and based on the bestseller of the same name by Paul Watzlawick. The lead roles have been taken by Johanna Wokalek, Iris Berben, David Kross, Richy Müller and Benjamin Sadler.
Anleitung zum Unglücklichsein is a production by Desert Flower Filmproduktion, produced by Peter Herrmann (Oscar® in 2003 for Nowhere in Africa). This continues the successful collaboration he began with Sherry Hormann on Desert Flower. The film is being made as a co-production with ARD Degeto / Bavarian Broadcasting, Studio Babelsberg, B.A. Produktion GmbH and KINOWELT, with funding from the German Federal Film Board (FFA), Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern (FFF) and the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF).
Our set constructors and designers have built and dressed some great sets in the Tonkreuz - where the first German sound film was made in 1929 - as well as at the Marlene Dietrich Stage and in Berlin.“
Christoph Fisser,
COO of Studio Babelsberg
„We are looking forward to this first collaboration with the wonderful director Sherry Hormann and producer Peter Herrmann,“ says Christoph Fisser, COO of Studio Babelsberg, on the start of shooting. „The preparatory phase was very constructive. We are now going into the shoot of around seven weeks with this creative atmosphere. Our set constructors and designers have built and dressed some great sets in the Tonkreuz - where the first German sound film was made in 1929 - as well as at the Marlene Dietrich Stage and in Berlin.“
Tiffany Blechschmid (Johanna Wokalek) is neurotic, dreamy, superstitious, contradictory and single: so it’s no big surprise that there are home-made fortune cookies in the twentysomething’s Berlin delicatessen although she herself has a deep mistrust of happiness. Until now, every feeling of happiness in her life was followed by a catastrophe. But what is happiness anyway? And why is everyone so crazy about it? What does love have to do with happiness? And why do we keep on shooting ourselves in the foot on the path to happiness - even when the man of our dreams appears all of a sudden and quite unexpectedly?
Motherly advice from beyond the grave, nervous cats, floating concert pianos, herds of cows in the city traffic, egocentric wannabe lovers, off-target kisses, and a painful secret: screenwriter and director Sherry Hormann is inspired by the bestseller of the same name from the Austrian philosopher Paul Watzlawick to conjure up a wistful and intoxicatingly bouncy romantic comedy full of melancholic nuances and boasting images of tender imagination and surprising wit.
Tiffany is a tour de force role for the exceptional actress Johanna Wokalek (Pope Joan, The Baader Meinhof Complex). Tiffany‘s mother is being played by the TV and cinema star Iris Berben (Buddenbrooks). They will be joined by such top-notch players as David Kross (The Reader, Promising The Moon), Richy Müller (The Poll Diaries, Doubting Thomas), Benjamin Sadler (If Not Us, Who?), Katharina Marie Schubert (Der letzte schöne Herbsttag, Buddenbrooks), Margarita Broich (Effi Briest), Rüdiger Vogler (Anonyma, Effi Briest), Itay Tiran (Lebanon) and Otto Tausig (Auf Wiedersehen, Amerika, Berlin 36).
Anleitung zum Unglücklichsein will continue shooting at Studio Babelsberg, in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) until the beginning of August. KINOWELT is planning the German national theatrical release of the romantic comedy for March 8, 2012.
Press contact:
Studio Babelsberg AG
Eike Wolf
Head of Corporate Communications & Publicity
Fon: +49 331-721 21 31
Fax: +49 331-721 21 35
E-Mail: eike.wolf()studiobabelsberg.com
ANLEITUNG ZUM UNGLÜCKLICHSEIN Publicity
Just Publicity
Kerstin Böck
Fon: +49-89-202082-60
Fax: +49-89-202082-89
E-Mail: k.boeck()just-publicity.com
