INTERVIEW: Franka Potente celebrates 25 years of ‘Run Lola Run’
Photo: Run Lola Run, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, stars Franka Potente. Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics / Provided by press site with permission.
When Franka Potente decided to join the unique and unprecedented film project that would become Run Lola Run, she had no idea what to expect. Writer-director Tom Tykwer had crafted a tale about a woman named Lola (Potente) who needed to find 100,000 Deutsche Marks in 20 minutes, otherwise her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), would pay the ultimate price by a gang of criminals. With time on the clock and no money in her pocket, the only avenue that Lola has to save the day is to run, run, run — along the way finding those Marks and finding Manni.
Run Lola Run was an indie sensation when it was released 25 years ago, and now the movie is back in theaters in a new 4K restoration. Today’s audiences can once again enjoy the techno score, the pulsating energy, the multiple variations of the same story and the electric performance from Potente, who went on to star in The Bourne Identity, Creep and Blow.
“I have so many very vivid memories actually,” Potente said in a recent Zoom interview. “To be honest with you, they are really quite emotional, especially looking back. I remember immediately when I met Tom for the project, you know there was an immediate creative flow going on that I could tap into. I was a young actor. I had shot a handful of movies, but I think I had never been part of an experience where I felt I was integrated. I was invited into almost an intellectual part of the process, of the work, and what it did was it immediately lifted me up. It kind of elevated me to a point where I think we were very fearless all together in that group, especially Tom and I had a really strong bond, and I think when you feel that, not just as an actor, but as a person or maybe in a friendship or any kind of relationship, it generates immediately the feeling of safety, but also I can do anything. I can do anything.”
The indie film was made on a modest budget of $2 million and shot on the streets of Berlin. Sometimes the filmmaking crew gathered the necessary permits for the shoots, while other times they didn’t have the permits and simply filmed guerrilla-style, Potente said. There were 18-hour days and nonstop action.
“I remember feeling fearless and really like we could accomplish anything,” she said. “I remember really ending long, long days of shooting thinking, wow, I didn’t even expect all the things that we did today. I didn’t know that we were doing that — on paper, yes, but there was a lot of room for magic. Here comes the nostalgic part that makes me a little sad sometimes because I feel like a lot of things [in the movie business] have changed. … We have a little less of that, or I do at least. And I miss that. I miss that collaboration. And I know it sounds a little corny, but all the creative energy that it releases, there’s so much power in that. And we forget that sometimes now.”
When Potente first read the script, she didn’t know what to make of the narrative, which is highly experimental and almost plot-less. It’s not an overstatement to say that the film simply follows one woman running, but then there are multiple endings that shake up the storytelling.
“What does that mean,” Potente said of her initial reactions after reading the script. “Huh? I was like, ‘Oh, OK.’ The whole idea of starting over three times, I had never seen that. Huh? I remember there were people that Tom was talking to in the process, people from the finance side and this and that, and they were like, ‘Yeah, but you can’t do that. You can’t just stop and start over.’ Just the bashing of those rules, like all that intellectual framework, if you will, I was kind of like, ‘I’m not really sure what this means, but it seems cool.’ Tom was very confident about it, and then I remember when I saw the film for the first time, I was like, ‘Holy shit, that’s what that was.’ I was like, ‘Wow.'”
Potente also has fond memories of when the movie became a major hit on the indie circuit in the United States. Her and Tykwer were already filming their next collaboration, The Princess and the Warrior, and at the same time they were receiving daily updates and box office numbers on Run Lola Run. They soon realized they were talk of the town (of the world), and buzz was building.
“When we would leave to go to work, they would get all the faxes in from reception at the hotel where we stayed, and all the numbers would come in from the States on how well the movie was doing,” she said. “We were like, ‘Oh,’ but at the same time we just go to work. So I think there was a very healthy grounding coincidence that we were already working on the next film together and having this experience together at the same time. It was like a parallel universe. … I remember what was super odd was that we got an MTV Award and a platinum record for the musical part of the film because I sang some of the music, which was a spontaneous idea of Tom’s, and I’m not a singer. I was like, ‘What?’ It was so crazy. There were so many crazy, awesome things about it that I’m still scratching my head.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Run Lola Run, starring Franka Potente, celebrates its 25th anniversary with a new 4K restoration that is playing in movie theaters now. Click here for more information.
