Constantin Film presents
a Christian Becker Production by Rat Pack Filmproduktion
in Co-Production with
B.A. Produktion and Studio Babelsberg
and with Beta Film
starring
Christian Tramitz, Christian Ulmen, Monica Cruz, Christiane Paul,
Heino Ferch, Jürgen Tarrach, Joram Voelklein, Herbert Knaup,
Janek Rieke, Manou Lubowski, Tim Sikyea, Lara-Isabelle Rentinck, Anna Julia Kapfelsperger,
Günther Kaufmann, Moritz Bleibtreu
and many others.
Screenplay by
Cyrill Boss & Philipp Stennert
based on the characters and the JERRY COTTON novel series published by
Bastei Lübbe GmbH & Co. KG
Producer
Christian Becker
Directed by
Cyrill Boss & Philipp Stennert
0 00German Release: March 11th, 2010000
Distributed by
Contents
Cast & Crew
3
Synopsis
4
Story
4
The Jerry Cotton File
6
Production Notes
6
Interview with Screenwriter-Directors
15
Interview with Producer Christian Becker
19
Interview with Christian Tramitz (Jerry Cotton)
22
Interview with Christian Ulmen (Phil Decker)
25
Actors’ Bios and Role Descriptions
Christian Tramitz (Jerry Cotton)
Christian Ulmen (Phil Decker)
Monica Cruz (Malena)
Christiane Paul (Daryl D. Zanuck)
Heino Ferch (Klaus Schmidt)
Jürgen Tarrach (Ruby)
Joram Voelklein (Johnny Rocco)
Herbert Knaup (John High)
Moritz Bleibtreu (Sammy Serrano)
Janek Rieke (Ted Conroy)
Manou Lubowski (Steve Dillaggio)
27
27
28
29
29
30
31
31
32
33
33
Crew Bios
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert (Screenwriter-Directors)
Christian Becker (Producer)
Torsten Breuer (DoP)
Helmut Zerlett (Music)
Christoph Zirngibl (Music)
34
34
35
35
36
Interview with Jerry Cotton Experts and
Authors Christos Tses and Dirk Brüderle
Jerry Cotton at Bastei Lübbe
37
About Beta Cinema
43
39
For further information and pictures:
Beta Cinema Press, Dorothee Stoewahse
Tel: + 49 89 67 34 69 15
www.betacinema.com, press@betafilm.com
www.jerry-cotton.com
2
Cast
(Excerpt)
Jerry Cotton
Phil Decker
Malena
Daryl D. Zanuck
Klaus Schmidt
Ruby
Johnny Rocco
Mr. High
Sammy Serrano
Ted Conroy
Steve Dillaggio
Zerookah
June Clark
Peggy Martin
Joe Brandenburg
plus a few surprises…
Christian Tramitz
Christian Ulmen
Monica Cruz
Christiane Paul
Heino Ferch
Jürgen Tarrach
Joram Voelklein
Herbert Knaup
Moritz Bleibtreu
Janek Rieke
Manou Lubowski
Tim Sikyea
Lara-Isabelle Rentinck
Anna Julia Kapfelsperger
Günther Kaufmann
Crew
(Excerpt)
Written & Directed by
Produced by
Co-Produced by
Cyrill Boss & Philipp Stennert
Christian Becker
Franz Kraus
Antonio Exacoustos
Christoph Fisser
Dr. Carl Woebcken
Henning Molfenter
Torsten Breuer
Oliver Nommsen / Bernhard Thür
Uli Fauth
Kristina Strohm
Emrah Ertem
Manfred Banach
Matthias Müsse
Georg Korpás
Janne Birck
Stefan Essl
Helmut Zerlett
Christoph Zirngibl
Director of Photography
Line Producers
Production Manager
Head of Accounting
Casting
Sound
Production Design
Make-Up
Costumes
Editor
Composers
Funded by
mBB medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg,
FFF FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, BBF,
FFHSH Filmförderung Hamburg SchleswigHolstein GmbH, FFA Filmförderungsanstalt, DFFF
3
Synopsis
The reputation of New York City’s star FBI agent JERRY COTTON (Christian Tramitz) is on
the line: Internal affairs director DARYL D. ZANUCK (Christiane Paul) has him wanted for
two counts of murder in the 1st. Did Jerry really ice crime lord SAMMY SERRANO (Moritz
Bleibtreu) , his only unsolved case, because he couldn’t nail him for the States Union Bank
gold heist? Did he really go on to shoot his partner, FBI agent TED CONROY (Janek Rieke),
to silence the only witness who was on to him? A race against time begins for Jerry: He has
to keep one step ahead of his FBI colleagues, track down gangster boss KLAUS SCHMIDT
(Heino Ferch) and his gang (Monica Cruz, Jürgen Tarrach, Joram Voelklein) and figure out
who the real killer was, pronto. Jerry’s only allies are his red Jaguar E-Type, his trusty Smith
& Wesson Model 10 .38 Special, and, of all people, his goofy greenhorn partner PHIL
DECKER (Christian Ulmen).
From the dime novel series, which has been running weekly since the 1950s, for a total
current volume of 1 billion (!) copies sold to date, to the 1960s hit movie series: No other hero
embodies American-style charm and coolness in the German imagination more than Jerry
Cotton. When the well-dressed G-man is watching out for law and order beneath the
Manhattan skyline, no nefarious bad guys nor sultry, seductive ladies can stop him.
Finally, after 40 years absence from the big screen, Jerry Cotton is back in action with a
hard-hitting comic action-adventure, directed by hit directing team Cyrill Boss & Philipp
Stennert (“The Vexxer”) brought to you by the leading German production house, Christian
Becker’s Rat Pack Film Production (“Vicky the Viking,” “The Wave”)…
Story
With a breakneck stunt, New York City FBI agent Jerry Cotton (Christian Tramitz) rescues a
kidnapped girl, risking not only his own neck but that of his partner, Ted Conroy (Janek
Rieke), as well. Conroy isn’t as lucky as Jerry, winds up in the hospital and off duty.
Jerry is already racing to the next crime scene in his Jaguar: gangland boss Sammy Serrano
(Moritz Bleibtreu) was found dead on his perforated water bed. Shot in cold blood. It’s been
five years since he robbed $200 million in gold bullion from the vault of the States Union
Bank, but Jerry was never able to pin it on him. The ace investigator’s only unsolved case!
Jerry took it as a personal insult.
If he had it his way, he’d hunt down Serrano’s killer on his own, accompanied by his Smith &
Wesson .38 Special. But his bureau boss, high-on-himself John High (Herbert Knaup), sticks
him with the son of a powerful Senator as his partner: wet-behind-the ears rookie Phil Decker
(Christian Ulmen), who can’t seem to stop talking and coming up with new ridiculous
disguises he picked up at the FBI Academy.
Serrano’s last phone call before he was shot went to strip club Cristallo. Jerry investigates
the place undercover and meets beautiful Spanish dancer Malena (Monica Cruz), hefty
heavyweight Ruby (Jürgen Tarrach) and grim-looking goon Johnny Rocco (Joram Voelklein),
who all work for The German, a one-armed bandit named Klaus Schmidt (Heino Ferch).
Jerry passes himself off as an ex-con looking for work and manages to win the hoodlums’
trust. They assign him an errand as a messenger, which turns out to be a trap: The address
is none other than the high-rise flat of his ex-partner, Ted Conroy, who has just been tossed
out of the window, plunging to his death on to an FBI van several floors down. Jerry’s been
framed! All the evidence makes it look like he killed his partner, right down to the envelope
4
he was supposed to deliver, containing a forged FBI file incriminating him for the revenge
murder of Sammy Serrano.
Jerry has to go into hiding. The FBI is now hunting their best agent. The investigation is
headed by internal affairs inspector Daryl D. Zanuck (Christiane Paul). Years ago, the coldas-ice agent was once Jerry’s partner. Together, they tried in vain to bust Sammy Serrano
for the gold heist.
Jerry trails beautiful dancer Malena to the Alabama Hotel, where Klaus Schmidt is holed up
with his gang. Jerry tries to find out which suite they’re staying in, but the gun-toting hotel
receptionist (Frank Giering) recognizes his face from the FBI bulletin and draws a pumpaction shotgun on him. Jerry only barely makes it out of the lobby alive.
Like it or not, Jerry needs help: He calls up his greenhorn partner, Phil Decker, and offers
him a second chance. Phil, who’s been suspended by Mr. High, can’t believe his luck and
rushes to his hero’s aid – not without blabbing out the secret to pretty FBI agent June Clark,
however. Phil and Jerry meet in an XXX movie theater and hatch a plan to sneak into the
hotel with Phil’s disguises, which is swarming with FBI by now. While Phil Decker and a
rigged fire alarm distract the bad guys, Jerry manages to install a bug in the ceiling lamp and
uncover their secret plan: Their heist goes by the code name of “Operation Baby Jane” and
is set to get started inexactly 12 hours.
When the gang vacates the hotel, Jerry and Phil have to shake off Daryl D. Zanuck and the
FBI, before they can follow the crooks. They trail them to the Dead End, an underworld dive
bar full of cons, many of whom Jerry put behind bars at some point. Gangster boss Klaus
Schmidt recognizes them and wants to shoot them on the spot, but Jerry again manages to
escape and uncover a crucial fact in the process: Klaus Schmidt isn’t the boss at all, he’s just
working for a mysterious mastermind called the Puppeteer, who’s pulling the strings in the
background, and presumably killed Serrano and Conroy as well.
Jerry and Phil hook up with Malena, whom Schmidt wanted to do away with as a suspected
traitor after the FBI showed up at their doorstep. But they needed her skills as safe cracker
and alarm systems expert on their heist, so now the gang needs a replacement for her. The
only one in New York who can fill her shoes is a Ukrainian, Vasily Doronjovsky, Malena says,
so Jerry, Phil and Malena pay him a little visit first.
Now it’s Phil Decker’s big moment: He fashions a latex Vasily mask and dresses up as the
Slavic safe cracker. He’s in radio contact with Jerry and Malena, who’s supposed to help him
do his job. They follow the gang to the New York customs harbor, where an open manhole
leads down into the sewers. Jerry bravely follows and soon realizes that the gang is here to
retrieve the States Union gold, which Serrano hid here, so he could one day ship it out to
South America, right under the nose of the customs officers.
Suddenly, shots ring out underground. The gang is shot down by their own boss. The
mysterious mastermind double-crossed them all. And the agents can’t believe their eyes
when they unmask their nemesis...
Jerry Cotton faces off with his most dangerous opponent ever, before the scarlet dawn of the
New York skyline...
5
The Jerry Cotton File
In 1950’s Germany, Delfried Kaufmann was a salesman for detergent maker Henkel and
didn’t think much of the dime-novel crime stories published at the time. So he came up with
his own over-the-top parody, with a tough-as-nails FBI agent who cruises the streets of New
York in a bright red Jaguar and keeps the bad apples on the Big Apple in check with his
trusty Smith & Wesson. Since his hero was American, Delfried Kaufmann gave him a name
that sounded quintessentially American: Jerry Cotton.
Bastei Verlag pulp publishers took a shine to the hard-boiled fed and his first-person
adventures, and his first case appeared as Vol. 68 in the Bastei crime series in September
1954, under the title “I Hunted the Gang Boss.” The readers loved Jerry Cotton and his 50
Pfennig adventures, and demanded more – and more they got. After 20 more installments,
the hard-hitting adventures of “Jerry Cotton” were spun off as their own pulp series in March
1956.
Today, Bastei Lübbe GmbH & Co. KG is one of the largest publishers in Germany, and still
publishes the most successful German crime series ever, which has sold a billion copies
across Europe in half a century. Over 100 authors have contributed to over 2700 novellas
and 400 paperbacks.
In the 60s, Jerry Cotton conquered the silver screen as well, with American actor George
Nader (“Shannon”) playing the starring role, and German actor Heinz Weiss (“A Far As My
Feet Will Carry") as his faithful partner Phil Decker. From 1965 to 1968, directing greats
including Fritz Umgelter and Harald Reinl churned out eight of the blockbuster Jerry Cotton
mysteries, making Nader one of Germany’s leading stars of the time. The films were usually
shot in Hamburg, Munich, and Berlin, with New York City backdrops inserted by means of
special effects, rear-projection, matte shots or editing. Approx. 13 million moviegoers were
willing to buy in to the illusion and buy tickets for a gross of 34 million Marks, on a total
production cost of 9.4 million Marks for the eight films.
Production Notes
The Perfect Cast
It all started with a photo. During the filming of hit Hammer-style thriller spoof THE VEXXER
outside Prague, production stills were shot of all the stars and supporting actors, including
German comedy star Christian Tramitz, who played the part of mediocre private eye and
world-class dancer Much Longer, the brother of Scotland Yard inspector Even Longer,
embodied by comic Oliver Kalkofe. Christian Tramitz had already won a combined audience
of 20 million fans over, first as the Apaches’ white blood brother Ranger in Michael Bully
Herbig’s wild Western send-up MANITOU’S SHOE, and then as a flamingly flamboyant
Captain Kirk in DREAM SHIP SURPRISE – PERIOD 1, to date the most successful German
movies ever. But in the Prague shoot, in tailored suit and Philip Marlowe trench coat, he
revealed an entirely new side of himself.
