Bernd Eichinger

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Bernd Eichinger (2008)
Eichinger with his wife Katja Hofmann at the Berlinale 2008

Bernd Eichinger (born April 11, 1949 in Neuburg an der Donau ; † January 24, 2011 in Los Angeles , California ) was a German film producer , screenwriter and film director .

As a producer of the films Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (1981), The Neverending Story (1984), The Name of the Rose (1986), The Moving Man (1994), The Manitou's Shoe (2001, co-producer), Nirgendwo in Afrika (2001 , Co-producer), Resident Evil (2002, co-producer), Der Untergang (2004, also screenplay), Das Parfum (2006, also screenplay) and Der Baader Meinhof Complex (2008, also screenplay) he was one of the most important Germans in this field.

Life

Youth and Studies

Bernd Eichinger was born as the son of country doctor Manfred Eichinger († 2004) and his wife Ingeborg, a trained teacher, and grew up together with his sister Monika in Rennertshofen . Monika died of a heart attack in 2007. From the age of eleven, Bernd went to boarding school in Deggendorf , which he had to leave at the age of 17. He graduated from high school in 1970 at the Erasmus-Grasser-Gymnasium in Munich. In the meantime he lived in the nearby Albertinum boarding school.

Eichinger originally wanted to study German , history and theater studies. In the last school year before graduating from high school, he heard that there was a newly founded University for Television and Film in Munich ; and he made the decision to apply there. His application film was titled The sun shone because it had no choice but to nothing new, which he had taken from Samuel Beckett's novel Murphy . The film is about the boarding school he attended from the age of eleven. Although there were only 11 places for 400 applicants and his film was far too long at over 30 minutes, his application was successful. He spent the next three years at the Munich film school and later raved about this time: “That was a revelation”. There he directed the short films Canossa and Kidnapping . His graduation film in the directing class was the black and white short film Christmas Tales in 1973 , for which he also wrote the screenplay and in which he also starred alongside Marquard Bohm . He also worked as a production manager on films made by his fellow students. Among these were the films The little soldier, in the Uli Edel directed, and the first year of Christoph Hübner . While still a student, he worked as a production manager in the Bavaria Studios (for example with your divorce, his divorce with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton ) and he worked as a screenwriter for the director Hans W. Geißendörfer (among other things for Periham - the second chance and the parents) . In 1973 he completed his studies as a producer and director.

First productions

After completing his studies, Eichinger wrote scripts and worked as a production manager at Bavarian Television and Radio before founding Solaris Film- und Fernsehproduktion oHG on November 19, 1974 with Peter Genée . With her he mostly produced auteur films that are considered to be part of the New German Film . Some of these films are Wrong Movement by Wim Wenders , Zero Hour by Edgar Reitz , Hitler, a film from Germany by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg , Lieb Vaterland, may be quiet by Roland Klick, and The strong Ferdinand by Alexander Kluge .

In 1978 he bought a large part of the bankruptcy estate of Constantin Film, which went bankrupt in October 1977, and in 1979 became a partner and managing director of the company now known as "Neue Constantin Film GmbH". His first production for this company was Christiane F. - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo . The film, directed by his former student colleague Uli Edel and for which Herman Weigel wrote the screenplay as a fellow student , became one of the most internationally successful German-language films since the end of the war in 1981. The film won the Golden Screen and was awarded in the Most Popular Film category at the World Film Festival in Montreal .

International success

In the two decades that followed, Eichinger was responsible for film purchasing and distribution at Neue Constantin Film GmbH. He designed the campaigns for films like Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot , Alan Parker's Pink Floyd The Wall , Franc Roddams Quadrophenia , John Carpenter's The Rattlesnake and John Milius ' Conan the Barbarian . At the same time, Eichinger produced major international projects such as The Neverending Story with Wolfgang Petersen as director, The Name of the Rose with director Jean-Jacques Annaud and Sean Connery in the lead role, Last Exit Brooklyn after the novel by Hubert Selby Jr. again with director Uli Edel, Das Haunted House with directors Bille August and Meryl Streep , Glenn Close , Jeremy Irons and Winona Ryder in the lead roles and the Resident Evil film series with Milla Jovovich in the lead role. In the 1980s, Eichinger had acquired the film rights to the Marvel Comics The Fantastic Four and more than 15 years later worked as a producer on the film adaptations of Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer for 20th Century Fox .

