"I always thought I was free of competition"

1. how did you prepare for your role?

Jan Bülow: I spoke a lot with Hermine and met with Udo - and also watched a lot of video material. But at some point, filming starts and then you put a lot of the preparation to one side again. If you're always thinking about what Udo would do during filming, you'd probably never really get into the role. I think it was really important for me to meet him and get to know him before filming. It's more important to understand why he does or did something than to be able to copy him perfectly. There was also someone who did physical training with me. However, it wasn't so much about copying Udo's movements one-to-one, but rather about bringing a certain mode into the body.

2) You sang many of the songs yourself and re-recorded them in the studio. What was it like for you to be in a music film?

Jan Bülow: I was already a huge fan of music films - one of my favourite films is "The Commitments". And I always thought it was a shame that there was nothing comparable in German-speaking countries. It's a cool film about rock'n'roll music with wild parties, alcohol and everything that goes with it. It's just fun to watch something like that. And I also played in a school band back then. The last concert scene in particular was a small childhood dream come true for me. I also believe that every theatre actor is an impeded rock star. They may be on stage, but they don't have the power that a rock band has - to make 90,000 people scream with one movement.

3. in the film you smoke one cigarette after another. Did you also smoke in your private life or did you "train" yourself to do so for the role?

Jan Bülow: I smoked very little before the film. Fortunately, there are herbal cigarettes that are not addictive, but they smell terrible. So I switched back and forth from time to time.

4 And how was working with Hermione for you?

Jan Bülow: We very quickly understood what each other wanted. I found a level of conversation with her that was sometimes simply non-verbal. And if the communication works, it's usually very pleasant to work with - that's always been the case for me in theatre too. At a certain point, I trusted Hermione blindly.

5. how did you decide on Jan for the role of the young Udo?

Hermine Huntgeburth: I did the casting with Simone Bär from Berlin. It wasn't that easy to cast the role. We knew that the actor needed a kind of rock star gene to embody Udo. At the same time, he had to have comedic talent and be touching. In addition, the actor couldn't be too mature. Because the young Udo has something intuitive and unresolved about him. During the casting process, however, it quickly became clear that Jan was the right person for the role.

Jan Bülow: For me, the shoot was a real treat because we shot with so much crazy stuff. For example, we had fisheye lenses and special machines for the LSD scenes. And the shoot in Morocco was great - you don't do that every day.

6. how did you recreate Hamburg in the 70s?

Hermine Huntgeburth: We did a lot of post-production with VFX effects. You can shoot on the Reeperbahn on certain days. However, we only shot at eye level because everything is covered in graffiti and stickers. The historical paint job then came in post production. However, the silver bag still looks exactly the same - and the street next to it has hardly changed. So we put everything together. The "Onkel Pö" no longer existed either, so we had to play a little trick here too. It's a big feature film. You have to have excellent people like Sabine Böbbis or Bettina Schmidt for something like this.

Jan Bülow: The costumes were also brilliant - extremely detailed! And the Onkel Pö was recreated in such a way that contemporary witnesses on the set felt like they had been transported back to the 70s.

Hermine Huntgeburth: Astrid Weber and Hannah Fischleder did a great job with the Hair & Make Up. They had to get an age range of 15 to 27 years for Jan. Sebastian Edschmid's camera was also very important, as we tried to recreate the form of photography from back then, but at the same time not be too iconic.

7. what did Udo Lindenberg say about the film when he saw it?

Hermine Huntgeburth: I've seen him twice with him - and he likes him very much. The people around him were also very enthusiastic. He is also an artist who knows what it means to create a product. He gave me complete trust even before the shoot. There was no kind of control at all.

Jan Bülow: After I met with Udo, he very quickly gave me his blessing for the role. You could tell that he trusted me and thought that I understood him. He didn't give me any tips either, but stayed out of it. He came by twice on set to say hello - incognito with a hood and a glued-on moustache. When we re-recorded some of the songs in the studio, he also dropped by.

Hermine Huntgeburth: When we recorded the songs with his Executive Producers in the studio, he was so excited that he started dancing in the studio.

Jan Bülow:He then said to me: "I always thought I was free of competition". (laughs)