Felix von Manteuffel: Schauspiel star criticizes crime wemme on TV

“There would be so many other stories that could be told”: Actor and audiobook spokesman Felix von Manteuffel (80) criticizes the crime chemme on German TV in an interview with Spot on News. He also explains how his career is and talks about his new project: In the audio book for “Himmelerdenblau” (the Hörverlag, from August 27th), the new thriller of Romy Hausmann, he lends his voice to the dementia. Felix von Manteuffel also reveals why his wife, actress Leslie Malton (66), does not want to take him to her American homeland at the moment.

Felix von Manteuffel: It was very nice and very intense. It really moved and aggravated me like rarely – especially Theo, the figure I was allowed to speak. A demented father who tries to find his disappeared daughter again after twenty years. He does not believe that she is simply gone or was murdered.

Felix von Manteuffel: She is complex, very finely drawn by the author. A conservative bone, but you learn to like it despite its strange pages. He loves his woman who died of cancer and his disappeared daughter. It is difficult with the other daughter. Also because Theo has dropouts how it happens in dementia. I know that from my own environment.

Felix von Manteuffel: No. I wonder where the people who hear podcasts, take the time for it. I don’t understand the people who can look away in one go. My wife and I may have done it one and a half times. Once at “The West Wing” – that was worth it. And with another series we stopped at some point because it was repeated. That is simply not for me.

Felix von Manteuffel: Actually not. If it is – as in the book – to warm up old cases from 20 years ago, this may be honorable in individual cases. In other cases, it is like in “Himmelerdenblau” – it is about career instead of education and the heating of the matter for the range. And that is at least questionable.

Felix von Manteuffel: It operates under thriller – and thriller, crime novels, that’s just not my genre. There is so much to read. I don’t even know the world literature. So why crime novels? I am drawn to Hölderlin, too Kleist. When I read “Himmelerblau”, I was really thrilled. Because the author describes figures incredibly precisely. The crime story runs and keeps the tension up. But the essentials are the characters. And they are strong. This is the nice thing about my job: you meet things that you would otherwise never have discovered – and are sometimes wonderfully surprised. Just like here.

Felix von Manteuffel: Fully and entirely. There are so many other stories you could tell. When I started and also played in the “crime scene”, there were maybe five, six TV commissioners. Hansjörg Felmy, Gustl Bayrhammer and a few others and that was it. Today there is an investigator on every turf. Commissioners in the Alps, by the sea, in Spain – wherever you look. It bores me. I don’t see it all.

Felix von Manteuffel: Time. It has become much less. Technically, everything goes faster due to digitization. However, it is not more precise than before because less time is set for rotating. Let’s stay at the “crime scene”: When I played for the first time, we had 32 shooting days. Today there are only 18, maybe 20, maximum 21 – that’s a huge difference. The pressure has become enormous, the costs have increased. But it is not saved at the surrounding area – but in production itself. And you can tell.

Felix von Manteuffel: My wife is an American and we have contact with actors there. On the one hand we are almost blessed in Germany because you can actually live here as an actor from your job. This is much, much harder in the USA. I once shot in California for a German production. There are countless actors there who can hardly survive. If you then make it, you will often become millionaires for this.

Felix von Manteuffel: everything is often ironed here, mainstream without corners and edges, with the same known faces in the leading roles and sometimes very weakly occupied supporting roles. Of course, this is not consistent. But it is striking that in the USA from the taxi driver to the gatekeeper, all the roles of great actors are filled. They are all comprehensively trained, can sing, dance and are physically very fit. We also got up early at the drama school to do sports. But now there is a much larger youth craze and the young actors have to be very, very fit.

Felix von Manteuffel: Yes, and I repeat that again and again: language. It is astonishing how often you have trouble understanding young colleagues on television today. There is this idea of naturalness that leads to cumbling. And that is then considered authentic or normal. The following applies: Anyone told something must also be understood. This has nothing to do with unnativity, but with craftsmanship. Speak clearly – this is not a lack of naturalness, it is professionalism. This is a problem with many young actors today. Not all – but it’s a trend.

Felix von Manteuffel: It is a terrible time. To be honest, I am glad that I am a pensioner and secure financially. I shot a lot for television, but it is different from my wife: she had this huge success with “The Great Bellheim” – something like that remains in the people. She very much pays attention to which roles she accepts and luckily often had the opportunity to cancel. It was sometimes different for me because I want to turn and like to take the money, even if I don’t like the role. Because turning is also something nice – you meet colleagues, you work together. Only today is extremely difficult if you don’t have a big name. So far nothing is going on this year. But I find the situation in the theater even more depressing. I don’t want to travel anymore, I want to stay in Berlin. And there were many savings. They are hard times.

Felix von Manteuffel: Yes, my mother -in -law and my sister -in -law live in California. We were there in January. What was more busy with us than Trump’s inauguration was the fires around Los Angeles. We have friends who literally sat on packed suitcases. Two acquaintances from there have even moved to Canada. The fires, the risk of earthquake and then Trump as president – that’s too much for them. My wife has now also told me that she doesn’t want me to come to the USA next time – for fear that something will happen to me. And she is probably right, with the left moving in my youth. But it makes me angry when I think that a fullidiot like Trump can even visit the family. I like to be over there – I like the people there. The friendliness that many Europeans call superficial is good for me. I am a friendly smile, it may also be superficial, always preferred to be a profound unfriendliness. And there is more than enough of them here in Europe – especially in Berlin – unfortunately.