Murder, violence, drugs, sex – director Thomas Stiller reveals in an interview how real everyday prison life is in “Tatort: Das Wunderkind”.
The Munich film “Tatort: Das Wunderkind” (February 4, 8:15 p.m., the first) takes place in prison for long stretches. It tells about the tough everyday life in prison – including murder, violence, drugs and sex. spot on news asked screenwriter and director Thomas Stiller (62), who did a lot of research for the crime thriller and partially shot the film in a real correctional facility, whether it is really that bad there.
The new “Tatort: Das Wunderkind” takes place largely in prison. Is it really as criminal and dangerous there as it is portrayed?
Thomas Stiller: Absolutely. I’ve already made a prison film once – “Fear in My Head” (2018) with Claudia Michelsen – and did extensive research back then. In addition, a good friend of mine is the prison director in Oldenburg and I always give him my scripts to read in advance. At the “crime scene” he said: “These people were standing in front of me exactly the same way.” So, I would say that’s very realistic.
Sounds like a totally creepy parallel world?
Stiller: Yes. In prison society, the power of the strongest applies – and anyone who doesn’t have allies has a problem.
Does it make sense that there is so much crime in prison?
Stiller: Yes, that is the question. Of course, no one wants to hear that there is so much crime in prison. After all, our system is designed for rehabilitation, in the USA it’s all about punishment and humiliation. People come out of there ten times worse than when they went in. How a country deals with its criminals is a moral and ethical question. For me as a storyteller, a prison is just a place where the inspectors have no power and have to use different tactics. I found that very exciting about it.
The crime thriller was filmed in the Landshut prison. Was it that easy?
Stiller: Getting permission to film while the film was still in operation wasn’t that easy for producer Hamid Baroua. But we were lucky and were able to shoot in a side wing for four days. The remaining scenes were shot in an empty insurance building. Thanks to our clever designer Myriande Heller, we were able to recreate everything very well.
What was it like in prison during the four days of filming?
Stiller: It was interesting and exciting. I even shot the film with Claudia Michelsen entirely in prison. Both shoots weren’t scary for me because you don’t really have contact with the prisoners. There is a lot of attention paid to safety. For “Tatort” we had very strict times in which we had to shoot quickly in the prison yard because the inmates had their sports session there again.
Didn’t you notice anything about the prisoners?
Stiller: Yes, a little bit. But they were all relatively friendly and didn’t mess around – otherwise we would have had to synchronize everything.
Were you also locked in to work?
Stiller: Yes. Every person and everything we brought in was always carefully checked and counted. We were always accompanied by prison employees because of course there is already a risk of attacks. In this context, I find it remarkable that the correctional officers are locked up in the same way as the prisoners throughout their entire working hours. That’s the strangest thing about this job. They sleep in their own bed, but the next day they are back in prison.