“In a suit, Christian Tramitz is incredibly suave and cool,” says producer Christian Becker,
whose Rat Pack production house was making THE VEXXER. He couldn’t get those photos
out of his head. The look, the style and coolness of Christian Tramitz reminded Christian
Becker of a certain detective he remembered from his youth, from novels and movie posters:
Jerry Cotton. A New York FBI agent, invented for a pulp series in Germany 1954, who has
been immortalized in over one billion published copies to this day, and inspired no less than
eight hit movies in the 1960s with Hollywood leading man George Nader. The character of
the G-man was so popular it even necessitated the real FBI to issue one of its few
6
statements in German, officially stating that “Jerry Cotton is a fictional character and not an
employee of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Producer Christian Becker contacted the publishers, Bastei Lübbe Verlag, via the agency
Rights and a literary agent he knew, Marc Schneider, securing the movie rights to Jerry
Cotton. Even while he was still trying to acquire the rights, Becker contacted Christian
Tramitz as well as directors Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert, fresh off THE VEXXER, and
shared his vision with them. “Cyrill and Philipp are among the few directors in Germany who
can tell a story and make it funny without reducing it to a gag parade,” is how Christian
Becker lauds the writing-directing team, with whom he worked on spoof series “ProSieben
Fairy Tale Hour” and sitcom “If It Don’t Fit, Use a Bigger Hammer.”
Getting a Script
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert were only familiar with Jerry Cotton as a brand, not with the
crime novels themselves. But the appeal of his coolness, his red Jaguar E-Type, his Smith &
Wesson and his cases amid the New York underworld were enough to capture their
imagination. “We’re big fans of 1950s and 60s detective stories,” says Cyrill Boss. “We
wanted to bring Jerry Cotton to the big screen in that spirit and tradition.”
There was one other thing the directors knew for sure: Unlike THE VEXXER, which lovingly
parodied the style and clichés of the old 1950s Hammer-style German “Edgar Wallace”
mysteries, JERRY COTTON was not going to be a spoof. “The old movies just aren’t wellknown enough any more,” explains Philipp Stennert. “Most people have only heard the
name, and never read the books or seen the movies. And there’s no point in spoofing a
name.”
The directors and producer Christian Becker quickly settled on the tried and true genre of the
cop buddy action-comedy. In the earliest stages of screenwriting, Cyrill Boss and Philipp
Stennert realized the novels and movies were more suited as inspiration than any thing else,
quickly setting off on their own with a modern, up-to-date story centered around the classic
hero. “It’s almost like a love story between Jerry Cotton, who happens to be wanted for two
counts of murder, and his new partner, Phil Decker,” explains Cyrill Boss. The biggest
change came in the character of Phil Decker, who’s a smooth Jerry Cotton clone in the
novels, and a loyal sidekick in the movies. To promote the odd couple dynamic, Phil became
a rookie fresh from the FBI Academy who’s pratfall-prone, but turns out to be a deft master of
disguise.
The directors and production team found the perfect cast for this part in German comedy star
Christian Ulmen. “I’m incredibly glad we had Christian for this part,” Christian Tramitz agrees.
“With his rapid-fire delivery, he’s the real comedian of us two in this film,” concedes the star
of the two biggest German comedies ever at the box-office. “My role as Jerry Cotton is more
down to earth, more of the straight man.” Christian Ulmen agrees: “My job was to help
Christian appear supremely cool by being just totally uncool. He should be damn glad to
have a moron like me as a partner.”
Given the same first names of the two lead actors, a mild disaster on set was inevitable. “On
set, someone was always calling for Christian – and it was always the wrong one who
responded,” recalls Christian Tramitz and goes on: “What’s more, the producer’s name is
Christian Becker and one of the female leads is Christiane Paul. Wars have broken out over
less...”
Director Cyrill Boss explains how they solved the problem: “For a while we were calling
Christian Ulmen ‘Ulmi,’ but he didn’t like that, either. Modestly, he preferred to be addressed
as ’Christ’. But that was weird, too. So at some point we started calling them by their last
names, ‘Ulmen’ and ‘Tramitz’ or, even better, by their role names ’Decker’ and ‘Jerry’.”
7
Deadly Dames
The role of sub-zero cold FBI agent Daryl D. Zanuck, named in homage to the legendary
Hollywood producer, was filled by Christiane Paul, who had already acted for Christian
Becker productions THE VEXXER and THE WAVE. “We were initially unsure whether to take
Christiane Paul for this part,” says Christian Becker. “We were afraid there would be too
many parallels between JERRY COTTON and the world we created for the VEXXER.” But in
the end, Christiane Paul won out through the sheer brilliance of her acting. “The coldness of
Daryl D. Zanuck makes the part a huge challenge,” Christiane Paul says. “She holds all the
strings, is constantly manipulating other people. Trying to portray that kind of power and
control before the camera, it’s hard to avoid drifting off into cliché. But I think we found the
right means of portraying Daryl believably in the movie.”
The second female lead went to fiery Spanish Señorita Monica Cruz. Caster Emrah Ertem
had seen her in a campaign for the Mango fashion label, alongside her sister, Penelope
Cruz, of Pedro Almodovar and Hollywood fame. Monica is a trained dancer and had acted
the lead in Spanish TV series “Un Paso Adelante” but had yet to make waves internationally.
She signed up immediately with the German crew. So Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert,
rewrote the role of Malena, an homage to Giuseppe Tornatore’s romantic comedy MALENA,
starring Monica Bellucci: The role was now for a Spanish, not an Italian beauty. “Malena
knows just what she wants,” is how Monica Cruz describes her role. “She employs her
beauty to get other people to help her achieve her aims. Jerry Cotton suspects he can’t trust
her, but is willing to give her the benefit of the doubt because he’s a ladies’ man.”
A Spanish translation of the script was done for Monica Cruz, who speaks Spanish and
English, but no German. So she studied her lines in her native language and was dubbed
into German later. In any case, her chemistry with Christian Tramitz hardly suffered at all
from the language gap. “I knew what she was saying from the script,” the lead actor explains.
“The only problem was, I never knew what she was saying when. She had a machine-gun
delivery. But I could pick out certain key words and use those as my cue. After a while I was
so used to it, it would have be a shock if she’d suddenly spoken German.”
Monica Cruz is full of praise for her German colleagues, as well: “They were all very helpful.
Even though I don’t speak the language at all, I had a wonderful shoot, and we had a lot of
fun together.”
The New York Underworld
Two of the greatest current German actors agreed to take on the parts of Jerry Cotton’s
powerful opponents: Moritz Bleibtreu as mob boss Sammy Serrano, and Heino Ferch as
gang leader Klaus Schmidt, “The German.” “It’s wonderful with how much care and love of
detail even the smaller figures in the script were described,” Moritz Bleibtreu praises the
director-screenwriters’ work. Heino Ferch adds, “when I read the script, I had to smile, and
immediately felt like playing the part. It’s over the top and very characteristic. Klaus Schmidt
is the perfect character for an actor who loves dressing up and slipping into a new role.”
Strangely, there’s one thing all the actors in JERRY COTTON have in common: None of
them were great fans of the FBI agent when they were young, or avid readers of the
novellas. Christian Ulmen admits, “to begin with, I had Jerry Cotton confused with (dimenovel astronaut) Perry Rhodan. So imagine my surprise when I showed up on set and
Christian Tramitz didn’t have a space suit on.”
8
Leave it to pop culture expert and Jerry Cotton fan Oliver Kalkofe to come through for the Gman. Along with many other comedians, actors and surprise guests, the star of spoofs THE
TRIXXER and THE VEXXER has a cameo in JERRY COTTON. “I would have been deeply
insulted if Cyrill and Philipp didn’t at least ask me,” Oliver Kalkofe makes clear. As a boy, he
picked up the mysteries because he wanted to read what the grown-ups were reading. “My
German lit teacher even had a map of New York up on his wall to be able to check whether
the car chases in the books were accurate. They always were.”
Masculine Edge, Female Curves
Making the characters look just right was the job of costume designer Janne Birck and makeup artist Georg Korpás, fresh off the success of VICKY THE VIKING and THE VEXXER
films. Top priority was Jerry Cotton, of course. “I wanted to make a real man out of him,”
Georg Korpás says. “Christian Tramitz has a great face, but the natural shape of his hair
doesn’t fit our image of the tough, hard-nosed federal agent.” So the actor got a new do. “It
gave him a 60s-style look,” Georg Korpás explains. “We wanted to subconsciously evoke
that era, the age of the original Jerry Cotton films.”
Jerry Cotton’s black tailored suits suffered in the course of the movie, just as the hero himself
does. “I kept giving Christian Tramitz more and more artificial scrapes and cuts,” the makeup artist says. “They call those Hero Cuts, because they underscore his humanity and
vulnerability.” Christian Tramitz compares it to another well-know cop colleague: “Just think
of Bruce Willis. Those scars and scratches just look great. It’s always better for an actor to
sweat up a storm and get dirty all over, than run around looking clean-cut and spotless all the
time.”
As far as Jerry Cotton’s partner Phil Decker goes, the script already called for lots of
character acting. As a master of disguise, he turns into well-fed Japanese crooner Dick
Diamond, or heavyset Ukrainian safecracker Vasily for his undercover assignments. In both
cases, Georg Korpás used lots and lots of silicone, held together by latex skin.
The women in the movie have a very different style. “It’s a real guy movie,” says Georg
Korpás. “All women wear false eyelashes, tight-fitting pants and push-up bras. Where the
FBI agents were concerned, of course, we had to display a sense of realism. There are clear
rules for government agents, so big, bouffant hairdos were out. So now they all wear their
hair pinned up.”
A big topic of discussion was Christiane Paul’s hairdo. The directors wanted her to be blonde
or black-haired, the make-up artist insisted on red. “I just stayed stubborn on that one,”
Georg Korpás explains. “Daryl D. Zanuck is a key figure in the film, and has to stand out,
style-wise, as well.” Rather than tearing their hair out over it, the twin directors greenlit the
red do. “Georg talked us into it, and it turns out he was dead right,” admits Philipp Stennert.
“Especially in conjunction with her pale complexion and dark suit, Daryl D. Zanuck's striking
red hair is very startling.”
The bad guys had to spend many hours in make-up when they were shooting to put on their
wigs, contacts, false teeth or fake scars. Moritz Bleibtreu personally designed the external
appearance of his crime lord Sammy Serrano, whose name is an homage to a lead character
in French political thriller MORT D’UN POURRI starring Alain Delon, from the beginning. “I
wanted his wardrobe to look the way Mickey Rourke dresses,” says Moritz Bleibtreu. His
stringy hair, heavy bling and false teeth are supposed to evoke various underworld roles
played by Academy Award winner Benicio del Toro. “Moritz Bleibtreu has the courage to be
ugly,” director Cyrill Boss lauds.
9
Top German star Heino Ferch also had fun with his daily dress-up game: “For the part of
Klaus Schmidt, I got all kinds of scars and technical gimmicks. A good costume and good
make-up are always helpful. Then you just need to develop the right feeling for your new
look, and take the character from there.”
New York City in Germany
It was not only the actors who got a complete make-over – entire cities did. Berlin and
Hamburg had to play the role of New York City. As early as December 2008, production
designer Matthias Müsse began hunting for the best backdrops with the help of a team of
location scouts. Shooting New York City in Germany had several reasons. First and foremost
were financial considerations. “It’s just much more expensive to shoot in the United States
than it is in Germany,” producer Christian Becker knows. “Also, we had a lot of film funding
money, and that money needs to be spent in Germany. It’s a question of creating jobs at
home.”
There were also film-historical reasons. “The old Jerry Cotton movies were almost entirely
shot in Berlin and Hamburg, using a great deal of rear projection,” Christian Becker explains.
“That means the actors were shot in front of a screen, which would show a New York
telephone switchboard in the background, for example. It was a stylistic choice to emulate
the old movies by passing Germany off as New York City.”
Matthias Müsse had a good look at all German cities for their parallels to the Big Apple. “That
meant that Munich was out from the beginning, for instance,” the production designer recalls.
“You only find those American style brick buildings in North Germany, where the AngloSaxon influence is evident. If you’re looking for old-style New York, say, like Brooklyn, you
can find a lot of locations in Hamburg, for instance. Matthias Müsse also considered
Frankfurt for a while: “That would’ve been more modern-style New York. Not so much for the
skyscrapers, more for the many classic ’50s-style façades.”
After studying lots of American films and photo books, Matthias Müsse went to work with a
team of up to one hundred prop masters, set dressers, carpenters, painters and sculptors. As
so often, the devil was in the details, getting all the little things right: American license plates
and even police line tape had to be bought online from the U.S. or made from scratch at
home.
Working closely with director of photography Torsten Breuer, special effects wizard Dirk
Lange, and chief electrician Fred Dombrowka, extra tidbits were added to provide the
finishing touches that give that big city feeling. Steam coming from every manhole and
smokestack, with effects lights, neon advertising and fans to simulate passing traffic.
“We were able to invent our own version of New York City in Germany,” director Cyrill Boss
enthuses. His partner Philipp Stennert describes their artificial metropolis as “a fantasy world,
a larger-than-life, cartoon New York, inspired by the gangster films and comic books we grew
up with.”
One of the main sets was the Alabama Hotel in central Berlin, near the former American
embassy. The modern architecture of the generously laid-out façade reminded set designer
Matthias Müsse very much of American models. The crew spent a total of two days and two
nights shooting the scenes in which fugitive Jerry Cotton and Phil Decker stake out Klaus
Schmidt’s gang, while the hotel itself is being staked out by Daryl D. Zanuck and her team of
FBI agents.
