The German-French production "In the Fade" earned a nomination Monday in the foreign-language film category for the Golden Globes, where it will face off with Chilean, Cambodian, Russian and Swedish-German-French movies. The Times caught up with director Fatih Akin soon after he got the news _ a little earlier than he expected.
Q: Where were you when you heard the news of the nomination?
A: I was at home in Hamburg, Germany. I mixed up the time. I thought the live stream was at 5 p.m. German time but it was at 3 p.m. My driver was calling me. He's become a good friend and he was the first to call. I was like, "Wow."
Q: Your film is about a woman's quest for justice after her son and immigrant husband are killed in a neo-Nazi bomb attack. What does this story say about the world we live in today?
A: It is a reflection of the world we live in. I did the film because I needed a catharsis. Neo-Nazi attacks in Germany have happened all my life. They started in the 1980s with skinheads. It always seemed like a personal attack on me, so I needed a catharsis. That's why I did my film. But somehow this project of mine became relevant all over the world, including the U.S. This need for catharsis seemed to be everywhere. What happened with neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, Va., is not just a coincidence. This is a globalized world we're living in. What happens in the U.S. is connected to what's happening in Germany.
Q: How was the film received in Germany?
A: Mostly positive. I took a real event and made fiction out of it. Germans mostly don't like that or they get confused with that. They like a particular order. What is reality? What is fiction? But they didn't have a problem with this film, which surprised me. I expected the reaction to be much more divided. The most positive and moving reactions I got were from women. Female film critics by far liked the film more than men. Maybe that's because of Diane Kruger's performance.
Q: It was your first time working with Kruger, who plays your protagonist, Katja. What was that like?
A: I will use a cliche, but she was like a sister. She really was. It was a partnership. I came with half an idea and she came with half an idea, and together we made one idea out of it. Writing the character was not very difficult for me. I live with a woman, and I observe her and her friends. So when Diane came, it was never like a woman wouldn't do this. It was more like, "Don't you think we could create more suspense if the character did this?" Diane has a very great sense for the whole thing, not just her performance. "
Q: This is your first Golden Globe nomination.
A: Yeah, man. I was too much underground before.
