Frederick Lau: Sometimes he likes narrow-mindedness

Frederick Lau (31, “Victoria”) is happily married and has children. In the film “Generation Incapable of Relationships” the actor slips into a completely different role. He plays the permanent single Tim, who is not ready for a permanent bond. The film starts in German cinemas on July 29th. In an interview with spot on news, the 31-year-old tells whether there are certain similarities to him and the character from his new film.

In “Generation Incapable of Relationships” you slip into the role of the permanent single Tim. You yourself have found your private happiness with your wife Annika and their children. Before that, did you have such a wild time as Tim?

Frederick Lau: I also stood drunk at someone’s door at night and wanted to apologize or clarify something. Everyone has done something crazy before. (laughs) When you’re in love, you always do strange things and think, “What’s wrong with me?” But I think I always behaved relatively well even as a single. Just be careful not to drink too much. (laughs) That’s important for the guys out there: don’t cut yourself off completely! It is important to maintain a certain balance.

In the film, happy couples are also targeted, among other things with the statement that there are always two of them on Sundays. Do you recognize yourself in it?

Lau: I wouldn’t classify my wife and I as a clichéd married couple. We are always out with friends a lot. Because of the children, a lot with other parents. But we take a lot of time for each other because we don’t have that much. I travel a lot, with friends or at work. Then I look forward to coming home.

Are you and your wife afraid of becoming stuffy?

Lau: Sometimes I think it’s good to have a certain narrow-mindedness. That you make yourself a beautiful home – although order will never play a major role for me. I wouldn’t call myself stuffy, but I like class. I don’t find the tried and tested that bad at all. But I also mean music or vintage cars – that has more style and character and therefore a certain value.

I used to be on the go all the time and had fun with everything, but it doesn’t have to be anymore. At some point you know that and at some point – at a certain age – it becomes silly too. But if the Berghain (club in Berlin) should open again, I’ll definitely be there. I now choose differently: I’d rather go out to eat with my wife than party.

In “Generation Incapable of Relationships”, Tim’s boss suffers from burn-out. You travel a lot for your projects. How stressful is your life as an actor and how do you bring calm in?

Lau: I like to be at home and I think it’s very important to be at home often. At the moment I don’t do as much as I used to. Corona has also made it clear to me that I prefer to be at home – because you don’t miss anything. For my part, I just try to find a good balance between work and private life. So that everyone is happy. (laughs) I couldn’t just sit around at home, my work is very important to me, I have to do something.

For many, the Corona period with the lockdowns was a good opportunity to come down for a while. How have you lived the corona pandemic so far?

Lau: I used the corona pandemic to make our home really nice. That’s when I found my happy place. We have a small garden and I did some manual work during the pandemic. The scratches on my arms? Then I trimmed the hedge. Or I dug holes for trampolines. I now have a lot of fun beautifying our home. I also keep seeing things that I want to tackle. That does something to me inside.