Bjarne Mädel has already seen a lot – not just acting. He was a cleaning agent in the USA and delivered packages. He is therefore familiar with the role in his new film “Delivered”.
Upstairs, downstairs – Bjarne Mädel had to be fit for the film “Delivered”. In it he plays a father who lives with his son near Regensburg and who just manages to get by as a parcel deliverer.
He hopes for more money from a second job, but that’s when the problems really begin. You can see it on Wednesday at 8.15 p.m. on Das Erste. In an interview with the German Press Agency, Mädel tells how the role felt.
Question: There were a lot of stairs that you had to climb as a parcel carrier in the film.
Answer: It is part of this profession that you have to deliver things. And often to people who don’t feel like dragging things up the floors themselves. Some of them order precisely for this reason.
Question: How did you prepare for this role?
Answer: I was able to fall back on my own experience. As a student, I delivered parcels to earn money and I can remember the constant time pressure. The pressure to get rid of everything defines the day. You pack the car full early in the morning and you don’t get relief until the afternoon, when you can see the back wall at some point. Then you know that you might be able to deliver everything.
Question: What if not?
Answer: It is really bad when you just can’t make it and have to take things with you again and know that tomorrow will add that on top. Often you really don’t even have time to eat something or go to the toilet, so that as a driver you really pee in the bottle to save time. That is reality. Unfortunately.
Question: In your experience, how do people react to parcel carriers?
Answer: Everyone is very selfishly busy with their own order and gets annoyed when it comes too late or when they urgently need something that should have been there yesterday. Then, of course, the messenger is insulted, but usually he is least able to deal with late deliveries. Parcel delivery is quite a hump and a strenuous job. I think it’s nice that our film focuses on this professional group. The things that you order and then don’t have to lug around yourself go on someone else’s back. I think it’s good that one is made aware of that.
Question: Can you still order with a clear conscience after this film?
Answer: I was very reluctant to order things beforehand. I am not so inclined to consume. During the pandemic, I was hoping that we would all think about what is really important, what we really need. But more was ordered and bought than before. I try to avoid it and rather go to smaller stores if I am missing something. But sometimes I can’t avoid it, because some things are really only available through an order service.
Question: How did it feel to be Volker?
Answer: I say, fashionable … difficult. In terms of costumes, there was little in my roles in recent years that would have interested me privately. Even with «Delivered» it was really bad again how Volker is walking around. And the mustache – I was glad I could take it off afterwards. We also deliberately did not cut the eyebrows so that they are as bushy as possible. Volker is not a person who cares about outward appearances. He doesn’t have the time or the nerve to do it.
Question: How does it feel to walk around like that?
Answer: I partially forget what I look like. I’ve been playing the crime scene cleaner for years with such a nasty mustache and a braid. These are often very unfavorable things that I let myself do my hair like that. But I just like to transform myself as an actor. I have to go through that for a couple of weeks. My friend thinks she deserves compensation for pain and suffering.
Question: The film makes it clear that many people cannot simply afford to go to restaurants or go on vacation.
Answer: Yes, certain things are normal for some and unaffordable for others. I also like to go to restaurants and save myself doing the dishes and cooking. In Berlin it is not that expensive compared to other big cities. For me in my reality this is not yet a luxury. But for others it does.
Question: How should one behave there?
Answers: Something like going out for a meal should be valued all the more, knowing that not everyone can take it for granted. There are things that we do not question here in Germany because we perceive them to be “normal”. I think about this a lot when I take a shower. I am happy that there is fresh water coming out of the wall. That is actually madness. And not everyone in the world is so lucky. According to the UN, 4.2 billion people lack clean sanitary facilities and 2.2 billion people have no access to drinking water, although this has been recognized as a human right for ten years. And if you make yourself aware of that, then I think humility is appropriate.
Question: What does this humility look like for you?
Answer: For example, you shouldn’t be annoyed all the time when something doesn’t work, but rather be happy that a lot works. I found that remarkable in the pandemic. Someone found a vaccine against a deadly disease within a year. And everyone just complains that they are not allowed to go on vacation. Let’s celebrate that some of us are smart enough to get this under control! It could also have been that we couldn’t find anything for 20 years and we would all die of Covid. I do not understand this impatience, this “I want to live like before” again. I am glad that there is the possibility of vaccination. They are by no means everywhere in the world.
About the person: Bjarne Mädel is a versatile actor who lives in Berlin. Many know him from the series “Stromberg” and “Der Tatortreiniger”. He plays theater, is the speaker of audio books and can be seen in many films, around 25 km / h with Lars Eidinger. In the ARD crime thriller “Sörensen hat Angst” he took on the lead role and directed it for the first time. The 53-year-old was honored with the Grimme Prize and the Ernst Lubitsch Prize, among others.