The decrepit, decaying charm of the deserted Delphi cinema in Berlin-Weissensee, empty
factories, breweries and basement vaults in Berlin and Hamburg, and a total of eight heating
10
plants belonging to Vattenfall utility co. provided the suitable architectural backdrop for the
film’s New York underworld.
The FBI Goes Underground
In contrast, the New York FBI HQ was supposed to look spotlessly spic & span. A location
scout gave Matthias Müsse the idea to construct the FBI’s open-floor office in the
underground garage of Berlin’s Olympic stadium. Where car usually park, an office for a total
of 30 desks was erected in a matter of days, complete with desks, computers, cubicles and
thousands of extra details. “The wealth of private photos and accessories are typical for an
American workplace, in order to add a little color and personal character to the grey,
anonymous cubicles,” production designer Matthias Müsse explains.
The corner office belonging to Jerry Cotton’s boss John High, acted by the inimitable Herbert
Knaup, has particularly prominent photos on display. A gallery of his predecessors includes
photos of Hollywood export George Nader (1921–2002), who played the part of Jerry Cotton
in the 1960s, but also Constantin Film CEO Martin Moszkowicz and JERRY-COTTON line
producer Bernhard Thür.
Another crucial prop in the FBI HQ are the original FBI coffee cups. “We ordered over 40 of
them, and they became more and more crucial for the actors in the course of filming,” says
Matthias Müsse. “I just love how the cast are always holding those goofy mugs.” Whenever
possible, the extras and walk-ons in the FBI offices and street scenes were cast with real
Americans or other non-German foreigners. “They just add a multiethnic, international New
York city flair to a scene, making the set look more American all round,” Matthias Müsse
confides.
The Red Jaguar E-Type
The most prominent prop of all is Jerry Cotton’s red Jaguar E-Type (marketed in the US as
the XK-E), which he drove in the 1960s movies and all the novels up to #2217 (“The Jaguar’s
Last Ride”). As our contempo JERRY COTTON action-comedy opens, our FBI agent is
driving a modern, grey Jaguar XKR, just like in the current novels. “It’s got, like, 550
horsepower under the hood,” Christian Tramitz praises the new model’s performance. “It’s
just a kick to put the pedal down. And there’s not a lot you can do wrong, because it’s an
automatic.”
When Jerry Cotton becomes a murder suspect, he not only loses his badge and reputation
temporarily, but also his cool car. So, as a fugitive, the FBI man requisitions an elderly gents’
red Jaguar E-Type. “That car is like a childhood dream come true for me,” Christian Tramitz
gushes. “It was the star of my car collector’s cards!”
The car used in the movie has a blue book value of €39 000 and belonged to a collector in
Berlin, who agreed to loan it out for the shoot. “I was initially terrified of making a scratch in
that beautiful car,” recalls Christian Tramitz. “I had to get used to the long snout first.” The
Jaguar E-Type is the same age as producer Christian Becker, born 1972, but was in a lot
worse shape. The vintage collector’s car had spent the last three years in a garage without
being driven, meaning the fuel line and all the plugs had to be replaced. Still, the engine
would sputter and backfire, and the spark plugs kept getting full of soot, which was the car’s
way of protesting the short drives it was getting in front of the camera. Fortunately, it still had
enough spark to put down a perfect kickdown or a 180 degree bootlegger with the
emergency brake pulled, when it was needed.
After the shoot, Bastei Lübbe publisher Stefan Lübbe bought the original car used in the
movie for display in the new company headquarters in Cologne.
11
In the driving shots filmed in New York City, a lookalike belonging to an American collector
was used. Transporting the Jaguar E-Type used in Germany via air to the U.S. would have
been prohibitively expensive. The driving shots in New York City were not without their perils,
either: “That Jaguar is doubtlessly one of the most beautiful cars ever, but it caused us no
end of troubles in Germany as well as in New York,” says director Philipp Stennert. “It was
always breaking down, and had to be fixed like every two hours. So if we were shooting on
location in New York City, and didn’t have all the scenes we needed yet and the sun was
going down, and then the car breaks down again, that almost drove us crazy.”
The 60 other U.S. cars used in filming in Germany, provided by various collectors, were more
reliable. The only worry was star director Roman Polanski. “He was shooting THE
GHOSTWRITER at the same time in Berlin and North Germany, and needed the same
American squad cars and ambulances,” says production designer Matthias Müsse. “Then the
weather got bad and Roman Polanski’s shoot went behind schedule, so the vehicles we had
booked were stuck on the Baltic coast waiting for better weather. Fortunately, it all worked
out in the end, just barely.”
The Smith & Wesson .38 Special
At least as well-known and important a trademark as the red Jag is Jerry Cotton’s service
revolver. “The Smith & Wesson .38 Special is a weapon used by police and military,”
explains special effects supervisor Dirk Lange. “The front and rear sights are not continuous,
it’s slightly conical and has a gentle curve at the front end.” Actor Christian Tramitz was
supposed to wield a real gun during the shoot and not a fake. The weapon was supplied by a
private collector, is about 25 years old, and very rare and valuable in Germany.
“I was supposed to practice with it, and promptly dropped it,“ Christian Tramitz confesses.
“So of course it got bent out of shape. After that the rule was, ‘Don’t give Tramitz the gun
until he really needs it!’ They took it away from me right away after every scene.” Even so,
the Smith & Wesson hit the floor several more times and had to be fixed by an expert
gunsmith a total of three times. “By now, it’s a hunk of useless garbage,” regrets Dirk Lange,
who provided weapons and explosions for hit films like MANITOU’S SHOE, THE
DOWNFALL and LAST KING OF SCOTLAND.
For JERRY COTTON, Dirk Lange and weapons expert Gerhard Voll had to come up with a
whole arsenal of guns, including submachine guns and a gilded 20-shot shotgun, which fired
blanks. Especially the male crew members had a field day with all the guns on set. “I’m not a
gun lover at all,” recalls Christian Tramitz, “but they’re just cool toys. All the guys on set
started playing with the guns and twirling them around as soon as they had their hands on
them. It’s a reflex that seems to be genetically hard-wired into guys. It’s just cool to flip the
drum out and back in and hear the click. Shooting it is the least interesting part.”
A Good, Clean Fight
The actors were trained to use their weapons before the shoot, so it would really look like
they had spent many years in law enforcement or in the underworld of New York City. But
they were also drilled in hand-to-hand close combat beforehand. “I love shooting fight
scenes,” Christian Tramitz reveals. And according to stunt coordinator Rainer Werner, he’s
pretty good at it, too: “Christian has an excellent fighting style. Hats off – he really knows how
to move.”
For Jerry Cotton’s jump through a plate glass window of the Alabama Hotel, Christian
Tramitz had a professional stunt man fill in for him, but he shot the fist fight under the roof of
12
a factory warehouse himself. Even though he’s afraid of heights. “I don’t do well with heights
at all,” the leading man confides. “But the stunt team did an incredibly good job of prepping
us actors for scenes like that step by step.” DoP Torsten Breuer also had to spend a whole
day of shooting dangling 100 feet in the air in a stairwell for a special shot they wanted. “We
build up a relationship of trust with the actors and the crew, step by step, so that they are
able to do things they otherwise would prefer not to,” Rainer Werner explains his recipe for
success . “It’s not like we stunt people just show up at the set, jump off a building or flip a car,
and then leave again. It’s a process.”
The stunts weren’t the only challenge for Christian Tramitz. “I hate shooting at night, I just
hate it,” says the devoted early sleeper. “What’s more, everybody I know hates shooting at
night. So I have no idea why we keep doing it. I need seven liters of coffee to survive on set.”
So on the 45th and last day of shooting in Germany, you could see the lead actor huddling
around the thermos bottles of hot coffee in the craft services trailer.
Night Shoot at Hamburg Harbor
On a warm summer night on June 27th, 2009, the team shot outside Building 74 in the
brightly-lit Hamburg Customs Harbor. Set designer Matthias Müsse and his crew had turned
it into the customs harbor of New York City. U.S. flags, high fences, floodlights and
uniformed guards with German shepherds all over. The day before, the longshoremen had
covered the freight containers red, white and blue and removed all containers that read
“Hamburg South.”
The shoot in the Hamburg Customs Harbor required special safety precautions: The whole
team had to wear bright orange safety vests, visible at a distance of 120 meters. “The
harbor’s container dock is a 24/7 operation,” Matthias Müsse explains. “There’s always lots
of trucks going back and forth, and a single human being is easy to overlook among all the
huge piles of containers and jungles of cranes.”
What’s more, the shoot could easily have been scuttled by the arrival of a ship. “They’re only
announced six hours ahead of time,” the set designer found out. “Then all of a sudden, all
hell breaks loose, because the cargo has to get offloaded. It was a big risk, but one we were
glad to take for a great setting like Hamburg Harbor.”
Fortunately, no ships arrived until the final scene was shot on German soil, on June 27th at
about 5:30 a.m. A final kickdown peel-out by the Jag in the light of dawn marked the end of
the German shoot, and producer Christian Becker presented the principle cast with their own
personal memento: their own personal folding chair, with the name of their character on it,
wrapped in a big red bow.
New York, New York
Of the cast, only Christian Tramitz and Christian Ulmen went to New York to don their
costumes and make-up one more time in early August. “We had a bare-bones crew in the
U.S., to shoot a few driving shots and establishing shots,” Cyrill Boss explains. “A lot of New
Yorkers were pretty surprised,” Philipp Stennert laughed. “They couldn’t believe the sight of
Germans shooting a film in New York.”
Together with DoP Torsten Breuer, the directors also took to the air to get some aerial shots
of Jerry Cotton’s home town for the helicopter. “I was really amazed at how much you’re
allowed to do in New York with a helicopter,” Philipp Stennert wonders. “We were allowed to
fly really close to buildings and bridges. I never thought we’d get permission for shots like
that, after 9/11.”
13
Always tagging along was special effects supervisor Alexander Lemke. On the early August
visit, he took lots of shots and stills of the New York skyline, to be able to insert digitally into
scenes shot in Germany later on. Post-production work on the computer lasted almost five
months, until all the skyscrapers were inserted, the streets stretched into the distance, and a
few building façades expanded.
The Jerry Cotton Theme
Meanwhile, Helmut Zerlett and Christoph Zirngibl went to work on the score Helmut Zerlett
had managed to secure the rights to the Jerry Cotton March, the signature theme from the
1960 movies with George Nader, with its memorable whistling solo. Back then, the score was
by Peter Thomas, one of the leading film composers in Europe, who composed music for 18
“Edgar Wallace” mysteries and the cult German sci-fi series “Space Patrol Orion.” Zerlett and
Zirngibl had already written the score to Cyrill Boss’ and Philipp Stennert’s comedy THE
VEXXER, and interwove elements of Peter Thomas’ old score with the modern soundtrack.
The Babelsberg Film Orchestra recorded the soundtrack for JERRY COTTON in Berlin in
January of 2010.
On March 11th, 2010, over 40 years after Jerry Cotton’s last big-screen romp, the FBI agent
will once again race his bright red Jaguar through the streets of Manhattan in a major motion
picture. “The target audience is definitely teens and young adults, who want to see an
exciting and entertaining film with lots of humor and action,” producer Christian Becker says.
“But we’re also aiming at the over-40s demographic, who grew up with the Jerry Cotton
books and movies.”
Along with his writing-directing team Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert, producer Christian
Becker hopes the daredevil crimebuster will live a long and healthy life: “If the audience likes
our movie, we’d really love to make a new JERRY COTTON every two or three years. For
instance, it would be a dream come true to me to do a story where the ‘American’ Jerry
Cotton is sent abroad on a case one time, to Germany. We could have lots of fun with the
culture clash, with the hard-boiled American arriving in Germany expecting to see the war
still on and people in Lederhosen and Tyrolean hats all over, telling time by coo-coo clocks.
Imagine having all the German clichés collide with the American cliché Jerry Cotton. That
would be great.
14
Interview with Screenwriter-Directors Cyrill Boss and Philipp
Stennert
What was your first experience with Jerry Cotton?
Cyrill Boss: Well, I’d heard of him as a boy because the dime novels were all over the place.
You could even get them where my family went skiing. But I never read the novels or had
any conscious experience of them. I was just too young.
Philipp Stennert: I remember the red Jaguar well. I’d also seen photos of George Nader. I
thought he was a secret agent like James Bond. I wasn’t aware of the fact Jerry Cotton was
an FBI agent.
Cyrill Boss: I had those same James Bond associations. Cool hair, cool suit, cool gun, cool
car. That’s why we jumped right away, when Christian asked us to do the movie. We’re huge
fans of 1960s and ‘70s thrillers, like BULLIT, CHARADE or THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR.
We knew immediately we wanted to see Jerry Cotton in that tradition up on the big screen,
even though we didn’t really know a lot about Jerry Cotton.
Did you base your screenplay on the novels?
Philipp Stennert: We read a couple of the novels and watched the old movies. And we got
the series bible from Bastei Lübbe publishers Verlag, which all the writers have used as their
starting point for years. We stayed true to certain basic elements, such as the original
weapons, cars, etc. The character of Jerry Cotton is true to the original, of course, too. A cool
hard-nose with a sense of style! But we gave the characters more faults and weaknesses.
That goes for the character of Phil Decker, especially.
Cyrill Boss: In the novels, Jerry and Phil are serial characters without a lot of depth and
contour. Phil Decker is basically a Jerry Cotton clone. There’s not a lot of ambiguity. In a
movie, the characters have to stand out, however, or there’s no story and no conflict. So it
became kind of a love story between these two men: even though Jerry Cotton hates Phil
Decker, he’s forced to work with him, and that’s how they grow closer in the course of the
film.
