Kudos to the genius who got the idea of the french title of You don't mess with the Zohan, the Adam Sandler vehicle where the comedian is the myeresque character of a former Mossad secret agent retired in New York as an hairdresser.
In France, You don't mess with the Zohan becomes... Rien que pour vos cheveux: For Your Hair only, excellent and hilarious reference to For your Eyes Only, the James Bond.
In a country where Der Schuh des Manitu (Manitou's shoe) has been translated Qui peut sauver le Far West? (Who can save the Far West?), such an effort of creativity and humour must be saluted with at least a Golden Kudos. The guy who found that is not enough paid...
Comedian Michael Herbig - better known as « Bully » - is the number one superstar in Germany, where he is the equivalent of Mike Myers, Alain Chabat (Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra) and Mel Brooks in one single person. His TV comedy shows are very popular and his blockbuster movies smash historical records of the german box office. Manitou’s shoe and Dreamship Surprise - Period 1, respectively parodies of the Winnetou movies and of the Star Trek universe, are two monuments of the comedy genre on film.
Michael Herbig, younger, you wanted to study at the Münchener Filmhochschule. Did you want to become a filmmaker ?
Michael Herbig : Unfortunately I was rejected from the Münchener Filmhochschule. So I am a perfect autodidact and have been for over 24 years. I started making films at the age of 12. You could say I invented « Dogma » back then : no light, no sound and a shaky camera.
What are your favorite movies and your favorite directors ? Why ?
Michael Herbig : In principle, when I pay for my movie ticket, I want to be entertained. I love the old Hitchcock films. When I watched Psycho and The Birds, I wanted to become a director from that moment on. I also admire Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. E.T. and Forrest Gump definitely belong to my all-time-favourites.
Your career started with a morning show, Langemann und die Morgencrew, on a local radio station in Munich. Could you tell us a few words about your work on this show ?
Michael Herbig : After my rejection from film school, I landed in the radio business, but as I neither saw a presenter, nor a journalist in myself, I started developing my first comedy-series. In 1991 I started in the morning show as a comedy-sidekick and produced the show until 1995.
Is Radio a good training for aquiring the feeling of timing and situation necessary for comedy ?
Michael Herbig : For me the daily radioshow was an ideal training for timing and the development of characters - sort of « movies for the ears » !
What did you do after radio and before jumping into the world of television ?
Michael Herbig : In fact, the jump into the world of television started parallel during working for radio. When the TV-show Bullyparade began on the ProSieben channel in 1997, I was still producing a weekly comedy-show for radio, that was broadcasted nationwide.
There is a contemporary german style of comedy which is very close of the spirit of Saturday Night Live with a great sense of parody. Have you models or references in this kind of humor ?
Michael Herbig : I grew up with Mel Brooks and the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker movies, like Airplane.These films hit my taste of humor exactly and have certainly inspired and influenced me.
Your first success on german television was the adaptation of your radio show Die Bayern Cops...
Michael Herbig : At first Die Bayern Cops was a sketch-show for radio with more than 800 episodes each about 2 minutes long. Later we shot 75 episodes under the title Die Männer von Isar 3 for a local TV-station. The series is about two loveable policemen, who try to avoid any kind of assignment day after day. I am very proud, that even the Munich Police laughed about Die Bayern Cops.
In 1996 you created herbX Medienproduktion GmbH, your own production company.
Michael Herbig : The first major production was the first season of the comedy show Bullyparade for ProSieben. Basically I created the production company to be able to work in peace (laughs).
Bullyparade is a great comedy show that spun off the characters of your movies Manitou’s shoe and Dreamship Surprise - Period 1. On this show you worked with a wonderful team of comedians like Christian Tramitz and Rick Kavanian. How did you meet them ?
Michael Herbig : I’ve known Rick Kavanian for almost 18 years. We are close friends, have the same humor and enjoy working together, which is very fortunate. When Rick went to New York for a year in 1995 I looked for a replacement for Die Bayern Cops and found Christian Tramitz, which worked out fine from the very first moment.
When Rick came back we naturally worked as a trio. That was the beginning of Bullyparade. We just worked on what we really had fun with.
You directed the comic duo Erkan & Stefan (Erkan Maria Moosleitner and Stefan Lust) in their first movie, The Bunnyguards (Erkan & Stefan), which can be described as « Wayne’s World meets James Bond ». How were you chosen to direct such a production ?
Michael Herbig : Until then I had only directed sketches, no full length movie. One day producer Philip Voges offered me the job as director for the movie Erkan & Stefan. Voges liked the sketches of Bullyparade so much, that he was confident I could manage a movie. It was a great opportunity and I am still glad that everything went so well.
Manitou’s shoe is more than a parody, it’s a tribute to genre and to major cinematographic influences. Was it important for you to go further than the Bullyparade skits to create a movie that could be enjoyable as a parody but also as a genre movie less the parody ?
