Some criticism he found to be "very personal and emotional": The actor Sebastian Koch hopes that Florian Henckel of Donnersmarck's three-hour epic "work without an author" gets a second chance at the box office after the Oscar nominations.
The film, which is based on the life and work of the artist Gerhard Richter, had been nominated for two Oscars on Tuesday: for the best foreign-language film and the best camera (Caleb Deschanel). In Germany, the film had so far 2.2 million viewers, but was partly scathing reviews (read the review of SPIEGEL ONLINE).
Sebastian Koch, who plays a former SS doctor in "Werk ohne Autor", told the German press agency: "Nobody likes the film, but it should be treated with respect, and unfortunately that was not the case here." It was important to him that people made their own judgment "and not be deterred by criticisms that have nothing at all to do with the matter".
Criticism had "work without an author" and its maker Henckel von Donnersmarck also drawn by Gerhard Richter, with whom the director had spoken several times before the shooting. Richter had said that his biography had been abused and badly distorted.
Sebastian Koch seems to be dissatisfied with German film criticism anyway. He also criticizes the way the media deals with the disastrous number of visitors to Til Schweiger's US remake "Honey in the Head". "If the movie has only a few thousand viewers in the US, this is celebrated with hate, that's so disgusting and unpleasant, I think that's really bad, it's not like that, you're less and less inclined to work here," so cook.
German film critics have not yet seen "Head Full of Honey". German media, also SPIEGEL ONLINE, reported on the ungraedy recording of the film in the US and the UK.