How did you decide to make Phil Decker a master of disguise?
Philipp Stennert: In the very beginning, Phil Decker was a cool undercover investigator. We
wanted someone who can take on many different disguises and do a wide range of dialects.
It didn’t develop until later that he’s a bit of a loser. We realized the story got better the more
Phil Decker and Jerry Cotton contrast with each other.
Cyrill Boss: Jerry Cotton changed a great deal compared to the first draft, too. He was a lot
dumber in the first drafts, a real idiot who’s always messing up. But that just didn’t work. We
realized the audience has to admire Jerry Cotton. Only then do you have the setup for him to
take a fall and reveal that he has emotional weaknesses, as well. He’s a total pro at what he
does, but he’s no good with people and has trouble expressing his feelings.
Philipp Stennert: During script development, the character of Jerry Cotton got ever more
serious and became the straight man. We shifted a lot of the comic energy to Phil Decker.
Now, the comedy results from the contrast between the two leads: the cool, straight man and
the nervous, high-strung fall guy.
THE TRIXXER and THE VEXXER were successful spoofs of the German ‘60s Edgar
Wallace mysteries. Why didn’t you make JERRY COTTON a spoof of ‘60s detective
movies?
15
Philipp Stennert: The old movies just aren’t well-known enough any more. Most people have
only heard the name, and never read the books or seen the movies. And there’s no point in
spoofing a name.
Cyrill Boss: The Jerry Cotton movies were classic detective stories. A cop solves a crime.
End of story. In James Bond or Robin Hood, there’s a whole range of clichés we associate,
which everybody can refer to. But Jerry Cotton’s just not well-known enough. I wouldn’t even
know what to quote or what to spoof.
Christian Tramitz was cast as Jerry Cotton from the start. Is it easier to write the script
if you know who your lead is?
Philipp Stennert: It definitely helps to be able to picture a face. But Christian Tramitz can
cover such a broad range as an actor, there’s no limits to your imagination while writing.
Cyrill Boss: When we had the first drafts of the script, we sat down in our office with Christian
Tramitz for read-throughs. That’s a huge help. You can tell right away whether something
works or needs to be rewritten.
How do you write a screenplay together?
Cyrill Boss: First we sit down and each write down our ideas.
Philipp Stennert: Especially in the first brainstorming phase, it helps to hole up somewhere
secluded.
Cyrill Boss: We’re in luck, because Philipp’s family has a vacation home on Lake Attasee in
Austria and my family has a vacation home on Lago di Garda in Italy. So we sometimes use
that opportunity to retreat and spend some time by ourselves.
Philipp Stennert: It’s important to create that kind of space for yourself. Only then, can you
create a world of your own. Then we start making a list: What do we want to happen in the
various acts? What are the main characters trying to achieve in each sequence?
Cyrill Boss: Then Philipp and I write the scenes separately.
Philipp Stennert: It would be distracting to be looking over each other’s shoulders at that
phase of the screenwriting process. Instead, we each start writing scenes, and then show
them to each other.
Cyrill Boss: Then we sit down together again and go through the scenes by reading them
aloud, with different roles for each of us.
Philipp Stennert: When there’s tow of you, you never run into a dead end. One of us has an
idea, the other one picks up on something and carries the idea on.
Cyrill Boss: That can be a pretty painful process, too. There are times we really fight with
each other over things. But that has the advantage that all those differences get worked out
and then when we’re on set months later, we don’t have to argue about things any more.
Then we both know exactly what we want.
Even though JERRY COTTON is set in New York City, you always knew you’d only be
shooting for a few days on location in New York. Did that affect your work on the
script?
16
Cyrill Boss: Well, of course we know ahead of time that we will have a lot of technical
headaches as directors if we write to many big set pieces in the screenplay. But you just
have to forget about that for a while and let your ideas flow. We knew we’d be shooting in
Berlin and Hamburg, but be able to accomplish what we envisioned with the aid of sets and
visual effects.
Philipp Stennert: There are a lot of ways to create illusions technically. It’s a joint effort by all
departments. The prop department’s task is to make it look American. The visual effects
guys have to stick the skyline for New York in the background. The sound designer has to
make it “sound” American. And so on. Plus, we had a few days of shooting in New York City
planned, as well.
How well did you know New York before this movie?
Philipp Stennert: I have to admit, the last time I was in New York was when I was 13.
Cyrill Boss: I was 17.
Philipp Stennert: I’m no expert on New York City. And if we’d been shooting a documentary
about New York cops, that surely would’ve been a problem. But JERRY COTTON is a fairytale world. It’s an exaggerated, cartoon New York, inspired by the gangster movies and
comic books we grew up with.
Cyrill Boss: We were just as influenced by cartoonists and our favorite comics. They don’t
render each city scene in photographic detail, either. We wanted to have dark silhouettes of
skyscrapers looming in the background, creating a stark dark-light contrast. It’s a makebelieve New York, an ultracool Jerry Cotton world.
How long were you shooting in New York?
Cyrill Boss: We spent a week in New York with our DoP, Torsten Breuer, our production
manager, Uli Fauth, and assistant director, Christopher Doll. The two lead actors were only
there for two days. Sometimes we held our breath when they had to drive through rush hour
traffic, and we were ahead of or beside them with the camera car. That was pretty hairraising.
Philipp Stennert: It was a ridiculous scene, to have Christian Tramitz peeking out of the trunk
of the car, anyway. The New Yorkers couldn’t believe it. People came up to us and couldn’t
believe a German film team would shoot a movie in New York.
Cyrill Boss: Christian Ulmen told us, on arrival, the immigrations officer laughed his head off
when he heard Christian is a big movie star in Germany. He thought that was pretty funny.
So did you take the Jaguar E-Type with you from Germany to New York?
Cyrill Boss: No, we found the same model in the U.S. There are tiny differences, but only a
real car buff would be able to tell.
Philipp Stennert: That Jaguar is doubtlessly one of the most beautiful cars ever, but it caused
us no end of troubles in Germany as well as in New York. It was always breaking down, and
had to be fixed like every two hours. So if we were shooting on location in new York City, and
didn’t have all the scenes we needed yet and the sun was going down, and then the car
breaks down again, that almost drove us crazy.
Cyrill Boss: In spite of all the technical difficulties, we had to have that red Jag in the movie.
We wanted to be true to the books and the movies.
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Philipp Stennert: Jerry Cotton’s Jaguar is a crucial part of the film – in the public perception,
as well. It was truly amazing to see the film crew – mostly the guys – throng around that car,
when it showed up outside the production offices the first time. Like little kids with the
greatest toy in the world.
Were you in the helicopter for the aerial shots of New York?
Philipp Stennert: Yes, that was quite an experience. I was really amazed at how much you’re
allowed to do in New York with a helicopter. We were allowed to fly really close to buildings
and bridges. I never thought we’d get permission for shots like that, after 9/11.
Cyrill Boss: Two days after our flight, a helicopter belonging to the same company we flew
with collided with a small plane over the Hudson River and nine people dies. We were just
arriving back in Germany when we saw the pictures. That was pretty shocking.
Would it have been better for the entire shoot of JERRY COTTON to take place in New
York?
Philipp Stennert: Definitely not. Even if we’d had the budget, there would’ve been all kinds of
organizational and linguistic problems in New York. No, it was great working in Berlin and
Hamburg, with the whole German team
Cyrill Boss: That way we were able to invent our own New York City, which was even cooler
than actually shooting in New York. We had to improvise a lot to create the world of Jerry
Cotton from sets, cars and costumes. Make-believe is the real fun and attraction of making
movies.
What’s the advantage of sharing directing duties?
Cyrill Boss: You have four shoulders to bear the responsibilities. In this case, we were also
helped by the fact we wrote the screenplay together. That way, we had the same vision from
the start and were able to pursue it single-mindedly together. Every director gets tired or
burned out at some point. Working together as a team, you can share that burden and keep
your concentration better. You don’t overlook any details.
Philipp Stennert: Plus, there are usually several actors on set. That way, we can split up:
One of us works with Monica Cruz, the other with Christian Tramitz.
Did it make a difference that Monica Cruz only speaks Spanish?
Philipp Stennert: Well, everything had to be said twice because the interpreter was always in
between. But we got accustomed to that quickly. Monica is fast and extremely professional,
so the language barrier was no problem at all.
What role do the women play in JERRY COTTON?
Cyrill Boss: Well, it’s certainly a masculine subject matter, thanks to all the cars and cool
guys, but we have two very strong female characters, Daryl D. Zanuck and Malena. They
come out on top in the end.
Philipp Stennert: The male characters are really the weaker figures. The women are the truly
cool characters, who toy with the men, pulling one over on them, and always remaining a
step ahead.
18
Interview with Producer Christian Becker
How did FBI agent Jerry Cotton get reborn on the big screen?
The idea came up in 2006, while we were shooting THE VEXXER. We had a photo shoot
with Christian Tramitz, who was playing Much Longer, the brother of inspector Even Longer,
played by Oliver Kalkofe. I was really impressed when I saw the pictures. In a suit, Christian
Tramitz is incredibly suave and cool. The idea stuck with me, so I bought the rights to Jerry
Cotton from Bastei Lübbe publishers via the agency Rights. With Christian Tramitz in mind,
in whom I believe in 100% as a star and identification figure.
Did Christian Tramitz know?
No. I didn’t tell him until I had the rights virtually sealed. He hesitated briefly, because he
knew how much work it meant: a lot. But then he agreed to do it. At the same time, I was
talking to directors Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert, with whom we had done THE VEXXER.
They sat down to write the script soon after, and we were able to announce: Jerry Cotton is
back!
What did you base the character of Jerry Cotton on, the movies, or the novels?
Both, but very loosely As far as the look and the poses go, we based him on George Nader
as Jerry Cotton in the ‘60s movies, a supercool, slightly snooty and incorrigible G-man. We
also got the series bible form Bastei Lübbe, which the books have been based on for years
and years. The directors read a few of the books, but quickly realized those cases are hard
to transpose onto the big screen. So we decided to come up with an entirely new story,
centered around Christian Tramitz and Christian Ulmen, an acting dream team, as Jerry
Cotton and Phil Decker.
How did you see Phil Decker?
We needed a counterweight to the cool, suave FBI agent, who goes through life full of
callous ignorance. Phil Decker is a bit of a tragic figure, really. He’s a master of disguise, but
keeps falling on his face. He’s a stooge and a fall guy, who’s strugging to maintain his
dignity.
In the books, Phil Decker is a totally different character, for example. Did you discard
the novels entirely?
No. Fans of the books as well as the movies will recognize a lot of references, like the names
of the villains and the FBI agents. Or the legendary cars: at the outset, Jerry drives a grey
Jaguar X-Type, which is what he drives in the current novels. He loses that car at some
point, and commandeers a red Jaguar E-Type. So that’s our reference to the car in the old
films.
Why didn’t you make JERRY COTTON a parody?
The specifics of the books and movies are just not well-known enough. Most people are only
familiar with the name, if at all, with the image, the figure. So we knew early on we wanted to
make an exciting action-comedy and not a parody.
What’s your personal take on Jerry Cotton?
I’d seen the movies, but I guess I was too lazy to actually read the books, in contrast to my
parent’s and grandparents’ generation. I can still remember the splashy red covers at the
kiosks and bookstores, even at the tourist resorts in Italy and Greece. Wherever German
19
press was available, there were always Jerry Cotton magazines, too. They were fun to look
at because they always had exciting cover artwork. Only later did I realize they often were
pictures from American, French or Italian movies.
What audience is the movie made for?
Well, the main target audience is definitely teens and young adults who want to watch a
funny and exciting movie with lots of action. At the same time, we’re also aiming at the over
40ish audience who grew up with Jerry Cotton books and movies. It’s particularly interesting
that men and women react equally positively to the film. We’ve got action, suspense and
beautiful women for the guys, and a love story, with two great-looking male leads. Christian
Tramitz looks pretty darn good in a suit. And every woman will want to take Christian Ulmen
home and mother him.
Why didn’t you shoot in New York?
Several reasons. Financial, first of all. It’s just much more expensive to shoot in the United
States than it is in Germany. Also, we had a lot of film funding money, and that money needs
to be spent in Germany. It’s a question of creating jobs at home. And there’s another reason:
The old Jerry Cotton movies were almost entirely shot in Berlin and Hamburg, using a great
deal of rear projection. That means the actors were shot in front of a screen, which would
show a New York telephone switchboard in the background, for example. It was a stylistic
and film-historical choice to emulate the old movies by passing Germany off as New York
City.
Does that come across as a jarring stylistic device on screen?
No. I was personally favorably surprised at how real and convincing it all looks. The audience
would swear the actors were filmed in New York City, but it was almost all done in Berlin
backlots and workshops, the Hamburg Harbor or the underground garage of the Olympic
Stadium in Berlin. The trick is to put up some American-style fire hydrants or U.S. cars,
change the street signs, and pipe a bunch of steam from the drains. Presto, New York City.
How much actual New York is in the movie?
There’s a lot of establishing shots and aerial shots done from a helicopter, plus the driving
scenes with the new and old Jaguars. Christian Tramitz and Christian Ulmen were really
driving, we flew them over to New York for two days of shooting. Our special effects
supervisor Alexander Lemke went along and shot a bunch of cityscape on film and photo
stills, which were later inserted digitally.
20
When exactly is the film supposed to take place?