Michael Herbig : The main characters were well-established through the TV-show Bullyparade, but the sketches had a kind of trashy look about them. It was very important for me from the beginning that the version for the big screen to look like a real Western. Credible actors and locations, a big orchestra, Cinemascope and absolutely no trash !
The main idea was to put two charming characters into a world, where they don’t really belong.
A comedian like Mike Myers was amazing in 54. Would you like to play a non-comic role and to direct a non-comic movie or a more intimate project ?
Michael Herbig : At the moment I feel quite at home in the world of comedy. Below the line it is mainly about entertainment and emotions. Who knows, maybe I will shoot a thriller someday. To stick spectators in their seats, to frighten them, can be funny too.
Dreamship Surprise - Period 1 is your latest movie. Your main target is the Star Trek universe, so appreciated in Germany that there was even a german response called Space Patrol (Raumpatrouille Orion). According to you why is Trek so popular in german-speaking countries ?
Michael Herbig : Probably because it has been repeated on TV for 40 years.
Was it hard to choose the subject of your next movie after such a success as Manitou ? Why Unser (T)Raumschiff and not Sissi ?(1)
Michael Herbig :Dreamship Surprise - Period 1 was the first democratically chosen film in the world ! I let the audience of Bullyparade vote via internet for 13 weeks, which movie I should make next. (2) If Dreamship Surprise had bombed, I could have said, it wasn’t my decision (laughs).
Have you seen french parodies such as La Tour Montparnasse Infernale and Asterix et Obelix : Mission Cleopatre ? Do you know french comedian and filmmaker Alain Chabat and his work for TV and cinema ?
Michael Herbig : Of course I know the Asterix. Although I must confess, that I don’t have the opportunity to watch what is done for French TV very often. But I love the Louis de Funès movies very much !
On what are you working currently ?
Michael Herbig : Currently I am wrapping Christmas presents.
Director Frank Coraci (Around the world in 80 days) explained us that for him comedy is the art of the created the unexpected funny effect. what is your own definition of comedy ?
Michael Herbig : One can make fun about anything or anyone, as long as the people it concerns, can laugh. Comedy should never be offending.
(1)Unser (T)Raumschiff is a series of sketches of Bullyparade (like the Sissi parody with Michael Herbig as the empress) in which the characters from Dreamship Surprise - Period 1 were born.
(2) The public had to choose between entre Manitou’s shoe 2, Sissi - The Menopaused years of an Empress, A Movie nobody expects anything from and Dreamship Surprise !
Sky du Mont was born in Buenos Aires and spent his childhood in United Kingdom before starting a brilliant career in Germany and internationally. From his debut on stage, his guest roles in the tv-series of Helmut Ringelmann (Der Kommissar, Derrick, Der Alte...) to Eyes Wide Shut and his comic characters in the movies of Michael « Bully » Herbig, Sky du Mont talks with us about his work and his different and numerous artistic activities.
Sky du Mont, your very first contact with acting was at the end of the Sixties with an extra part in a play where you caught the attention of the director. Could you please tell us more about this debut and how it lead you to acting school?
Sky du Mont : I was broke - as usual - and I did extra-work on plays for television. This is where a very famous german director, Fritz Umgelter, discovered me and gave me my first role in a tv-play.
I was very lucky because an acting instructor from the National Theatre gave me lessons for free as she believed in me and in my talent.
During your three years at acting school in Munich (1969-1971) which teachers marked you the most and why?
Sky du Mont : Miss Hanschke, because she taught me everything there was to know about Theatre. Everything else you have to learn while working: « learning by doing »...
After school you start your career on stage for the Residenztheater of Munich and the Staatstheater in Berlin. For which plays and which roles?
Sky du Mont : I started off with Schnitzler's Professor Bernhardi in Munich. After that I joined the Staatstheater Berlin (National Theatre) an played Gorki, Tchekov, Edward Bond, etc.
Your first movie is the Heimatfilm Das Schweigen im Walde (1976), directed by Alfred Vohrer. How did you work under the direction of this great artisan of german cinema?
Sky du Mont : As I had a tiny part there is not much to tell...
The Boys from Brazil (1976), the well-known thriller directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, constitutes the beginning of your international career. What was you role in this movie? How were you chosen? With which actors did you share some scenes?
Sky du Mont : All my scenes were with Gregory Peck. I got the part through casting and played a ruthless killer.
We cannot talk about your acting career without a mention of your participation in Mr Helmut Ringelmann's television productions. Mr Ringelmann enjoys to work with a family of professionals, technicians and artists and his actors are like those of a Repertory Theatre company.
Sky du Mont : Ringelmann was one of the most important people in my career. I was 21 ! Derrick, Der Alte... All these parts probably started my career in Germany.
