HUNGARY: German spy drama "The Beautiful Spy" is shot in fin de siecle hotel in Budapest

Record ID: 799202

  • Title: HUNGARY: German spy drama "The Beautiful Spy" is shot in fin de siecle hotel in Budapest
  • Date: 17th April 2012
  • Summary: CLAPPER START OF RESTAURANT SCENE WITH NIEHAUS PLAYING MAIN CHARACTER VERA AND AUSTRIAN ACTOR FRITZ KARL PLAYING CHARACTER DOUBLE AGENT DIRKS CLINGING CHAMPAGNE GLASSES VERA/NIEHAUS DRINKING CHAMPAGNE AND TALKING WITH DIRKS/KARL DIRKS/KARL AND VERA/NIEHAUS TALKING AT TABLE VERA/NIEHAUS TALKING W DIRKS/KARL DIRECTOR MIGUEL ALEXANDRE [ON THE RIGHT] WATCHING SCENE BEING FILMED
  • Embargoed: 2nd May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary, Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Reuters ID: LVACAKRI05BZO9Z1CROV0SDJVJYR
  • Story Text: A World War II spy drama about human corruption, fate and punishment has been shot in Budapest in a German-Hungarian co-production.
    The German high-end TV film, entitled The Beautiful Spy, tells a story about the life of a woman during World War II. Vera, - played by Valerie Niehaus, a known German actress, is a loving mother who works as a dancer in a Paris brothel and then becomes a spy to secure her son's future. She is recruited in Paris by double agent Dirks, played by Austrian actor Fritz Karl.
    The film is set in the spy genre but it goes into deeper depths than a usual thriller. It addresses issues such as the limits of what a woman would do for her son, how secret services persuade someone to collaborate, whether one escapes the punishment they deserve and whether there is real forgiveness, film director Miguel Alexandre explains. He has shot several successful TV films in Germany and movie films such as Gran Paradiso.
    "The film really is about human corruption. Its about what happens to humans in wartime and what happens to their spirit, their moral values and that's what the main character goes through in this story. She is put to the test and she makes a pact with the devil, I mean knowingly makes a pact with the devil but she just pushes the thought aside that this is the devil because she is just in it for material value, for the money and then she has to realise that it was a terrible thing that she did and she tries to get out of it and in the end she has to pay the price," Alexandre says.
    The director of photography is Jorg Widme. He has been working with top directors and productions such as Wim Wenders, and Roman Polanski.
    For lead actress Valerie Niehaus, the character of Vera was a fascinating challenge, a chance to give a more personal portrayal of a woman in Nazi Germany, she says.
    "There is a piece of knowledge about humanity that we didn't have in 1938, we didn't know that. And I thought that that is an interesting aspect to it that usually isn't given too much thought because there is of course so much thinking of how could those people behave like that. So I think for me it is nice to have a very private look at one person who has not idea and then she gets involved with those people and all of a sudden all those things happen and she finds out what is going on, a little bit of it, and she tries to get away from them but she doesn't try to get away from them more of a political point of view, she tries to get away because they seem to be bad people and she needs to take care of her kid. So I think that is a very private and interesting, and true and honest point of view," Niehaus says.
    Two-thirds of the film were shot in Budapest because of its varied locations and diverse architectural beauty. Budapest can stand-in for various periods and cities such as Berlin, London, Paris, Hamburg and it has not been over-used like Prague, says the German producer of the film, Frank Kaminski.
    "There are great locations here, locations which are not shot that much like in Prague, so it's always good to present something new to the audience, that's also our idea. We've found some very nice locations like this Astoria here to fake 1940's Hamburg, which is really great, you won't find this in Berlin, quite tough to find this in Prague and even if you find this in Prague it would be extremely expensive because a lot of people already shot there. So we are very happy with a lot of locations here," Kaminski says.
    Key to attracting the production to Hungary was a government tax incentive programme that allows producers to deduct 20 percent from their tax base after costs incurred in Hungary. In addition, there is now also a 5 percent extra possibility of financing the foreign expenditure. Furthermore, Hungarian companies can write off 100 percent of their investment for a Hungarian film or up to 20 percent of the total movie budget on a project they co-produce.
    Other countries in Europe, including the Czech Republic, have passed similar tax regulations. But Budapest leads with their tax incentives and its 5 percent higher tax rebate ensures its leading role in film industry in the region.
    The Beautiful Spy will debut in Germany in the first half of 2013.
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