It’s the modern day, but we don’t want to specify an exact year, because we cultivate a
certain retro chic in dress, hairstyles and the cars, along with modern high-tech implements
like cell phones and computers. There’s really only one definite date in the whole movie, and
that’s hidden on Jerry Cotton’s license plate: NY JC 1954. That’s a reference to the year
Jerry Cotton first appeared in print.
Is Jerry Cotton well-known enough abroad to travel?
Our world sales agents at Beta Film will handle foreign territories, and I’m convinced a fun
and exciting movie with a tongue-in-cheek tone can work in France of Italy, too, for instance.
It’s a German movie, but I wouldn’t say it’s specifically German humor, more international
than that. The characters have a tongue-in-cheek quality that reminds you of the
Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker comedies. And Spain is naturally interested in our film because of
Monica Cruz.
How was she cast as Malena?
Monica Cruz was suggested by our caster, Emrah Ertem, with whom we’ve worked on lots of
movies. He knows I like to see not only my childhood heroes in movies, but also international
stars. We had a great time working with Bud Spencer and Franco Nero on KILLING IS MY
BUSINESS, HONEY. Emrah had seen Monica in an ad campaign for the Mango fashion
label. We watched a couple of her movies and asked if she wants to be our Malena. On the
first day on set, I’m sure she was wondering, What the heck am I doing here? (Laughs)
Did you try and get cameos from the ‘60s Jerry Cotton cast?
We’d thought about casting Heinz Weiss as Jo Brandenburg, who used to play Phil Decker in
the old films. But it didn’t happen. A few of the old actors were still active, but we wanted to
avoid too much similarity with the world of the VEXXER films, which were spoofs and worked
much more with star cameos by Edgar Wallace actors.
Will there be a sequel to JERRY COTTON?
I sure hope so. If the audience likes our movie, we’d really love to make a new JERRY
COTTON every two or three years. For instance it would be a dream come true to me to do a
story where the ‘American’ Jerry Cotton is sent abroad on a case one time, to Germany. We
could have lots of fun with the culture clash, with the hard-boiled American arriving in
Germany expecting to see the war still on and people in Lederhosen and Tyrolean hats all
over, telling time by coo-coo clocks. Imagine having all the German clichés collide with the
American cliché Jerry Cotton. That would be great.
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Interview with Christian Tramitz (Jerry Cotton)
This movie was only made because producer Christian Becker saw you as the perfect
FBI agent. How does that make you feel?
It was a really terrible feeling, to begin with. (Laughs) It felt like there were about 70 people
on set on the first day of shooting, and I just thought, Oh my God. They’re all here because
of me! Just think how much money this all costs! You immediately start feeling guilty and
praying for everything to work out. Playing such a high-profile lead in a major motion picture
is a new experience for me.
Were you familiar with Jerry Cotton beforehand?
I didn’t read the dime novels, no. I knew the covers with pictures of people with guns an
strange hairdos. At school, the teachers called them pulp trash and told us to read “Bambi”
instead. I preferred Asterix when I was ten or twelve.
How much of the old Jerry Cotton is in the modern version you play?
It’s more like a very liberal adaptation, for me. Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert kept the
central figure, his name and his trademarks, but devised a whole new story around him. The
way the script is written, Jerry is a loner and a misanthrope. During the course of the story,
he winds up a fugitive, and needs Phil Decker’s help to save his neck. But he’s only really
cool in the beginning, after that he becomes more and more human.
What was the idea behind that?
It gets boring if a character is just cool all the time. No one wants to see that kind of thing
anymore, unless you’re Sean Connery. Take Daniel Craig as the new James Bond – whom I
don’t want to compare myself to, by any means – but he’s more human and vulnerable. That
makes the character more interesting, if it’s got its cracks and faults.
What’s the role of your rookie partner, Phil Decker?
He’s the exact opposite of Jerry. He’s fresh out of the FBI Academy and is a real intellectual,
academic type. Jerry shoots first and asks questions later. Phil Decker worships Jerry
Cotton, but Jerry can’t stand Phil. So that makes it all the more touching, when the two of
them become friends after all in the course of the movie. It’s classic buddy movie. Ultimately,
Phil Decker is the real hero.
What was it like working with Christian Ulmen?
I’m incredibly glad we had Christian for this part. With his rapid-fire delivery, he’s the real
comedian of us two in this film. My role as Jerry Cotton is more down to earth, more of the
straight man. I think it works really well.
How important are the women in the film?
Very. We have a beautiful and very feminine antagonist in Christiane Paul as Daryl D.
Zanuck, and the equally beautiful Monica Cruz as Malena. It’s quite an experience to watch
her dance. Jerry just has to look into her huge, dark eyes once to completely lose his cool.
The women use their femininity strategically and are much stronger than the men in this film.
Monica Cruz delivered her lines in Spanish, you answered her in German. Did that
work?
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Yes, it did. After a while I was so used to it, it would have be a shock if she’d suddenly
spoken German. Shooting a movie has a lot to do with acting technique, anyway. I knew
what she was saying from the script. The only problem was, I never knew what she was
saying when. She had a machine-gun delivery. But I could pick out certain key words and
use those as my cue.
Jerry Cotton’s true love is his Smith & Wesson. Did wielding the gun make you feel
macho?
I’m not a gun lover at all, but they’re just cool toys. All the guys on set started playing with the
guns and twirling them around as soon as they had their hands on them. It’s a reflex that
seems to be genetically hard-wired into guys. It’s just cool to flip the drum out and back in,
and hear the click. Shooting it is the least interesting part.
Was it a real Smith & Wesson or a fake?
It was a real Smith & Wesson. They’re very valuable. I was supposed to practice with it, and
promptly dropped it. So of course it got bent out of shape. After that the rule was, ‘Don’t give
Tramitz the gun until he really needs it!’ They took it away from me right away after every
scene.
Jerry Cotton first drives a modern Jaguar in the movie, then the classic red Jaguar EType.
That’s right. At some point during the movie, Jerry needs a getaway vehicle. Even though
he’s on the run and in a hurry, he takes the extra time to commandeer a Jaguar E-Type from
an elderly gentleman. That’s when he finally turns into the Jerry Cotton we know and love.
That red Jag is like a childhood dream come true for me. It was the star of my car collector’s
cards: 240 kilometers per hour, 150 mph! That was incredible. Cars just didn’t go as fast
back then.
Which Jaguar did you like to drive better? The old one or the new one?
The new one is easier to handle, but the old one is definitely more fun to drive. The new
model has, like, 550 horsepower under the hood. It’s just a kick to put the pedal down. And
there’s not a lot you can do wrong, because it’s an automatic. The old one, you have to know
how to handle. It was a pain sometimes because it’s got twelve cylinders and is a trick to
tune. But once it was purring along, it was an amazing experience.
Were you afraid of damaging the car?
I was initially terrified of making a scratch in that beautiful car. I had to get used to the long
snout first. But fortunately I didn’t have to do any big stunts with it. I had to do one big turn
and then aim for a marker, that was it.
Speaking of scratches: Jerry Cotton gets quite a few of them in the course of the
movie. Does that make him more macho?
Oh sure, those scars and scratches just look great. Just think of Bruce Willis. It’s always
better for an actor to sweat up a storm and get dirty all over, than run around looking cleancut and spotless all the time. Towards the end, all my suits were torn up, too. We had to
piece them together from various parts. Those poor suits looked so great in the beginning, by
the end they were a total wreck. So was I.
Was it fun shooting the action and fight sequences?
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Lots of fun! It really was. I love shooting fight scenes. But some things just look better done
by real professional stunt men. Sometimes it’s best to let them do their thing.
What was the worst stunt you had to do?
In the opening sequence, Jerry has a fight scene way up high, beneath the ceiling of a
factory hall. I don’t do well with heights at all. That’s when I did say, I’d rather not do it if I
don’t have to. But Rainer Werner’s stunt team did an incredibly good job of prepping us
actors for scenes like that, step by step.
Were there other physical challenges?
I hate shooting at night, I just hate it. At home, I usually go to bed at ten p.m. I’m just not a
nighttime person. I need seven liters of coffee to survive on set. Even so, I can barely make it
through the night. What’s more, everybody I know hates shooting at night. So I have no idea
why we keep doing it.
Did you study American cop or FBI movies beforehand?
Subconsciously, maybe. American actors have certain gestures that are just different than
German actors. They crook their heads or stare at the receiver at the end of a phone call.
There’s no point in trying to imitate American acting styles. Jerry Cotton is a German
invention, after all. He’s a post-war invention, at a time when people were understandably
wary of German supermen. So they made him American.
The ‘60s movies were cast with George Nader, an American Hollywood export.
Sure, but the movies were shot in Germany, and all the rest of the cast was German. It’s a
little bit like the German Edgar Wallace movies, only imitating America and not England.
Was there ever any thought of using your natural Bavarian dialect for Jerry Cotton?
No, that wouldn’t have worked at all. That’s how we did MANITOU’S SHOE, the settings and
the costumes were Wild West but the characters spoke Bavarian. That was part of the joke.
But we’ve been there, done that. Everything’s been spoofed by now: Westerns, Science
Fiction, U-Boat movies. Unlike THE VEXXER, JERRY COTTON isn’t supposed to be a sendup. We see it more as an homage, with realistic characters and a faster pace. Sure, Jerry
Cotton and Phil Decker are exaggerated and larger than life, but they’re no clowns. Ideally,
we want the audience to like them both.
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Interview with Christian Ulmen (Phil Decker)
How much do you and Agent Phil Decker have in common?
One hundred percent. Phil Decker wrote the book on action heroes. He can nail any target at
five hundred feet, leap from tall buildings without getting hurt and be incredibly sexy while he
does it. So it’s pretty much an exact copy of myself, which made it an easy part to play. I just
had to be myself. (Laughs)
Is he a ladies’ man?
Sure, but in his own special way: Phil Decker is a tragicomic figure, who triggers motherly
instincts in women. He’s always tripping and falling down. But most of all, he doesn’t realize
that no one else takes him seriously as a federal agent. He only got the job because his
father is a powerful politician who told Mr. High, Give my boy a shot!
What’s his relationship to his partner Jerry Cotton?
He’s Jerry’s biggest fan. At the FBI Academy, Jerry Cotton has held up as the ideal to aspire
to. So now suddenly, he meets him in the flesh and gets to work with him for the first time.
That’s when his emotions get the best of him, even though he just wants to do his best.
How do you evoke Phil Decker’s puppy dog looks?
The directors kept telling me, don’t make him look too retarded! Alongside Christian Tramitz,
who’s really the perfect Jerry Cotton, it’s really easy to come across as slightly dim, holding
your gun the wrong way, or whatever. Nonetheless, Phil Decker manages to bear his
inadequacies with his own sense of dignity. He thinks he’s doing just fine.
His partner makes Jerry Cotton look even cooler.
That’s right. My job was to help Christian appear supremely cool by being just totally uncool.
He should be damn glad to have a moron like me as a partner. (Laughs)
Phil Decker is a master of disguise. Did you have fun with all the different disguises?
I liked the scene where I play Vasily the most. Not Phil Decker disguised as Vasily, but the
real live Vasily. He’s such a great, crotchety old guy. I had this music video by UNKLE in
mind where this guy who looks a little bit like Vasily walks through a tunnel and keeps getting
run over by cars. But he keeps getting up. Playing an old guy like that, who has trouble
getting up from his chair, was very easy for me. I’m extremely non-athletic by nature. So the
action scenes were quite a challenge for me.
But you still manage to shine as the dancing Japanese entertainer, Dick Diamond.
That was a challenge, too. I needed a dance instructor, who usually works with Sarah
Connor and on Hollywood movies. He was initially supposed to choreograph the dance in the
bar with Monica Cruz. Then, Cyrill and Philipp had the unfortunate idea to have me dance, as
well.
Who was more embarrassed?
Embarrassed doesn’t even begin to capture it. At the very first session, this dancing god
says, “Show me your moves!” All I could say was, “I can’t dance.” He was totally stunned and
said, “Everybody can dance!” Then he turned up the music, so I pranced around a while. I’ve
never been so embarrassed in all my life. The choreographer must’ve thought, “Lord, what
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kind of rejects do they cast in these movies?” Thank God he was getting paid, so he had to
teach me to dance.
Does the make-up help you get into a role?
A bit, but that’s certainly not enough. You have to figure out how to do the role and how the
character thinks. At some point you become one with your make-up anyway. It’s not until you
forget about it and walk out on the street and startle people that you remember, Oh yeah, I
look different. Once I went to a sports bar in my Vasily disguise, because I wanted to see the
soccer game. When I asked what the score was, no one answered. I totally forgot that I
looked like Vasily. Pretty ugly, in other words.
Did you read the Jerry Cotton novels or watch the movies to prepare?
None of the above. I asked Philipp and Cyril if I should, but they advised against it. The Phil
Decker I play is totally different from the one in the books and movies. So I just used the
script and went from there.
Did you know about Jerry Cotton beforehand?
Not at all. To be honest, to begin with, I had Jerry Cotton confused with (dime-novel
astronaut) Perry Rhodan. So imagine my surprise when I showed up on set and Christian
Tramitz didn’t have a space suit on. (Laughs)
How do you explain the success of Jerry Cotton in the 50s?
When the novels first appeared in Germany, the men all looked like (comic actor) Heinz
Erhardt and were busy mowing the lawn outside their little townhouses. So obviously,
America seemed a lot more exotic and exciting, and people preferred reading about
gangsters in New York than shoplifters in Brunswick.