How did you meet Helmut Ringelmann?
Sky du Mont : I rang his office and asked for an appointment - and I was granted one. 8 days later I got my first part in one of his productions as a man named Manuel Derrick in Der Kommissar.
Can you please talk to us about Tiefe Wasser (1983), an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's Deep Water produced by Mr Ringelmann.
Sky du Mont :Tiefe Wasser was directed by Franz Peter Wirth, a director I very often worked for.
You played a vast range of characters for Mr Ringelmann but your interpretation of the archetypal suave villain from the Munich Bourgeoisie in his Krimi Series remains very popular. Can we consider this kind of character like a role from the classic Theatre, as these shows possess the aspect and the psychology of a tragedy play?
Sky du Mont : Yes, certainly. And I always believed that even the « bad guy » has a mother and loves dogs - for example.
From 1979 to 1983 you work on international movie productions like Avalanche Express (1979) or American TV prestige miniseries and in Germany for cinema and television. But in 1985 you make your first major jump into the movie comedy world with the mega-cult Otto - Der Film, starring TV-comedian Otto Waalkes.
Was it important for you to play in a comedy at this moment of your dual career in Germany and abroad or was the opportunity to play in this one pure chance, or both?
Sky du Mont : People in Germany only knew me as the villain and it was about time that I change my character as I had on stage. I played in many comedies in Theatre but was never offered a funny part in Film or television. When Otto - Der Film came I took the chance and it became the most popular film in Germany... until Manitou's Shoe.
You have made two incursions in the Soap Opera universe with your participations in this US institution that is General Hospital and Judith Krantz's Secrets, an attempt to duplicate the genre in european co-production. Could you compare these two experiences?
Sky du Mont : Playing in Judith Krantz's Secrets was not very rewarding. It was unorganised, unprofessional and I hated the work. It was never shown in Germany, as I know.
General Hospital was a great experience. Fantastic scripts, great actors and very (very) hard work!
Your name belongs to the great History of Cinema with your role of Sandor Szavost in the last Stanley Kubrick's movie, Eyes Wide Shut (1999). How did you prepare your scenes?
Sky du Mont : When you work with Kubrick you learn your lines but don't set your mind too much on how you will play the part. Usually he wanted it completely different. Nicole Kidman, Kubrick and I rehearsed like on stage. Everybody had to leave the studio - we were alone and had all the time we needed.
What was the most important thing you learned as an actor from this movie and from Kubrick?
Sky du Mont : It is very seldom that in live one meets a Genius... Kubrick was a Genius. He was a director who listened to his actors and was not so arrogant to imply his will.
You seem to take a lot of pleasure shooting comedies. We could not imagine someone else than you as Santa Maria, the bad guy of Manitou's Shoe (2001) and you are fantastic as William The Last, and - again - Santa Maria, in Dreamship Surprise (2004).
How did this collaboration with Michael Herbig start?
Sky du Mont : He offered me the part and I said I wouldn't play it because all the jokes were on his side. When we agreed that I could play Santa Maria as a bad guy that does not take himself serious, with sense of humour, I agreed to play the part.< Herbig gives evidence of a true love for cinema as a director...
Sky du Mont : Bully is a great director and became a great friend.
What does attract you in comedies like Samba in Mettman?
Sky du Mont : In Samba... I could change completely, a wonderful chance for any actor. I love comedies because they are the most difficult in our profession.
Your first novel, Prinz und Paparazzi has been adapted for television with you as the main character and as co-writer. Can you talk to us about the book and his adaptation?
Sky du Mont : That was hard work because the ZDF wanted absolutely no conflicts in the script. People are difficult, they do have problems... so I wasn't quite happy with the film. My second novel is different, closer to reality.
You are familiar of the exercise consiting in using your voice as sole instrument of your acting work, sometimes for public lectures (Die Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers, Felix Krull, Handbuch des Aufsteigers...) or for video games (EverQuest II).
What interests you in this vocal work?
Sky du Mont : The voice is an important instrument of an actor. Lectures are a bit like being on stage, with the audience... but with less work and more money (laugh).
Actor, talk-show moderator, novelist, writer, voice artist... After your singing numbers as Santa Maria could you play in a musical?
Sky du Mont : No. I have been offered the part of Professor Higgins in My fair lady but that is something I will not do. Don't even ask me why, I have no idea.
On what are you working currently? Would you like to go back to Theatre?
Sky du Mont : No again. Theatre takes up too much time and leaves me me with so little time for all the things I like to do like... actor, talk-show moderator, novelist, writer, voice artist, etc.
At the moment I am writing the script of a thriller for television and will start shooting a movie for children in August.
Kudos to the genius who got the idea of the french title of You don't mess with the Zohan, the Adam Sandler vehicle where the comedian is the myeresque character of a former Mossad secret agent retired in New York as an hairdresser.
