To the outsider\u2019s eye, Germany might not be famous for its sense of humor. But new series \u201cThe Flaws\u201d is ready to change that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we are being pretty brave. And also, we don\u2019t care,\u201d said director Arne Feldhusen.<\/p>\n
More from Variety<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Germany, everything is always about thrillers. Few years ago, you weren\u2019t even allowed to say black comedy. It was a bad word and you wouldn\u2019t get any money for it. But we knew there\u2019s an audience for it, and it\u2019s just something we like.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the show, produced by Razor Film Produktion and debuting an exclusive clip with\u00a0Variety, they bet on physical comedy \u2013 and a whole lot of hilarious chaos. You can watch the clip here:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you watch Peter Sellers, it\u2019s like watching God. It\u2019s really hard to do something similar \u2013 you need to be fearless. But that\u2019s the thing about this whole group: they are like children and, again, they just don\u2019t care. The show must go on, even if it\u2019s cringe sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Flaws\u201d was created by writing collective Das Manko Gbr, Bastian Reiber and Feldhusen.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow does it work? I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s crazy. When we were first forming the collective, I thought: \u2018Let\u2019s start with 11 people, because they won\u2019t stay very long. And then\u2026 Everyone did. I guess it\u2019s a good sign,\u201d laughed Reiber, who also acts in the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first thing we did together and we definitely want to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julia Schubert, Jonas Hien, David Simon, Sebastian Gr\u00fcnewald, Carol Schuler, Jan Krauter, Annika Meier, Christoph J\u00f6de, Florian Anderer and Sarah Bauerett also star.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I learnt many years ago from another producer: if you want to work with the same group of people for many years, you need to have the right chemistry and you need to make sure everyone\u2019s on the same page,\u201d added Feldhusen, who recently picked up an award for direction at Series Mania\u2019s International Panorama.<\/p>\n
Theatre background also helped the team, insisted Reiber. \u201cWe all know each other from stage and there\u2019s a certain kind of energy that comes with it. You are ready to try things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Feldhusen added: \u201cThe good thing about actors coming from theatre is that they are used to rehearsing, and it was important for this show. They really had to mirror each other\u2019s movements perfectly for it to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
While no stranger to comedy \u2013 Feldhusen worked on \u201cStromberg,\u201d German version of \u201cThe Office\u201d \u2013 he\u2019s adamant: \u201cThe Flaws,\u201d with its specific aesthetic and humor, will mark an uncharted territory for almost everyone involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if people will laugh or not. It\u2019s a risk, right? But maybe it\u2019s also something we need. I would love to do a second season,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Each episode is a separate vignette, usually set in the most ordinary places: offices, hospitals, warehouses. After a while, a group of hopeless employees \u2013 sent to a training program \u2013 wreaks havoc on each one of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis environment put extra pressure on our characters. They are these tiny human beings, stuck in a world that\u2019s completely man-made but still hostile. All these nightmarish locations make things funny, because they don\u2019t allow them to be themselves. You can\u2019t be yourself in an office where you work. You have to get along with people you don\u2019t even like! It\u2019s tragic, but also comedic,\u201d noted Reiber, comparing the show to popular cartoons based on tried formulas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey offer you some sort of relief: Horrible things happen, but you know that in the end, everything will be fine. As Arne said, Peter Sellers is our hero. When you watch him, you always know something incredibly stupid is about to happen. And then it does, but it\u2019s even stranger or funnier than you would ever expect. Comedy can\u2019t be too predictable. It just wouldn\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Best of Variety<\/p>\n
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To the outsider\u2019s eye, Germany might not be famous for its sense of humor. But new series \u201cThe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3428,3432,3431,5,3429,3430],"class_list":["post-3306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-germany","tag-arne-feldhusen","tag-bastian-reiber","tag-flaws","tag-germany","tag-peter-sellers","tag-sense-of-humor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}