What’s in store for Phil Decker if there’s a sequel?
I think Phil Decker will continue to be a nuisance. There can’t be any fundamental changes in
the constellation of characters. The hero may get married at some point, but then his wife
has to buy the farm pretty soon afterwards. So even in a sequel, Phil Decker will be a
successful agent more by dumb luck than anything else.
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The Cast
Christian Tramitz (Jerry Cotton)
Jerry Cotton is the FBI’s top agent: A loner, a tough guy and a complete pro. He’s no
desk jockey, but a street operative. He’s a Special Agent by rank and happy he
doesn’t have to do the job of his boss, Mr. High. He’s not the political type: He doesn’t
want to negotiate with people – he wants to shoot ‘em.
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert
Christian Tramitz was born in Munich in 1955. He trained at the Munich Music Conservatory
as a violinist, before going on to study art history, philosophy and theater studies. Then he
studied acting with Ruth von Zerboni. He had his first acting engagement at the Ingolstadt
city theater, followed by several stage tours and then became a member of the Düsseldorf
Kammerspiele ensemble.
Tramitz met fellow comedians Michael ‘Bully’ Herbig and Rick Kavanian, through their work
on a cop sketch series for a Munich radio and TV station. Together they launched the
BULLYPARADE comedy series on ProSieben in 1997. Together the trio wrote and
performed six seasons of the hit comedy series, which eventually spun off no less that three
extremely successful feature film parodies, MANITOU’S SHOE (2001) and DREAM SHIP
SURPRISE – PERIOD 1 (2004), the most successful German films ever, and CGI romp
LISSI AND THE WILD EMPEROR (2007).
Other feature films featuring Christian Tramitz in varying roles were Otto Waalkes comedy 7
DWARVES (2004) and sequel 7 DWARVES – THE WOODS ARE NOT ENOUGH (2006),
FRENCH FOR BEGINNERS (2006), THE VEXXER (2007), RABBITS WITHOUT EARS
(2007), FALCO (2008), KILL DADDY GOOD NIGHT (2008) and KILLING IS MY BUSINESS,
HONEY (2009). Currently, Christian Tramitz is starring in comedy 3-FALTIG! with Alfred
Dorfer, Roland Düringer and Matthias Schweighöfer.
Christian Tramitz also acted in TV movies and series including “Finanzamt Mitte” (2002),
“Crazy Race” (2003), “ProSieben Fairy Tale Hour” and “Treasure Island” (2007). He also
starred, hosted and co-wrote his own comedy series “Tramitz & Friends” on ProSieben from
2004 on.
Christian Ulmen (Phil Decker)
Phil Decker is a greenhorn straight from the FBI Academy who worships Jerry Cotton.
Unfortunately, he’s the complete opposite of his hero. Decker is overly motivated and
extremely emotional. But his terrific talent as a master of disguise will turn out to be a
life-saver for Jerry Cotton.
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert
Christian Ulmen was born in 1975 in Neuwied on the Rhine and grew up in Hamburg. He
began writing and producing for TV and radio as a teenager.
In 1996 and 1999, he hosted TV shows “MTV Hot” and “MTV Alarm” and various special
reports for the music video station in London and Hamburg. In 1999 and 2000, he produced
and hosted for Berlin’s innovative alternative station, Radio Fritz. From 2000 until 2003, he
had his own TV show, “MTV Unter Ulmen,” which he produced himself in the MTV studio in
Berlin’s Ackerstrasse.
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Christian Ulmen had his first lead in a major motion picture in 2003 in HERR LEHMANN,
directed by former East German directing legend Leander Haussmann, which won him the
Bavarian Film Prize. He went on to play the lead in Doris Dörrie's FISHERMAN AND HIS
WIFE (2005), Oskar Roehler’s ELEMENTARY PARTICLES (2006) and Ute Wieland’s FC
VENUS (2006).
He was nominated for the German TV Prize in 2005 for his ProSieben series “My New
Friend.” In 2007 and 2008, Christian Ulmen played the title character of hit TV series “Dr.
Psycho.”
In 2009, he starred in German-Italian rom-com MARIA, HE DOESN’T LIKE IT! and in Simon
Verhoeven’s comedy MEN IN THE CITY.
Christian Ulmen runs his own production company Ulmen Film GmbH and produces web TV
format “ulmen.tv.”
Monica Cruz (Malena)
Malena is a classic femme fatale. She’s in it for No. 1, and anyone that serves her
purpose is her temporary ally. Anyone who gets in her way will be sorry. She’s an
elegant lady, but doesn’t balk at trudging through the sewers or turning men’s heads
in a strip club – as long as she gets what she wants.
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert
Monica Cruz was born in 1977 in Madrid, Spain, growing up with an older sister and a
younger brother: Her older sister Penelope Cruz is an internationally famed actress, her
younger brother Eduardo is a well-known singer in Spain.
Monica Cruz trained as a dancer at the Royal Spanish Dance Conservatory. At 17, she
joined the company of world-renowned Spanish dancer Joaquin Cortés, traveling the world
for the next seven years and performing at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and the
Royal Albert Hall in London.
In 1998, did the dance choreography for THE GIRL OF YOUR DREAMS, starring her sister
Penelope. In 2002, she had her TV debut when she was offered the role of Silvia Jáuregui in
Spanish TV series “Un Paso Adelante” (One Step Forward). The “Fame”-like series about
young dancers in training was exported world-wide to Spanish-speaking territories, France,
Italy and Germany.
She went on to act in various TV series in Spain, in LAST HOUR with U.S. rap star DMX,
and THE FINAL INQUIRY, along with Ornella Muti, in 2006. Her role as Malena in JERRY
COTTON is Monica Cruz’ first appearance in a German feature film.
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Christiane Paul (Daryl D. Zanuck)
Daryl D. Zanuck is the head of the internal affairs investigation against Jerry Cotton.
His former partner has now become his nemesis, determined to hunt him down. Daryl
could be the merciless trainer of a Russian Olympic ice skating team. She only lets
her emotions show in order to bend men to her will – and do away with them soon
after.
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert
Christiane Paul was born in East Berlin. After graduating from high school, she studied
medicine at Humboldt University in Berlin and received her doctorate in 2002. Along with her
medical studies, she worked as an actress and studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New
York City.
After achieving success as a fashion model, Christiane Paul had her feature film debut in
1991 in Niklaus Schilling’s DEUTSCHFIEBER and then co-starred in ME AND CHRISTINE
(1992) along with German vet Götz George. Numerous feature film roles followed, including
in Wolfgang Becker’s LIFE IS ALL YOU GET (1997), HEADS YOU WIN, TAILS YOU LOSE
(1998) and Fatih Akin’s IN JULY (1999).
For her performance in Mark Schlichter's EX, Christiane Paul received the Max Ophüls Prize
1994. In 1995, she won a Bavarian Film Prize for WORKAHOLIC. In 1998, she received a
Golden Camera as Best Newcomer Actress, and Berliner Zeitung awarded her its culture
award in 1999 for her artistic achievement.
In 2004, she quit practicing medicine to devote herself completely to her acting career. That
year, she played the Angel of Despair in Heiner Müller’s “The Mission” at the Haus der
Berliner Festspiele, directed by Ulrich Mühe.
Her recent film projects include Ralf Hüttner’s REINE FORMSACHE (2005), Eoin Moore’s
social comedy IM SCHWITZKASTEN (2005), mystery spoof THE VEXXER (2006), social
realist VORNE IST VERDAMMT WEIT WEG and Dennis Gansel’s Sundance entry THE
WAVE (2007).
In 2009, Christiane Paul starred in LIPPEL’S DREAM (directed by Lars Büchel), DER
GROSSE KATER (directed by Wolfgang Panzer) and THE DUST OF TIME (directed by
Theo Angelopolous) alongside Willem Dafoe.
Along with her stellar acting career, Christiane Paul serves as ambassador for the World
AIDS Day campaign (2005, 2008 and 2009) in Germany, the UN Climate Conference 2009,
and supports the anti-poverty initiative “Deine Stimme gegen Armut” (Your Vote Against
Poverty)
Heino Ferch (Klaus Schmidt)
Klaus Schmidt is “The German” and would probably be a grumpy pensioner in the
Black Forest, if he hadn’t had a terrible accident in his auto body shop years ago.
Instead, he wound up in New York’s underworld, where he launched a new career,
which also serves as a huge ego boost: He now plays the textbook evil German crime
boss.
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert
After training at Salzburg’s Mozarteum, Heino Ferch’s stellar acting career began as an
ensemble member of the Freie Volksbühne and the Schillertheater in Berlin, as well as at
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Vienna’s Burgtheater. He had his feature film debut in 1988 with a brief appearance in Peter
Schamoni’s SCHLOSS KÖNIGSWALD.
His breakthrough as a screen actor came in 1997 as one of the leads in Joseph Vilsmaier’s
COMEDIAN HARMONISTS. Since then, he has worked with numerous renowned directors
such as Tom Tykwer (WINTER SLEEPERS, 1997, RUN, LOLA, RUN, 1998), Volker
Schlöndorff (THE OGRE, 1996), Helmut Dietl (VOM SUCHEN AND FINDEN DER LIEBE,
2005) and Vanessa Jopp (MESSY CHRISTMAS, 2007). In 2004, Heino Ferch played
Hitler’s architect Albert Speer in Oscar®-nominated drama THE DOWNFALL, directed by
Oliver Hirschbiegel, and 2008 in Oscar- and Golden Globe®-nominee BAADER MEINHOF
COMPLEX by Uli Edel, the story of the Red Army Faction in Germany.
The charismatic character actor also featured in numerous TV movies such as “The Tunnel”
(2001), “A Light in Dark Places” (2003), “Die Luftbrücke” (2005), “Der geheimnisvolle Schatz
von Troja” (2007), “Die Mauer – Berlin ’61” (2006) and “Krupp – Eine deutsche Familie”
(2009) and has become a household name in Germany.
Jürgen Tarrach (Ruby)
Ruby is an expert computer hacker who’s allergic to conflict and violence. He’s just
too naive to understand that his gang is doing something wrong and illegal. He’s not
even in it for the money, he just wants to find friends and belong. He reminds you of
the kids who brought sweets to school to be popular.
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert
Jürgen Tarrach was born in 1960 in Geilenkirchen near Aachen, growing up in Wassenberg
auf. In 1980, he acted the lead in Max Frisch’s “Arsonists” in a school play. From 1982 to
1985, he studied acting at the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar of the University for Music and
Performing Arts HMDK in Vienna. After graduating, he acted on stage in Münster, Bonn and
Nuremberg, as well as in Karlsruhe, where he appeared in one-man play “Herr Karl.”
His big-screen breakthrough came in cop buddy comedy DIE MUSTERKNABEN (1997), in
which he played a Cologne narc along with partner Oliver Korittke, earning him a nomination
for the German Film Prize as Best Lead Actor in 1998. From then on, Jürgen Tarrach was in
high demand: In 1998, he acted the leads in theatrical features THREE CHINAMEN WITH A
DOUBLE BASS and SNOW ON NEW YEAR’S EVE, for which he was again nominated for
the German Film Prize as Best Lead Actor in 2000.
He also won the German TV Prize in 2000 for “Scene of the Crime” episode “Norbert,” and
the Adolf Grimme Prize in 2002 his intense portrayal of murdered acting legend Walter
Sedlmayr in Jo Baier’s “Wambo.”
Other major TV productions starring Jürgen Tarrach include “Die Patriarchin” (2005) with Iris
Berben, “Mogadishu” (2008) with Thomas Kretschmann and Nadja Uhl, and “Ein Mann, Ein
Fjord!” (2008) with Hape Kerkeling and Anneke Kim Sarnau.
One of Germany’s most talented and recognizable actors, Jürgen Tarrach came to the
attention of an international audience in 2006 in James Bond movie CASINO ROYALE
alongside Daniel Craig, and in THE READER by Stephen Daldry in 2008, which received
four Oscar® noms and a win for Kate Winslet as Best Actress.
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Joram Voelklein (Johnny Rocco)
Johnny Rocco is the tough guy and gun nut of Klaus Schmidt’s gang. He comes
across as an ultraviolent psychopath, but has a softer side after all, as it turns out.
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert
Joram Voelklein, born 1973, studied drama in Munich at the Schauspiel München
performing arts academy, graduating in 1988, and at Playhouse West in Los Angeles.
Since then, he has acted lead roles in TV productions including “Scene of the Crime” and
“Police: Call 110,” as well as in ProSieben comedy “Problemzone Schwiegereltern” (Trouble
Spot: In-Laws) 2004, in which he played Katrin Sass’s just-married offspring, son-in-law to
Michael Gwisdek.
In “Die Tochter des Kommissars” (The Inspector’s Daughter) he fell for the daughter of his
fellow cop Herbert Knaup 2001. In rom-com “Es geht nicht immer nur um Sex” (It’s Not
Always About Sex) 2000, he played shy book dealer Gregor, who gets the girl (Sophie
Schütt) after all.
The Munich native also acts on the stage regularly in various roles, including as Richard III.
Herbert Knaup (John High)
Mr. High runs the New York FBI headquarters and reports only to Washington, D.C.
Jerry Cotton’s boss is the supreme politician, a complete opportunist. He does
everything for his career, but nothing for his employees. Thereby, he almost becomes
a threat to Jerry Cotton and Phil Decker.
