- Title: Comedian Josef Hader brings tragic comedy "Wild Mouse" to Berlinale
- Date: 13th February 2017
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (FEBRUARY 11, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (German) DIRECTOR AND LEADING ACTOR, JOSEF HADER, SAYING: "There is news everyday, we cannot interpret it and we become numb and don't hear it anymore. And in a way this film tries to be a satire on us - this strange middle class - in which we don't see ourselves as bourgeoise because that's something our parents we
- Embargoed: 27th February 2017 13:15
- Keywords: Berlinale film festival Wild Mouse Josef Hader competition
- Location: BERLIN
- City: BERLIN
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA00663CQHQL
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: In Austrian film 'Wild Mouse' actor and comedian Josef Hader stars as Georg - a renowned music critic in Vienna. Well established in his job he is both famous and infamous and completely convinced the newspaper he works for couldn't survive without him.
However he turns out to be wrong, when the paper needs to cut costs - Georg gets fired. Instead of looking for a new job though, he puts all his energy into plotting revenge against his former boss (Joerg Hartmann). Soon the situation starts to escalate, especially when Georg doesn't tell his younger wife Johanna (Pia Hierzegger), who is desperately trying to get pregnant, about the new situation.
Hader directs and stars in the film, which he chose to make as a tragic comedy, rather than a drama or thriller.
"I am not able to do anything else", Hader told Reuters TV in an interview on Saturday (February 11). "Every time I write something it turns into a tragic comedy. I always search for stories which do not sound like comedy automatically. And the story of a man who loses his job and starts to escalate in his anger is not really material for a comedy. But exactly that excited me."
In "Wild Mouse" Georg appears as a pitiful and egocentric man. "He is a sort of one man band, a narcissistic man, just like the ones you can find in the highest echelons of states today, who experiences his unemployment as a huge personal insult and as a complete loss of self esteem. He is so paralyzed by his defeat that he doesn't manage to tell his wife about it," Hader said.
The story also mocks middle class society, who Hader shows as more concerned with trivial problems rather than global affairs.
"There is news everyday, we cannot interpret it and we become numb and don't hear it anymore. And in a way this film tries to be a satire on us - this strange middle class - in which we don't see ourselves as bourgeoise because that's something our parents were. We consider ourselves to be hip and modern and this film shows in a way that we are pretty much the same than our parents," Hader says.
"Wild Mouse" runs in the competition of the 67th Berlinale. For Hader stepping into the directors chair for the first time was an exciting experience:
"It's very exciting because I'm a comedian, I'm used to work with the audience and today is the first evening where I can see the film with the audience so it's very exciting and I will have 100 wonderful minutes," Hader said on the red carpet before the premiere on Saturday evening.
Going on to joke about what he will do if his film doesn't scoop any of the festival's prizes: "If you don't get a award the revenge plot of course is to make another film."
"Wild Mouse" is one of 18 films at the 'Berlinale', competing for Golden and Silver Bears. The festival runs until February 19. The awards will be handed out on Saturday, February 18. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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