"Oskar Werner gibt sein letztes Interview", Teil 3/ "Oskar Werner gives his last interview", part 3

Interviewer: "Truffaut. You later parted ways fighting. He later said you didn't execute Fahrenheit 451 than he wanted it."

Werner: "You see, when we did "Jules et Jim" the collaboration was excellent because I basically knew how to speak my lines in French- but I didn't actually speak French then. It's like being a singer who sings Italian without actually speaking Italian...it's sort of in your ear.
But when we did 'Fahrenheit' he didn't actually speak English and that might be the main reason- the generational difference of about 10 years- and that he actually is French.

But in the night of the Kristallnacht [pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on November 9--10, 1938. Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and villages, as SA stormtroopers and civilians destroyed buildings with sledgehammers, leaving the streets covered in pieces of smashed windows—the origin of the name "Night of Broken Glass"]- I SAW how the synagogues were burning and how the SA piled up mountains and burned [books by] Freud, Stefan Zweig and all else.
So, his [Truffaut's] potrayal of this seemed too small and too cheap. Infantile.

That Truffaut handed this over to the press is so tasteless and without tact. Even if I am arguing with my sweetheart- that's not even my neighbor's business, I do that quietly."

Interviewer: "You played Mozart once. After that, you were offered to play Richard Wagner in Visconti's 'Ludwig', which is now considered to be his best movie.
But you didn't play Wagner- what was the reason for you to refuse this role?"

Werner: "Because I hate Wagner like the plague. If there ever was a genius of kitsch- which is a contradiction in itself already- then for me that is Wagner.
And my condition was that I would be able to play Wagner the way he actually was. Portray him as the pig that took advantage of people- and they told me, that's impossible, we can't do that on the German market.
So I said, fine, then somebody else will have to play Wagner."

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Oskar
• Werner
• Interview

[Eudora74]

Oh, thank you for the translation. But I think the problems in Farenheit was the attitude of Werner... a wonderful actor of course.

[ModulationAlert]

@Eudora74 You're welcome.It's not the full translation either, just a part, sorry. I might translate the whole thing one day. It's simply Werner in his own words, without added commentary.

[midsummernight2009]

Alkohol hat ihn leider viel zu frueh von uns genommen. Seine Kunst war sein Leben, er hat nicht viel Zeit fuer irgend etwas anderes genommen.