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert
Herbert Knaup was born in 1956 in Sonthofen, growing up in a musical family at the foot of
the Alps in the Allgäu. His father was a backup musician for “Lili Marlene” chansoneer Lale
Andersen, his sister Renate Knaup has been the singer of 60’s psychedelic band Amon
Düül, the Krautrock equivalent of the Grateful Dead, since 1968.
After attending the renowned Otto Falckenberg acting school in Munich, Herbert Knaup
interned at the Munich Kammerspiele for a year and was cast in various stage productions
across the country beginning in 1978, including at the Schauspielhaus in Cologne (“Mein
Kampf,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” “Soldiers,” “As You Like It,” “The Seagull”) and at
the Hamburg Kammerspiele (“Blue Room,” “Purgatory”). He also acted in Heidelberg,
Bremen, Basel and Vienna.
In 1978, Herbert Knaup had his big-screen debut in CODA, while his breakout feature film
came with his title role in WALLER’S LAST TRIP (1988), which earned wide acclaim. A
further breakthrough followed 1994 with the lead role in Dominik Graf’s SWAT action drama
THE INVINCIBLES, which earned Herbert Knaup the Bavarian Film Prize and opened the
way to lead roles in major movies by big-name directors.
The list includes four films by Joseph Vilsmaier – BROTHER OF SLEEP (1995), MARLENE
(2000), BERGKRISTALL (2004) and DIE GESCHICHTE VOM BRANDNER KASPAR (2008)
– Sherry Hormann’s rom-com FATHER’S DAY (1996), Tom Tykwer’s international breakout
hit RUN, LOLA, RUN (1998) and three films by Oskar Roehler – ANGST (2003), AGNES
AND HIS BROTHERS (2004), and ELEMENTARY PARTICLES (2005). In Egon Günther’s
costume drama DIE BRAUT, Herbert Knaup played Germany’s greatest poet Goethe,
alongside Veronica Ferres.
31
He was awarded a Golden Camera as Best German Actor in February 2005, and went on to
co-star in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Academy Award-winning THE LIVES OF
OTHERS in the same year. In 2008, he was seen in major TV movie “Mogadishu” by Roland
Suso Richter, about the 1977 Lufthansa kidnapping, as well as in Rainer Kaufmann’s
adaptation of bestselling cult series “Kluftinger.” Docudrama “Referent Eichmann” by
Raymond Ley, in which Knaup acts the title role, has just wrapped. Knaup is also frequently
cast in international productions, such as German-Spanish co-prod BON APPETIT with
Nora Tschirner. Next to his numerous film and TV roles, Herbert Knaup always finds time to
return to the stage, most recently in Yasmina Reza’s “God of Carnage” at St. Pauli Theater
in Hamburg.
In 2007, Herbert Knaup and his nephews Maurus and Magnus Fleischmann founded the
band “Neffen and Knaup” as well as their own record label, Knaup Records, on which they
released their first album.
Moritz Bleibtreu (Sammy Serrano)
Sammy Serrano is a glittering bon vivant and crafty crime lord. When he is found
shot, suspicion falls on Jerry Cotton, who has a clear motive: Sammy Serrano’s $200
million States Union Bank gold heist is the only blemish on Jerry Cotton’s perfect
crime-solving record.
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert
At the latest since his starring role in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s EXPERIMENT (2001), which won
him a German Film Prize, Moritz Bleibtreu has been acknowledged as one of Germany’s
most popular and talented actors. Born in 1971 to the acting family of Hans Brenner and
Monica Bleibtreu in Munich, he studied drama in Paris, Rome and New York.
After first stage appearances at Hamburg’s Thalia Theater and Schauspielhaus, several TV
projects and first feature film roles, Moritz Bleibtreu had his big-screen breakthrough with
Rainer Kaufmann’s sleep hit STADTGESPRÄCH (1995), and a year later in KNOCKIN’ ON
HEAVEN’S DOOR with Til Schweiger, which won him the Ernst Lubitsch Prize and the
Filmband in Gold. Tom Tykwer’s international hit RUN, LOLA, RUN (1998) finally elevated
Moritz Bleibtreu to the level of stardom, where he could cherry-pick his roles.
Moritz Bleibtreu has enjoyed many years of collaboration with Turkish-German director Fatih
Akin: In 1999, they shot road movie IN JULY together, followed by rust belt drama SOLINO
two years later. Most recently, their comedy SOUL KITCHEN (2009) won plaudits at the
Venice film festival.
Another of Moritz Bleibtreu’s staple directors is Oskar Roehler, for whom he played assistant
librarian Hans-Jörg in AGNES AND HIS BROTHERS 2004, sexually frustrated teacher
Bruno in Michel Houellebecq adaptation ELEMENTARY PARTICLES 2006, which won him
the Silver bear for Best Actor in Berlin. In 2009, he once again worked with Oskar Roehler
as Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in drama JEW SUSS.
In 2008, Moritz Bleibtreu starred in a tour de force as Red Army Faction founder Andreas
Baader in Bernd Eichinger’s BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX. Most recently, he
demonstrated his versatility in Ozgür Yildirim’s lauded debut CHIKO, in children’s classic
LIPPEL’S DREAM as well as in Bernd Eichinger’s biopic ZEITEN ÄNDERN DICH as friend
and confidante of rap star Bushido.
Moritz Bleibtreu has also made waves internationally, being cast by Steven Spielberg in spy
thriller MUNICH (2005) and by Paul Schrader in THE WALKER (2007), the remake of
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Richard Gere hit AMERICAN GIGOLO, and in German-Israeli
RESURRECTED (2008) with Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe.
drama
ADAM
Janek Rieke (Ted Conroy)
Ted Conroy is the polar opposite of his partner, Jerry Cotton. He’s a pencil-pusher,
who’s not as quick with a gun as Jerry and not as good of a shot. When Ted is injured
on duty, Jerry is assigned Phil Decker as his new partner against his will.
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert
Janek Rieke was born in 1971 in Hamburg. After graduating from high school he studied
philosophy for three years before enrolling to study film directing at the Hamburg Institute for
Theater, Musical Theater and Film. His graduating film 1996 was short “Jenseits von
Schweden” (East of Sweden). His feature debut HÄRTETEST followed in 1997, which he
wrote, directed and acted the lead in. The comedy was nominated for the German Film Prize
as Best Film and for Best Actress (Lisa Martinek) and won the audience award at the Max
Ophüls Festival in Saarbrücken.
Janek Rieke has acted in numerous theatrical and TV films, including “Rats” (2001), “Rats 2”
(2004), DISTANT LIGHTS (2003), BERLIN BLUES (2003), WHITE MASSAI (2005), DIE
DUNKLE SEITE (2008) and KILLING IS MY BUSINESS, HONEY (2009).
Manou Lubowski (Steve Dillaggio)
Steve Dillaggio is of Italian descent and a total macho. Unfortunately, he picks Daryl
D. Zanuck of all people as the object of his desire and come-ons. It doesn’t take long
for Steve to show his true face as a total wuss.
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert
Manou Lubowski was born in 1969 in Munich and discovered his passion for acting in film
and TV early.
He had his feature film debut in 1997 kidpic THE FIREBIRD. He followed it up with roles in
“Scene of the Crime,” internationally cast theatrical feature VENUS AND MARS (2001) and
in “Der Pfundskerl.” In 2002, he co-starred in ProSieben TV adventure “Hunt for the Ancient
Relic.” Since 2003, he has played Coast Guard officer Thure Sander in ZDF series
“Küstenwache.”
After “ProSieben Fairy Tale Hour,” “Tramitz & Friends” and “Der Psycho-Pate,” JERRY
COTTON is his 4th collaboration with Christian Tramitz.
Manou has worked as a dubbing actor for many years, including roles in “ALF,” “Battlestar
Galactica” and “Beverly Hills, 90210.”
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The Crew
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert (Screenwriter-directors)
Cyrill Boss was born in Munich in 1974. In 2003, he graduated in directing from the
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg.
Philipp Stennert was born in 1975 in Göttingen. He also studied directing at the
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and graduated 2004.
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert have been working together as a screenwriting-directing
team since the year 2000. They have known Producer Christian Becker since film school and
wrote two seasons of ProSieben series “If It Don’t Fit, Use a Bigger Hammer” as of 2003,
before directing several episodes of “ProSieben Fairy Tale Hour” in Prague 2006.
Their feature film debut was THE VEXXER (2006) starring Oliver Kalkofe, Bastian Pastewka
and Oliver Welke, who had co-written the script. It was during the shoot of THE VEXXER that
the idea to bring FBI agent Jerry Cotton back to the big screen as a modern action hero
came up.
The hyphenate duo Boss & Stennert are currently working on TRIPLE VEXX, the third
installment of the TRIXXER/VEXXER trilogy. Other projects in the pipeline include a cloakand-dagger film, a romantic comedy and a remake of DOKTOR MABUSE.
Christian Becker (Producer)
Christian Becker, born in 1972 in Krefeld, worked in the film industry for several years before
enrolling at Munich Film School in 1994, where he produced over 15 short films, commercials
and numerous documentaries, including Dennis Gansel’s “Wrong Trip” (1996) and “Living
Dead” (1998), Peter Thorwarth’s “If it Don’t Fit, Use a Bigger Hammer” (1997) and “Mafia,
Pizza, Razzia” (1997). He also produced Florian Gallenberger's Student Oscar winner
QUIERO SER.
In 1997, Becker founded Indigo Filmproduktion and Becker & Häberle Filmproduktion
together with partner Thomas Häberle, with which he produced TV movie “Das Phantom”
(2000), theatrical features BANG BOOM BANG (1999) and IF IT DON'T FIT, USE A BIGGER
HAMMER (2002), KANAK ATTACK (2000) and 7 DAYS TO LIVE (2000). By 2000, Becker
was one of the most successful producers in the German industry at the age of 28.
Becker went on to produce successful TV projects like “Hunt for the Ancient Relic” (2002),
two seasons of “If It Don’t Fit, Use a Bigger Hammer – The Series,” “Rats 2” (2004), or
“ProSieben Fairy Tale Hour” and the “ProSieben Funny Movies.”
Theatrical ventures include Helge Schneider's concert film JAZZCLUB – THE EARLY BIRD
CATCHES THE WORM (2004) and B.O. smash THE TRIXXER (2003), which sold 1.9
million tickets. Becker also produced Peter Thorwarth's GOLDENE ZEITEN (2004), theatrical
hit HUI BUH – THE GOOFY GHOST (2005) by Sebastian Niemann or THE VEXXER (2007)
by Cyrill Boss & Philipp Stennert. In 2008, Dennis Gansel's THE WAVE was invited to
Sundance and won a German Film Prize.
That same year, he and his team produced Sebastian Niemann's screwball comedy KILLING
IS MY BUSINESS, HONEY (2008) starring Nora Tschirner and Rick Kavanian, as well as
34
award-winning kid's classic adaptation THE CROCODILES, directed by Christian Ditter,
which was followed up by sequel CROCODILES 2 this spring (2010).
In the summer of 2009, Christian Becker's production of VICKY THE VIKING, directed by
Germany's most successful director Michael Bully Herbig, sold almost 5 million tickets.
Along with JERRY COTTON, this year’s pipeline includes rap biopic ZEITEN ÄNDERN DICH
(release Feb. 4th, 2010) directed by Uli Edel, which he is co-producing with top German
producer Bernd Eichinger, and Dennis Gansel’s next movie WE ARE THE NIGHT (release
Fall 2010)
Torsten Breuer (Director of Photography)
Torsten Breuer has served as DoP on many successful feature films, including Katja von
Garnier’s comedies MAKING UP! (1992) and BANDITS (1997), and Caroline Link’s
PÜNKTCHEN AND ANTON (1998). In 2004, Torsten Breuer filmed Dennis Gansel’s awardwinning BEFORE THE FALL, a collaboration the two continued on THE WAVE 2007.
Torsten Breuer shot several episodes of ZDF mystery series “Kommissarin Lucas” starring
Ulrike Kriener, as well as TV movies “Liebe Amelie” (2005), “Operation Rubikon (2002),” “Ein
unmöglicher Mann” (2000) and “Rendezvous with dem Teufel” (1999).
Torsten Breuer is also a successful film composer. His scores include Sönke Wortmann’s hit
comedies LITTLE SHARKS (1992) and MAYBE, MAYBE NOT (1994).
Helmut Zerlett (Music)
Helmut Zerlett was born in Cologne in 1957. The composer and musician plays the
Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes and synthesizer. In the 1980s he was part of the Phantom
Band, and played backup for Joachim Witt during the German New Wave. He’s been a
member of top German star Marius Müller-Westernhagen’s studio band since 1987, and
tours with him as well.
Since 1995, TV audiences have met Helmut as late-night band leader of Germany’s
Letterman Harald Schmidt on Sat.1 and – with interruptions – then on ARD. In 2006, he was
also a band member of the ensemble in RTL impro comedy show FREI SCHNAUZE.
Helmut Zerlett is also in high demand as a composer of film music. His theatrical credits
include NACHTMUSIK (2002), ACTING (2005), MARIA AN CALLAS (2006), THE VEXXER
(2006) and KEIN BUND FÜRS LEBEN (2007) as well as TV series “Der Clown” (1996–
2001), “Switch Reloaded” (since 2006) and “Maddin in Love” (2008).
He scored JERRY COTTON together with Christoph Zirngibl, taking their inspiration from the
original 60s music Peter Thomas composed for the first eight Jerry Cotton films. The new
JERRY COTTON score was recorded in January 2010 by the Babelsberg Film Orchestra in
Berlin.
