Deutschland 83 Film Extra

From time to time I work as a film extra. The most interesting project I have worked on so far is for the German TV spy drama mini-series 'Deutschland 83'.

My involvement with the filming was one year ago in September 2014, but the series is only now having its German premiere this week. It has already been shown in the U.S. and is apparently heralding in a new age of German drama (because everything else is mostly shit) and also was the first time a German production was shown in America in its original language (it was shown there with subtitles).

The way I get these jobs is through an agency that I am registered with. It starts with an email "We want you for x production" and I have to get back to them if I am available or not. In this case they wanted me as a 'featured extra' and for multiple dates. The email also stated that it was a period 80s drama, so some hair cutting may be required, but nothing major. I accepted and went to the costume fitting at a sound stage somewhere near Tempelhof.

When I got there, one of the production guys looked at me and said 'oh fuck!'. It was my hair. They had assumed from my agency photo that I had short hair, but in fact I had it in a long pulled back style. (yea I was rocking a pony tail....I didn't say it looked good!)

We had a discussion with the make up crew and they said it all had to go. After a bit of deliberation I decided to let them shave it all off - I was in a conundrum about my hairstyle anyway and I really wanted to be involved in the project. Plus, they paid me 15 Euros for the haircut!

The haircut was followed by a costume fitting, where they tailored a US army uniform for me...meet Private Edwards, playing a supporting role to one of the main characters, General Jackson.

Please excuse the quality of the following photos, filming policy is that you cannot take cameras on set, so these were taken with my very shitty iPod camera.

Filming took place over the following months into December 2014. One day was spent filming a NATO scene (look out for me sitting next to the main character Moritz Stamm at some point).

NATO scene. photo source: http://philipphaberlandt.com/images/d83.jpg
(i'm not in this photo)

Another day was spent filming at some fancy house out 'west' where I did some fine walking, standing and smoking work. Due to it being set in the 80s we were encouraged to 'smoke em if you got em'. In my cohort none of us were smokers and the producers needed at least one of us to smoke. I was too late to say no (because this was happening all in German and took too long to realise what was going on) but was able to insist on herbal cigarettes.

Photo source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/deutschland-83/s01/pictures/tv-8702/

Most of the filming work I was part of was in some former clinic looking place also in the west, used as the setting for a hotel. These was very long days and nights, where mostly I sat around waiting to be called for action. This experience is both very interesting and often incredibly boring with all the waiting around.

Hanging out with the other extras.

Taking a publicity shot. ...again, HERBAL cigarettes, and not a herbal jazz cigarette as my mum thinks.

Trying to get some rest on a bench.

Wondering the corridors super bored.

Watching a stunt scene where a woman jumps or is pushed off the balcony of the hotel.

And taking part in a lounge and outdoor scene, where I chat with some ladies, and then retire for a smoke with my army buddies outside while the main character climbs the wall above us (I think).

I also had a short filming day out in a Potsdam army barracks. In this instance my American buddy and I were put to the test in that I had to open a door, walk out, negotiate one step and then cross a street into another door. Complicated stuff. We still managed to ruin a few takes though with poor hat placement or bad timing.

All in all a mostly fascinating, but often tedious, experience! It seems so long ago, and then suddenly Berlin is blanketed in advertising for the series premiere on 26 November 2015.

Watch out for me :)

Num-num is back!

Coming home from a walk yesterday, I spied a small blackbird in our courtyard.

Our little baby Num-num grew up quickly. I think once he was big enough to fly the family decided to leave our courtyard (you can read his story Part 1 here and Part 2 here.)

The blackbird from yesterday was smaller than Num-num's dad, so I am choosing to believe that it is Num-num himself and he has decided to come home.

He's a bit jumpy around us and when I tried to get closer he flew up to the safety of a window ledge.

Hopefully we will see more of him :)

Barney's Birthday Burger

So today was Barney's birthday, and we hadn't got him a cake...so I decided to knock him (and myself) up something special from my 'experimental' kitchen - and make him a Birthday Burger.

Through my backchannels, I'd gotten myself some 'Dampfnudeln' - Asian steamed buns. They've been quite boring really and I've been looking for something different to do with them.

I also had some Bockwurst leftover.

So, as I'm known to do, time to experiment with pretty much everything that was left in the fridge :)

I've been wanting some pork buns, dim sum style, so seeing as though Bockwurst is pretty much pork, this should surely work!

Step 1: Season buns with sugar, salt, pepper and butter (Like I said, these things are boring otherwise) and steam.

Step 2: After the buns have been steaming for a while, drop the Bockwurst  (only needed one for 2 burgers) in the water to warm up, while the buns continue steaming (efficient cooking!)

Step 3: Give it about 5 minutes.

Step 4: Remove buns, let to cool and dry slightly. Remove Bockwurst and chop into little bits.

Step 5: Add everything that is left in the fridge - Hot mustard, Sambal oelek, Currywurst Sauce, Mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Stir and fry.

Step 6: Assemble!!

Step 7: Chuck a candle in, sing happy birthday and watch the little doggie enjoy. We shared and I can say that I was quite pleased with the result. Barney was very happy with it too!

Critical Mass Berlin

There's a world wide bicycle movement called Critical Mass which aims to draw attention to cyclists, their rights and infrastructure.

Naturally, in Berlin, as a big city that loves a good demonstration, the Critical Mass movement is popular here too.

Taking place on the last Friday of every month, I went along in August 2015 to check it out. Critical Mass feels like a movement I can get on board with, since moving to Berlin cycling is my main mode of transport,

An interesting thing about the way Critical Mass is organised, is that is pretty much isn't. All there is are set dates and meeting points. What happens after that seems to be pretty organic. This decentralised approach has lots of unstated advantages, but one of them is that 'we' needed register the event with the police - which is what you would normally have to do when running a demonstration.

