Death of Wolfgang Petersen: friends about the great filmmaker – Munich

Juergen Prochnow, actor

I’m in a state of shock. It wasn’t until my birthday two months ago that we spoke on the phone together, we were about the same age. We became friends through work. It was the best experience in my long theater and film life. I played in his “crime scene” for the first time – 50 years ago. Until then I was completely focused on theater and was with Zadek in Bochum at the Schaubühne. Wolfgang introduced me to working for the film. He made it clear to me what it means to be seen in a close-up. He taught me to enjoy this job – which was not there before. The way he was able to lead a team was unique, completely natural, never artificial. As a director, he always stood right next to the camera, these monitors didn’t exist back then. As an actor, you only have this camera to play into. I felt like I was playing a part of himself in the roles. I often played him – also in the role of the old man in “Boot”, him with his accuracy and artistic seriousness. I have so many memories of all the times we spent together, including the tough moments he helped me through.

Günter Rohrbach, producer

He was an unshakable optimist, an attitude towards life that has always been American. Death wasn’t an option. He celebrated the discovery of his illness, triggered by coincidence, as a success because of its early detection. A few weeks later, however, this was to prove to be a terrible mistake. But even then he kept his head up, he completed the chemo with flying colors and without any side effects. Even the depressing realization of a follow-up examination morphed into harmlessness from his mouth. We had our last phone call three weeks before his death. He loved these conversations, which often stretched out for hours, it was the form in which we last lived our friendship. At this point he could no longer be without oxygen. But he didn’t let that matter now, we chatted as usual, we laughed as usual, and when he felt that he couldn’t go any further, we said goodbye as usual. That’s how he was, that’s how he managed this grandiose life, shaped by many successes, which he loved so much and in which he could exude a lot of love. In the early hours of August 12th, this great director, this wonderful human being, lovingly guided by his wife Maria, left for his final set.

Nastassja Kinski, actress

Wolfgang Petersen gave me a great opportunity in my life. When I was very young, a teenager, 15 years old, I got to do one of my first films with him. That was a “crime scene” for the ARD. At first I didn’t realize how important these kinds of films can be. How something like this can also help to advance what has been an important concern of mine for a long time: better protecting children from violence. Wolfgang saw it like me. He has always integrated the fight for courage and justice into his films. I saw the news tonight and I will miss him forever.

Katja Eichinger, author

In the making of “The Neverending Story” it is shown how the horse Artax sinks into the swamps of sadness and Atreyu tries in vain to save his friend. Wolfgang Petersen can also be seen again and again and how he suffers with his actors. All the desperation and pain of the scene is reflected in his face. According to Bernd, it was this ability to empathize with his characters, his actors and his audience, coupled with an incomparable tenacity to make the best possible film, that made Wolfgang such an exceptional director. “Das Boot” is the “Citizen Kane” of all submarine and modern high seas films. Wolfgang Petersen made a lasting contribution to shaping the visual language of modern cinema, and he was also a wonderfully amiable person.

Martin Moszkowicz, producer

The film industry loses one of the great filmmakers. Wolfgang Petersen wrote film history. Classics like “The Boat” and “The Neverending Story” are part of the shared history of Wolfgang Petersen and Constantin Film. We mourn with relatives, friends and colleagues for an extraordinary filmmaker.

Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor

The never-ending story of Wolfgang Petersen has come to an end. “Das Boot” and many other of his films live on – far beyond Germany. The special merit of a special narrator (wrote the Chancellor on Twitter).

Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture

With Wolfgang Petersen we are losing a great director who, since the 1970s, has set standards for both gripping and ambitious storytelling with his work for television and cinema. His novel adaptation of Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s “Das Boot”, which has been nominated several times for an Oscar, is still considered a milestone in German film history. With his many international successes such as “Das Boot”, “The Neverending Story”, “In The Line of Fire” or “Air Force One” he inspired an audience of millions worldwide. A remake of his comedy “Four Against the Bank” brought him back to Germany in 2016. His audience will miss him greatly.

Matthias Schweighöfer, actor

Open detailed view

“Dear Wolfgang. Thank you for everything. Thank you for Hollywood. Thank you for your humanity. Thank you for your pathos. We will miss you. Bon voyage” (wrote the actor and producer on Instagram).

Diana Iljine, director of the Munich Film Festival

Wolfgang Petersen inspired me even as a student. “Das Boot” with its detailed replica – that was innovation, creativity, risk and at the same time his breakthrough. In 2013, the Munich Film Festival showed the restored version of “The Neverending Story” in a special screening. Fiction at its best! His subsequent Hollywood career is deeply impressive for me: With his enthusiasm, his stubbornness and his forward-looking attitude, he was able to assert himself there, which really only a few manage to do. In 2019 I saw him at the reception for the 100th birthday of Bavaria Film, which took place during the film festival in Munich. Now this great director is gone, but his boat will always sail!

Bettina Reitz, President of the HFF

Anyone who bears the name Petersen can hardly be a native Bavarian. Nevertheless, as a Munich resident by choice, I always located the great German successes with exceptional talent Wolfgang Petersen in Bavaria. Whether his considerable international success would have been possible without Bavaria, Günter Rohrbach as well as Bernd Eichinger and Constantin can no longer be clearly proven in retrospect. But in any case, we know that his international career is inseparably linked by working with these two people on “The Boat” and “The Neverending Story”. His early scenes of crime, such as “Kurzschluss” or “Maturity Certificate” had already left me with deeply incisive visual experiences that I otherwise only knew from going to the cinema. And the fact that his film “The Consequence” at the time led to a shutdown during the broadcast on BR is still a reminder of farsighted visionary power and unswerving assertiveness. It’s just a shame for us that he didn’t study at the HFF Munich but at the DFFB in Berlin, because the DFFB started teaching a little faster. And even then, Wolfgang Petersen wanted to be right at the front. As a cinematic visionary, he remained so throughout his life.

Sebastian Feuß, company spokesman

It is with great sadness that we learned of Wolfgang Petersen’s death. His name is inextricably linked to Bavaria Film, particularly through the cinematic milestone “Das Boot”. Wolfgang Petersen will be remembered as one of Germany’s greatest filmmakers. Our thoughts are with his family, loved ones and friends.

Franziska Gerlach, Bavarian Media Minister

With Wolfgang Petersen, we are losing a director who not only wrote German but also international film history. His big breakthrough on the world stage came in Munich with “Das Boot”, which was filmed in the Bavaria Filmstudios and for which he received the Bavarian Film Prize in 1981.