Chabos: Johannes Kienast on his role in ZDFneo series

Actor Johannes Kienast can already be seen in his second serial role this year. In the ARD series “A Better Place”, which was broadcast in January, he played a prisoner. On August 22nd, the series “Chabos” starts in the ZDF media library, in which Kienast takes the audience back into 2006 as Peppi. The TV broadcast will follow at ZDFneo from August 24th at 8:15 p.m.

“Chabos” is a wild trip to 2006. But the transfigured nostallic groove quickly hits the series from its viewers. At Kienast, too, the filming awaits some memories, as he reveals in an interview with Spot on News: “Above all, I thought I was smarter than my role – which was not the case.” He speaks openly about how he experienced growing up in the 2000s.

What do you personally combine with the 2000s?
Johannes Kienast: At this time I combine vague, diffuse memories such as flashlights: friendship, loss, grow up, confusion, overwhelming, music and self -discovery. These are the 2000s for me personally. And many terrible clothes and tattoos.

How much nostalgia is there?
I once heard the sentence: “Everyone has the right to transfigure their memory.” I think that’s pretty, because nothing else happens if you remember. I also believe that things in a different, maybe more positive light are left. Confusion is not negative per se either. A search for meaning can also be something very nice. It is exhausting and sometimes brutal, but that is part of it. But the 2000s are not time to think back to incredibly happy feelings.

Have the filming of “Chabos” also caused memories?
Yes. Starting with such simple things as the typical facility with these insanely ugly CD shelves to the huge tube screens up to ICQ. Memories of how excited you were when you opened ICQ in the hope of maybe already having a message from this girl with which you could hope for a date. But also the language, which was of course different at the time – a harder, unreflected and unfiltered.

The role also had a lot more to do with me than I thought. I would not have expected it to grab me like that. I knew that I can give the role a lot. But then it really overwhelmed me when turning, what Peppi for a complex type, and how Lost is actually.

Have you also discovered parallels to yourself and your growing up?
Yes, definitely. Above all, I thought I was smarter than my role – which was not the case. Because I still do and still think things that could be described as toxic. Fortunately, I then questioned them. I always thought I was such an incredibly progressive and enlightened man. I also saw that the boys – the actors of the young Chabos – belong to a generation from which I can cut a slice.

The World Cup in Germany also has a special role in the series. What do you connect to the 2006 summer fairy tale?
That was a crazy time. Suddenly there was this strange “feeling of feeling”, which I found scary on the one hand and on the other hand, but also totally beautiful. Suddenly people celebrated together that I would never have located together. And the flags everywhere! I grew up with many non-Germans and suddenly they swung the Germany flag. This great joy about this team, which also played really great football. There was such an euphoria in the air that I had not yet experienced in this country.

Peppi is totally shaken that he was not invited to the class reunion. Have you ever been at a class reunion?
No, I’ve never been to a class reunion. I have now thought about it more often and I think I would go to the next meeting. To 20 years of Abitur! I wouldn’t have dared to do that in the past – for fear of not being as successful as the others and nothing. Now I can say that my job and my life are fun and I would meet others more relaxed.

Do you still have contact with your schoolmates?
Yes, to my best friend. We have been friends for 27 years since we have been twelve. But he is also the only one from the time I have. I also deal with the term “friend” very economically. I have friends or buddies, yes, but then there is this one person to whom I would entrust my life – without twitching with the eyelash. And the other way around it is the same.

Is there anything you would like to say to your younger one today?
I wouldn’t tell him anything. At most I would hug him, press and go again. But I wouldn’t say anything, because now I’m very happy with the one I am. There are still things that don’t work entirely, but I still have time. If I would say something to my younger one, then he might do things differently. But I just had to go through a few things to become the one I am now.