New series: “Call My Agent Berlin”: The ailments of the stars

Veronica Ferres suddenly wants to make comedy, Iris Berben swear to the cinema, Kostja Ullmann wishes a puppy to play and a pizza oven on the film set. Sounds absurd? This is exactly what the new series “Call My Agent Berlin” is about, which can now be seen at the streaming provider Disney+ (from September 12th).

The principle is quickly explained. German film stars – including Moritz Bleibtreu, Heike Makatsch, Frederick Lau and Katja Riemann – play in an oversubscribed and ironic version.

Between vanities and extra requests

In the representative high-gloss offices in the middle of the capital, agents take care of the projects, vanities and life crises of the celebrities (“Our actors want to be protected”). At the same time, the company is in front of the bankruptcy after the death of its founder and has to recruit new actors. A new star appears in every episode, the image of which is put on the grain.

Remakes of the serial hit of the same name from France

If the concept is familiar to you: The ten divider is a remake of the French serial hit “Call My Agent!” (Original title: “Dix Pour Cent”). The director trio Johann Buchholz, Boris Kunz, Laura Lackmann has now tried a German variant of the show business satire between comedy and drama. Is it worth it?

Admittedly, the series takes some episodes to get going. Some things should have been exaggerated even sharper and ironic. When the power games and often melodramatic entanglements of the agent tower employees interweave the ailments of the stars, a gripping story develops that appeals to the universal topics of the film industry.

Which episodes are particularly successful

How present is the problem of getting less or no roles with increasing age? How do stars deal with it when they struggle with their profession and their celebrities? The episodes with Iris Berben and Veronica Ferres are particularly successful, both of whom embody a pointed series version of themselves with a lot of self-irony.

For example, when Berben’s series Ich scolds the German cinema (“Cinema and film has become small and ugly. It’s all so tight, so bourgeois”) and gets into a clinch with a director. Or when Ferres confidently stands on stage in a comedy club, but nobody laughs at her jokes.

However, “Call My Agent Berlin” revolves around the intrigue within the agency much more than the celebrity problems. Another plus is therefore the occupation of the employees. Above all, Karin Hanczewski and Michael Klammer, who, as stubborn agents, do not always take it precisely with the truth for their own success (and for their stars). Her motto: “We improvise, we don’t lie”. You can do that.