In addition to international projects, Eichinger also produced popular German comedies, such as Manta, Manta with Til Schweiger in his first leading role in a movie, Sönke Wortmann's The Moving Man and The Super Woman , the cartoon Werner - Beinhart! as well as Voll normaaal and Ballermann 6 with the comedian Tom Gerhardt .

In 1996 Eichinger directed the television drama Das Mädchen Rosemarie for the first time , in which Nina Hoss played her first leading role. In the following years Eichinger produced films with the German directors Doris Dörrie ( Am I beautiful? And Naked ), Oskar Roehler (Elementarteilchen) and as a co-producer at Caroline Links Nirgendwo in Afrika , which won the Oscar in the category “Best Foreign Language Film “Was awarded.

Bernd Eichinger was not only active as a producer, but also as a screenwriter in recent years. In 2003 he wrote the screenplay for the film Der Untergang , which he produced in 2004 with Oliver Hirschbiegel as a director. The Downfall was nominated for an Oscar in the category Best Foreign Language Film in 2005. This was followed in 2006 by Das Parfum - The Story of a Murderer , for which Eichinger wrote the script together with Andrew Birkin and the director of the film Tom Tykwer . In 2007 Eichinger wrote the screenplay for Der Baader Meinhof Complex , which he filmed with Uli Edel as director that same year. The film was released in German cinemas in 2008 and was nominated in 2009 for an Oscar, the Golden Globe Award and the British Academy Film Award in the category “Best Foreign Language Film”. In the same year Eichinger and Edel shot their fourth film together: Times are changing you , with and about the German rap star Bushido .

In addition to Uli Edel, Andrew Birkin is one of the filmmakers with whom Eichinger repeatedly worked. With him, Eichinger filmed Ian McEwan's novel The Cement Garden in 1993 , which was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlinale .

Constantin Film went public in 1999. Eichinger became CEO of Constantin Film AG and was its largest single shareholder. In January 2006 he sold his stake in the stock corporation to the Swiss company Highlight Communications . Eichinger continued to work for Constantin Film AG as a producer.

According to the FFA Film Funding Agency , more than 70 million viewers have seen Bernd Eichinger productions in cinemas in German-speaking countries alone. In 2003 Bernd Eichinger was one of the founding members of the German Film Academy . Previously, he was involved in founding the First Steps Award for young talent . In 1999, together with colleagues and friends from film, art and business, he founded the non-profit GmbH "Artists for Kids", a project to help children and young people from Munich at risk.

In 2005, Eichinger first time directing an opera: Under the baton of Daniel Barenboim and the directorship of Peter Mussbach he directed Parsifal by Richard Wagner at the Berlin State Opera .

After a five-year relationship with Katja Flint , Eichinger was married to the author Katja Eichinger , née Hofmann, in 2006 . His daughter, the television presenter Nina Eichinger , comes from a previous relationship with Sabine Eichinger . He was not married to her, however; it happens to have the same name.

Death, posthumous

Grave of Bernd Eichinger, Bogenhausener Friedhof, Munich.

Bernd Eichinger was a heavy smoker. He died of a heart attack at a dinner with family and friends in Los Angeles at the age of 61 . On February 5, 2011, he was posthumously given a special honor. When he was awarded the Golden Camera , he received a specially created prize, that of “Best Producer”. The laudation for the deceased at the award ceremony was given by the actor and friend Thomas Kretschmann .

On February 7th, a large funeral service took place in the St. Michael Church in Munich, attended by 900 guests. It was broadcast live on Sat.1 . Funeral speakers were u. a. Munich's Lord Mayor Christian Ude and producer Günter Rohrbach . Eichinger's urn was buried in the Bogenhausen cemetery .

In honor of Eichinger, the " Bernd Eichinger Prize " has been awarded since 2012 at the presentation of the German Film Prize .

