Germany backs Polanski, Tarantino 'Ghost,' 'Bastards' to nab government funds By ED MEZAMore Articles:
BERLIN Roman Polanski and Quentin Tarantino look set to receive financial backing from the German government for their upcoming productions, which are set to shoot in Germany in the coming weeks and months. Polanskis Ghost, an adaptation of the Robert Harris novel starring Pierce Brosnan and Nicolas Cage, was to begin lensing in Berlin as well as nearby Studio Babelsberg and on the North Sea island of Sylt in September but will now commence production in January.
Tarantino is prepping his controversial World War II actioner Inglorious Bastards, which will film at Babelsberg in October.
The pic has raised eyebrows in Germany after an article in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung took issue with a leaked script of the film, which follows a group of vengeful Jewish-American G.I.s out to hunt down German soldiers. Tarantinos take on the Third Reich doesnt seem to be troubling local film officials at the DFFF (German Federal Film Fund), however.
Without a doubt, these two productions would not be made here without the DFFF, said fund topper Christine Berg.
The Polanski and Tarantino films are just two of several high-profile international productions to shoot in Germany following the introduction of the E60 million ($85 million) fund last year.
While Ghost and Inglorious Bastards have not yet been allocated coin, the fund has so far this year helped bankroll 70 films with a total of $62 million, generating an economic effect of more than $370 million for the German film industry.
Peter Dinges, head of the German Federal Film Board (FFA), which overseas the DFFF, said the spirit and purpose of the fund was to generate a positive economic effect, and that goal had been fully achieved.
Berg added that this years total DFFF budget would be more than exhausted.
Films that have benefited from DFFF coin this year include Stephan Frears romantic period drama Cheri, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Friend; Lars von Triers Antichrist; Christian Alvarts sci-fi thriller Pandorum, starring Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster; and Berlin, a documentary on the development of the German capital since the fall of the Wall, co-directed by cinematographers Michael Ballhaus and Ciro Cappellari.
Last year, the fund bankrolled a total of 99 productions, including Bryan Singer's "Valkyrie," Tom Tykwer's "The International" and Uli Edel's "The Baader Meinhof Complex."
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"Logical consequences are the scarecrows of fools and the beacons of wise men." ~~~Thomas Henry Huxley~~~
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