So I went along to the meeting point, Heinrichlplatz in Kreuzberg, at the specified meeting time - 8pm. I was a bit nervous, not really sure what was going to happen, and sat on my bike amongst other similarly nervous looking people. Some cops were around, but that feels normal anyway in Berlin.

Just after 8pm, a few 'leader' took off down the street, including a pied piper like guy with a stereo system blaring from his bike. Slowly some of the waiting crowd, including myself, went with them. This led us the short distance down the street to the Mariannenplatz, which actually is a better meeting point. There were lots more people here. We waited in this place for about 15 minutes. I wasn't really sure what was going on, but with no clear leader I guessed the crowd was waiting for a peloton to break free to follow.

The first steps are the hardest. I tried to take my cue from two guys that had excellent stereo systems blaring. When they moved, I'd go too. If they were that prepared then surely they would know what was going on. The thing was, these guys didn't budge, so eventually a group did break free, people followed and we were off!

I followed this guy as his stereo blasted a live set of The Prodigy. Later on I found that a stupendously loud truck horn sound was actually coming from his boom box trailer set up. Handy for warning everyone, onlookers and cars that we were there - though hardly hard to miss.

His system, and that of many others, put my two-light extravaganza to shame!

We rejoined the Heinrichplatz waiting cyclists and then together flooded the Orianenburgerstrasse. Hard to tell how many people were taking part...I was guessing a few hundred at that point. The pace was fender to fender and a bit frustrating at first.

Up around Moritzplatz, where I saw the first example of 'corking'. Corking is where other cyclists deliberately block the traffic to allow safe passage of the rest of the riders. You can see the yellow shirted guy in the middle of the picture and two by his side blocking the roundabout for our benefit.

We got nicely free-wheeling after Moritzplatz and through to Checkpoint Charlie,

I especially appreciated our takeover of Leipzigerstrasse on the way to Potsdamer Platz. This is a street where cyclists are totally marginalised and can be quite a tricky road to navigate. This is where the Mall of Berlin has been built, which resulted in a couple of years of roadworks that forced cyclists into the path of traffic. Sharing that environment with big trucks, impatient taxis and the generally clueless has never been fun. Here a man in a DHL van was getting pissed off because of the blockage. Fuck him, I thought, I usually have to put up with 'your' traffic and worry for my safety. For one night you can just suck it. I kept myself in check thought - that mentality is not a good one and can lead to excess feelings of superiority, and altercations with motorists..,which happened later on. (not me!)

At the victory column I think there was a bit of confusion as to which exit to take. We took over the roundabout, circling it a couple of times before the police funneled us up towards Ernst-Reuter-Platz.

It took me a while to read what this girl's backpack said...

Eventually we ended up at Bahnhof Zoo, completely blocking the underpass in what felt like 'a moment' for the group. People were happy and it felt like a job well done.

I thought the ride might have ended, but after something of a regroup we were off again down around the Ku'Damm.

The ride took us out of this bright lighted area and into Wilmersdorf...which is a yawn of a place, but good, wide, and not too busy streets to take over. Corking was going on at every intersection.

Some of the altercations were starting to get a little more prevalent, with delayed motorists vocalizing their annoyance. It isn't really necessary to get 'up in someones face' but some people seem more up for it than others. As happened in this case where a cyclist and motorist engaged in a face off. A passing motorbike was called over to sort it out. I was surprised that the calls of 'Hey Bulle' were actually heard and acted on by the copper.

The same cop, after sorting out that kefuffle, then sped ahead of me to join his colleague. I could hear him shout to his mate in German "This is so shit without radios". I felt sorry for them, they are just trying to do a job amongst unorganised peaceful chaos, and apparently without radio!

This is where is fell apart for a while. By Rathaus Friedenau the whole cycling group paused, seemingly confused as to where to go. I don't think the poor cops helped, as they blocked the oncoming traffic, and some of the riders, causing a big blockage!

Which shut down the road for a while. The motorists had no choice but to wait.

Somehow the confusion got resolved and the movement pressed on, including a rare chance to ride through the Bundesalle vehicle tunnel...wooo hooooo.

By now, particularly after the Rathaus Friedenau confusion, I had enough. My saddle was sore, but I wanted to stick it out. Eventually, after three hours of roaming Berlin, we hit the victory column again and made our way up the Strasse Des 17 Juni towards the Brandenburg Gate. It's always a powerful ride with that monument in your sights, regardless if you are alone or with a huge group...which by now I think must have numbered over a thousand, but you just can't tell.

The Brandenburg Gate was the final assembly point, some milling around, and triumphant 'bike lifts' followed by a group clap at our efforts, signaled the end of a fascinating night.

I found the experience to be something extremely surreal and special. The group, by sheer number, exerted such a powerful force across Berlin that normal road rules no longer applied (which they should!!) and had the police chasing around after us in a strange cat trying to protect the mouse game.

As I wrote earlier, there is a false sense of superiority that you gain by being in the group. Sure, you do gain safety and visibility in numbers, but this isn't an opportunity to be reckless, law breaking or an excuse to be a fuckwit. If those things happen, then Critical Mass will get a bad reputation, and do more harm than good for cyclists - there very opposite of what it hopes to achieve. Having said that, from what I saw, the crowd was there for the common good and have once again managed to successfully assert the rights and power of cyclists in Berlin.

More information and future ride dates can be found at the Critical Mass Berlin website:

www.critical-mass-berlin.de

Update 30 August 2015: The twitter feed for Critical Mass posted this map of the route taken during the ride. You can see the southernmost route, which is Rathaus Friedenau, where I thought it kinda fell apart for a while!