35
Christoph Zirngibl (Music)
Christoph Zirngibl was born in 1980 in Regensburg. After graduating from high school in
2000, he served as Army corps drummer in Regensburg for two years. It was followed by two
semesters of music school at University of Regensburg, before following his love for film
music and enrolling to study film scoring 2003 to 2007 with Professor Enjott Schneider at the
Academy for Music and Theater in Munich.
He has scored over 30 films to date, including THE VEXXER, KEIN BUND FÜRS LEBEN
and U.S. doc “Iowa’s World War II Stories.” Christoph Zirngibl also orchestrates for renowned
composers like Andreas Weidinger, Enjott Schneider and Helmut Zerlett.
Christoph Zirngibl received the German Newcomer Film Music Award presented by the
Franz Grothe Trust, and the Jerry Goldsmith Award at the International Film Music Congress
in Ubeda, Spain, 2007, for his score to short film “Lethe.”
36
Interview with Jerry Cotton Experts Christos Tses and Dirk Brüderle
Jerry Cotton, Karl May, Edgar Wallace: The German genre film classics of the 1960s are the
specialty of writers and poster collectors Christos Tses and Dirk Brüderle. In their book,
“Jerry Cotton – George Nader and his Films” (GrandLex PIV publishers), they pay homage to
Hollywood actor George Nader (1921–2002). The US emigré achieved stardom in Germany
as big-screen embodiment of dime novel hero Jerry Cotton. Between 1965 and 1968, he
played the FBI agent in the red Jaguar in eight hit feature films.
At home, however, A-list success eluded Nader due to his homosexuality. From a modern
perspective, he is viewed as a pioneer of gay liberation due to his early coming out, which
effectively ended his career as a leading man in Hayes Code Hollywood. George Nader had
a relationship with Rock Hudson, who is said to have left him a large share of his fortune on
his tragic death from AIDS in 1985.
German Mystery Film Archive director Christos Tses and co-author Dirk Brüderle, spoke
about the fascinating story of the man who was Jerry Cotton in the 1960s, about their love for
the old ‘60s films, and their expectations for the new action comedy JERRY COTTON
starring Christian Tramitz.
What is it you like about the old Jerry Cotton films?
Christos Tses: They have great nostalgic value and form a sacred trinity of German genre
films of the 1960s: Karl May westerns, Edgar Wallace thrillers and Jerry Cotton mysteries.
Were the Jerry Cotton films faithful to the novels?
Dirk Brüderle: Usually, they only kept the title. Or the film came out first, and then a based-on
novel was released with movie stills.
How did the pulp hero make the leap to the silver screen?
Christos Tses: Studio Hamburg founder and boss Gyula Trebitsch, met with Constantin Film
head Waldfried Barthel in 1964 to discuss possible theatrical co-productions. Trebitsch came
empty-handed, however, with no clear proposals for Constantin. Barthel still had company,
so Trebitsch waited outside. He started leafing through the magazines on the table to pass
the time. He had just picked up a Jerry Cotton novel, when suddenly the door opened and
Barthel asked him in.
Dirk Brüderle: He took the novel in with him, without thinking about it. Barthel asked whether
Trebitsch had a specific project in mind. So he showed him the novel. Barthel said he’d think
about it and said good-bye to Trebitsch. He looked into it and found out that Jerry Cotton had
over 2 million readers every week in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. That convinced
Barthel, because every one of those readers was a potential moviegoer.
Why was an American cast as the lead in German movies?
Dirk Brüderle: Well, FBI agents are American, after all. The producers didn’t think people
would buy anything else. They picked George Nader, because his series “Shannon was on
German TV at the time, and he was available. He signed a deal for four movies with
Constantin, with an option to do four more. He told us in an interview, the pay was just to
good to turn down. Plus, he always wanted to live in Europe, in Rome. So he cancelled a
movie he was supposed to shoot in the Philippines, and became Jerry Cotton.
How did Heinz Weiss become Phil Decker, who later became a TV fixture as captain of
the “Traumschiff” cruise ship series?
37
Christos Tses: That goes back to Fritz Umgelter, who directed the first Jerry Cotton film. He
cast his favorite actor in the role of Jerry’s sidekick, namely Heinz Weiss, with whom he had
shot classic TV mini-series “As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me.” But the Stuttgart native wasn’t
anything like the Phil Decker in the books. Heinz Weiss was a real German from the Black
Forest region, not a gum-chewing gumshoe with a streetwise attitude and a fast mouth. Fans
of the books even wrote to Constantin Film and warned against what the saw as a huge
casting mistake. But when the first film came out, people changed their minds quickly.
What was the advantage of building New York sets in Germany back then?
Christos Tses: It was a budget consideration. It was cheaper to shoot in Germany, which
allowed them to hire a fairly expensive – for those days – Hollywood star. Of course, the
producers also had the advantage that back then the German audience maybe didn’t know
that U.S. Highways have more than two lanes and don’t look like outside Delmenhorst.
How successful were the Jerry Cotton films?
Dirk Brüderle: Each film sold an average of two million tickets in Germany, plus they were
shown abroad, in Italy, Spain, France, Holland and of course in Austria and Switzerland.
Why did the series end?
Christos Tses: The audience declined because adult films and the German New Wave were
taking over the theaters in 1969. The producers thought they had to follow the trend and give
the audience what it wanted. But Jerry Cotton’s enduring popularity was illustrated by a
survey done by the Wickert Institute in Tübingen in 1976, in which 98 percent of all Germans
were familiar with the name Jerry Cotton.
What did George Nader think of Jerry Cotton in retrospect?
Christos Tses: He was very proud of him. Every actor knows a part like that means a chunk
of immortality. George Nader’s Jerry Cotton is as immortal as Charlton Heston’s Ben Hur,
Sean Connery’s James Bond, Peter Falk’s Columbo or Telly Savalas’s Kojak. His success
tickled him because he knew he had created a convincing character out of the ink on the
page..
Dirk Brüderle: We struck up a good relationship with Nader, who was a really nice guy, and
visited him in the U.S. several times. In April 2000, towards the end of his life, he came to a
Jerry Cotton retrospective in Titisee-Neustadt in the Black Forest, perhaps as a way of
saying farewell to his colleagues and his German audience. He really enjoyed the attention
he got in Germany and the rest of Europe.
What do you think of Jerry Cotton returning to the movie theaters in the year 2010?
Dirk Brüderle: I’m definitely going to go see it, and am very optimistic it will be a loving
homage made with lots of care. It’s not a parody, but even in the case of spoofs like Bully
Herbig’s MANITOU’S SHOE and THE TRIXXER and THE VEXXER, you could see there
was a lot of love and respect for those classic German films of the ‘60s.
Christos Tses: I hope a modern version of JERRY COTTON will have the added benefit of
getting younger audiences interested in those old movies and maybe watching them on
DVD.
38
Jerry Cotton’s his name, crime-fighting is his game. Together with his partner, Phil
Decker, he courageously fights terror and violence and risks his life for the citizens of
New York City.
Jerry Cotton has been catching villains of all kinds since 1954 in the novella series published
by BASTEI. He’s solved over 3000 cases by now – and he’s not even close to thinking about
retiring. By now, Jerry Cotton is without a doubt the world’s most successful crime serial in
the world, with over 850 million copies published to date. This mega-bestseller has been
translated into 14 different languages and sold in over 60 countries. The adventures of the
famous New York G-man are even published in China – the first Western mystery series to
do so. In the 1960s, Jerry Cotton was turned into a string of successful films starting George
Nader and Heinz Weiss. In 2001, audio books were added to the novellas and pocket books.
Bastei Lübbe publishers have come up with quite a program to accompany the release of the
new “Jerry Cotton” movie: Entertaining non-fiction portrait “Jerry Cotton” by Martin Compart
contains previously unpublished material for the archives of the publisher and fans, a fitting
tribute to the pop culture icon. Add to that the original audiobook based on the movie, and 12
more exciting audiobook mysteries featuring the suave G-man.
»It was a stroke of luck for me as a young man in the publishing business (...)
when the manuscript of another highly talented young man landed on my desk. (...)
I wrote to the author on the spur of the moment: ›Congratulations! You’re quite a talent.
Write another one.«
Gustav H. Lübbe
For more information and photos:
Bastei Lübbe GmbH & Co. KG,
Schanzenstrasse 6-20, 51063 Cologne
Barbara Fischer, Head of Press & PR
Ph.: +49-221/8200-2850, Fax: +49-221/8200-1850, barbara.fischer@luebbe.de
www.luebbe.de www.bastei.de
39
-PRESS BLURBS-
“Jerry Cotton is forever”
(Neue Züricher Zeitung)
“Jerry Cotton – a legend even respected literary greats
bow to”
(ARD Tagesthemen)
“Jerry Cotton was my first literary experience.
That’s all I read for at least three years”
(Bodo Kirchhoff, writer)
“For me, reading Ulysses was a frivolous walk in the park
and pure entertainment … of a lightness
that can only be compared to Jerry Cotton novellas – which played
a crucial role in my literary development, by the way”
(Péter Esterházy, Hungarian writer
and winner of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade)
“Good times for Jerry Cotton”
(Welt am Sonntag)
“Jerry Cotton is like Coca-Cola –
a successful brand in ever-new packaging”
(Die Welt)
“At school, the kids were divided into Jerry Cotton readers and Perry Rhodan fans. The
Cotton kids all went on to bigger things, the Rhodan guys wound up studying electronics and
engineering”
(talk host Harald Schmidt)
40
G-man JERRY COTTON – Chronicle of Success:
1954
1st JERRY COTTON mystery novella published
“Ich suchte den Gangster-Chef” (I Hunted the Gang Boss)
3/10/1956
JERRY COTTON gets his own series:
“Ich jagte den Diamanten-Hai” (I Chased the Diamond Shark)
Since 1962
1st reissue of JERRY COTTON series
Fall 1963
1st JERRY COTTON pocket book published
1965
1st film released: “Schüsse aus dem Geigenkasten”
(Shots from the Violin Case)
1965
2nd film: “Mordnacht in Manhattan” (Manhattan Murder Night)
1966
3rd film: “Um Null Uhr schnappt die Falle zu” (The Trap Closes at Midnight)
4th film: “Die Rechnung – eiskalt serviert” (The Bill – Served Cold)
April 1967
500th novella published: “Sterben will ich in New York” (To Die in New York)
1967
5th film “Der Mörderclub von Brooklyn” (Brooklyn Killer Club)
Since 1968
3rd reissue of JERRY COTTON series
1968
6th film: “Dynamit in grüner Seide” (Dynamite in Green Silk)
7th film “Der Tod im roten Jaguar” (Death in the Red Jaguar)
1969
8th film: “Todesschüsse am Broadway” (Deadly Shots on Broadway)
July 1970
1000th JERRY COTTON novella: - “Ich kämpfe für New York”
(Fighting for New York)
1977
1st JERRY COTTON Award presented
Since 1978
4th reissue of JERRY COTTON series
1980
2nd JERRY COTTON Award presented
April 2001
Four new JERRY COTTON audiobooks published:
“Route 66 - Strasse zur Hölle" (Route 66 – Road to Hell)
“Mir blieben nur noch Stunden" (Only Hours to Live)
“In Aspen ist die Hölle los" (All Hell’s Loose in Aspen)
“Blutnacht auf dem Airport" (Blood Night at the Airport)
2003
Non-fiction fan book »Jerry Cotton – nichts als Wahrheit and Legenden«
by Friedrich Jakuba published
2003
Anniversary audiobook “G-man Jerry Cotton – Mein erster Fall beim FBI” (My
First FBI Case) published, read by Harald Schmidt
2004
50th anniversary
2005
2500th JERRY COTTON novella published: - “Grossangriff aufs FBI!”
(Assault on the FBI)
3rd reissue replaced by Jerry Cotton Classics (“Die Fälle der frühen Jahre” –
The Early Years)
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Bibliography:
Martin Compart
Jerry Cotton
1st Edition
208 pages, approx. 300 illustrations
ISBN 978-3-7857-2400-2
Published February 2010
Jerry Cotton
Original Film Soundtrack
2 CDs, approx. 150 minutes, adapted from movie
ISBN 978-3-7857-4190-0
Published March 2010
Cover TBA
The Jerry Cotton Novellas
(New Issues, 3rd Reissue and Classic Edition)
New issue at kiosks and news stands every week
42
BETA CINEMA (World Sales)
Beta Cinema is the theatrical division of Beta Film. Launched in 2001, Beta Cinema has
established itself as a "boutique operation" for independent feature films with strong potential
for theatrical distribution. Beta Cinema's philosophy is to limit its selective acquisition policy
of 10 to 15 titles per year in order to fully develop the theatrical potential of each title
according to its individual character. Beta Cinema’s portfolio includes outstanding
productions like JOHN RABE, which won four German Film Awards 2009, Cannes 2008 Jury
Prize-winning IL DIVO, Academy Award 2008-winning THE COUNTERFEITERS, Academy
Award 2008 nominated MONGOL, Academy Award 2007-winning THE LIVES OF OTHERS
and the Academy Award 2005-nominated DOWNFALL.
Beta Cinema will continue to pick the most promising German films as well as to offer its
service and expertise to other European producers looking for individual handling of their
productions.
Beta Cinema's strength lies in its focus on a carefully selected line-up and development of
individual sales strategies with the perfect mix of marketing and festival platforms. Beta
Cinema is the best address for established and up-and-coming independent producers and
directors looking for individual international handling of their projects.
43