The film The Three Musketeers was dedicated to Eichinger in 2011 , which is the first major Constantin film since his death. Eichinger was also commissioned to produce the film adaptation of the Kampusch case . After this project was not secured after Eichinger's death, filming finally began in May 2012. In July 2012 the documentary Der Bernd , which retells the life and work of Eichinger, was released.

Eichinger's widow Katja published a biography about him in September 2012 under the title BE .

Filmography (selection)

Awards

v. l. To right: Oscar winner Luise Rainer (in a wheelchair), Berlin's Mayor Klaus Wowereit and pupil Til Schweiger on the Boulevard der Stars at the inauguration of the star of the recently deceased Eichinger (2011)
Close up of the star

literature

Web links

Commons : Bernd Eichinger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Producer Bernd Eichinger has died. In: Spiegel Online . January 25, 2011 (accessed January 25, 2011)
  2. ↑ Bernd Eichinger: You miss him so much. In: Gala. February 3, 2011, accessed May 15, 2011 .
  3. ↑ The Other Murphy Law. In: evening newspaper. January 27, 2011, accessed May 15, 2011 .
  4. ↑ a b c Bernd Eichinger: I have a dream. In: Zeit Online. September 9, 2006, accessed January 27, 2011 .
  5. ↑ Marina Antonioni: Bernd Eichinger: Passionate driver and dreamer of German cinema. ( Memento from August 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) In: The Epoch Times Germany.
  6. ↑ The HFF Munich mourns Bernd Eichinger. In: University of Television and Film Munich. January 26, 2011, accessed September 27, 2011 .
  7. ↑ Constantin Film AG - Company - Portrait Bernd Eichinger  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.constantin-film.de
  8. ↑ Bernd Eichinger's biography on Film-Zeit.de. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on July 14, 2015 ; Retrieved September 27, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.film-zeit.de
  9. ^ Sylvia Wolf, Ulrich Kurowski, Eberhard Hauff : Das Münchner Film und Kino Buch. Edition Achteinhalb, Ebersberg 1988, ISBN 3-923979-11-8 , p. 244.
  10. ^ Zeit Online: Die Wüsten des Himmels Opera review in 'Die Zeit' from March 23, 2005
  11. ↑ Heiner Lauterbach and Bernd Eichinger: Katja Flint talks about the peculiarities of her ex-partners. on: focus.de
  12. ↑ Bernd Eichinger: Women played a major role for him. ( Memento from January 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) on: abendzeitung.de
  13. ↑ Eichinger: The turning point came too late for him , BZ, January 26, 2011
  14. ↑ Producer Bernd Eichinger dead. On: dw-world.de
  15. ↑ Ulrich Tukur awarded for “Tatort” debut. on: Spiegel Online . February 5, 2011 (accessed February 5, 2011)
  16. ↑ Thomas Kretschmann gives laudation to Bernd Eichinger. ( Memento from February 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) at: mitstil.com , February 9, 2011.
  17. ^ Farewell to Bernd Eichinger. ( Memento from February 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) The funeral service. on: Abendzeitung.de
  18. ↑ Bernd Eichinger. on: knerger.de
  19. ↑ In Bernd Eichinger's footsteps. In: Focus magazine. 35/2011: Constantin Film dedicates "Musketeers" film to Eichinger
  20. ↑ Constantin Film dedicates the “Musketeers” film to Eichinger. ( Memento from February 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) at: news.de
  21. ↑ The future of the planned Kampusch film is unclear. on: wien.orf.at
  22. ↑ 1st day of shooting the Kampusch film in the legendary bar: Camera genius Ballhaus in front of the Paradiso - Munich - Bild.de
  23. ↑ "DER BERND" Bernd Eichinger Documentation at the Munich Film Festival. ( Memento from August 31, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ) In: MSG Magazin.
  24. ↑ The documentation DER BERND. ( Memento from February 11, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) on: magazine-4.de
personal data
SURNAME Eichinger, Bernd
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film producer, screenwriter and film director
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Neuburg on the Danube
DATE OF DEATH January 24, 2011
Place of death Los Angeles , California , United States