Hollywood/CA: Germans in the Movie Business
To filmmakers, Hollywood is what Paris is for painters. For most hopeful young actors, however, Hollywood and all the fame and fortune that go with it, is just a long way from home. Few have actually made it there, but that hasn't stopped the many from trying.
From the earliest days of film production, a fair number of German actors, directors, set designers and composers have crossed the Atlantic to make their fortunes in the Golden State. Hollywood saw an especially large influx of talent from Germany in the early 1930's.
Some left Germany for political reasons when the Nazis came to power, like Marlene Dietrich, Bertolt Brecht or Kurt Weill. Many Jewish actors, actresses, directors and producers, however, had to leave Germany to save their lives because of persecution by the Nazis.
Among those who came were the founding fathers of world famous American film dynasties: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount, Twentieth Century-Fox Universal and Warner Brothers were almost all founded by German Jewish immigrants.
After the Second World War, Germans came to Hollywood mostly for commercial reasons. In the 1980s and 1990s, German directors such as Wim Wenders (City of Angels, The Buena Vista Social Club, The Million Dollar Hotel, Paris, Texas) and Wolfgang Petersen (In the Line of Fire, Air Force One, Das Boot) made a name for themselves in Hollywood.
Composers like Hans Zimmer (Pearl Harbor), Harold Faltermeyer (Berverly Hills Cop, Top Gun) worked on the sountracks for major box office hits. And more recently, actors like Franka Potente (Blow) and Til Schweiger (The Replacement Killers) have also made an impression there. These are the kind of careers that dreams are made of.
But in contrast to these success stories, there are all the stars that never were, who hoped for the big break on the silver screen, but never quite made it. "Once you get here, it isn't as easy as all that", says Sonja Pendic, a young actress from Wiesbaden in Germany.
"When I was new in town, Hollywood was totally fascinating. But that excitement soon wears off. Pretty soon you realize that you don't bump into movie stars every day. You've got to go to work, attend drama school, do rehearsals and all that. You've got to manage your everyday life."
To outsiders, the lives of actors often seem glamorous and exciting. But that's only true when the actors are working on a movie or television production. Rather few of them actually do work regularly. The vast majority of professional film and television actors only manage to find work for a couple of weeks every year.
25-year-old Sonja Pendic has a part-time job with a production company and takes lessons at one of the local drama schools. Before she came to Hollywood, she learned a trade and got a university degree in Economics.
"It wasn't my first choice", she admits. "I'd always wanted to be an actress but I didn't really know how I could get started in the movie and theater scene. When I was younger, I did a lot of theater work and went through all the entrance exams at the drama colleges in Germany.
"But I wasn't accepted anywhere. That's when I decided it might be a good idea to learn a trade and get a university degree first."
But although Sonja met with a lot of setbacks, she did not give in. As soon as she had graduated from the university, she went to Hollywood - much to the astonishment of her relatives and friends.
In Hollywood, Sonja has been taking acting lessons and done on-camera training to prepare for screen tests. If she is lucky, she might be offered a small part in a commercial or a TV-series. But playing a role in a blockbuster movie will most likely remain a dream for her for quite some time.
"It's pretty difficult when you are a nobody and don't have much professional acting experience. I think it's almost impossible for a foreigner who is virtually unknown to make it big here. It's easier if someone has already made a name for himself or herself back home."
Some of the other German students at Sonja's drama school have managed to get jobs in Germany, mostly in TV soaps. That's better than nothing, she says. Sonja is convinced that the 3,000 Dollars needed to pay for some of her three-week-courses at the school are a good investment.
But she has no illusions. "It's kind of frustrating when you are invited to ten screen tests or more and no-one ever calls you back. Sooner or later this could drive you mad. But luckily I'm not at that point yet..."