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Season 4 of critically-acclaimed German crime drama Babylon Berlin is now available in the U.S. and Canada on MHz Choice! 

Star of the series, Volker Bruch, sat down for an interview with MHz Choice’s Thelma Adams to talk all things dancing, history, and the possibility of Season 5.


Conversing with Babylon Berlin star Volker Bruch, 44, via Zoom, we encounter a casually-dressed, thoughtful, engaged actor with scruffy facial hair. Even without the Humphrey Bogart Fedora, the tailored suits and smooth-shaven cheeks, the handsome, articulate Munich-born actor (best known for his starring role in the German TV mini-series Generation War) is unmistakable. He plays anti-hero Gereon Rath, the series’ complex star: a detective, least-favorite son, war veteran, lover and mad dancer.

BBS4 Volker Bruch Interview
Volker Bruch as Gereon Rath in BABYLON BERLIN Season 4.

THELMA ADAMS FOR MHz: How did you prepare for Gereon Rath?

VOLKER BRUCH:  I was reading the scripts because, in the end, it’s all in the scripts. There were also some technical issues that I had to prepare. Dancing was one of them.

 

MHz: The dancing in the series is wild. Could you dance before?

VB: It’s crazy. I always loved dancing, but I was never doing lessons. Interestingly enough, the decision that Gereon Rath would be a dancer just happened, I think, six weeks before we started shooting. So the scripts were all ready without dancing. And they were telling me, okay, we decided Rath is a good dancer, what do you think about it? I was like, what? Because that was not a character where you think, okay, he’s hitting the dance floor. Quite the opposite. But then I realized, okay, that’s a good idea, to have a contrast to this skeptical person living in their head. If you allow this head person to throw his body around, you have the possibility to put everything out there physically. That was such a great idea. It was so much fun. I’m really glad that we have this amazing aspect of Gereon.

 

MHz: It’s essential because he’s so repressed. Then the audience sees him one night, he’s at a bar and he’s chatting with the young barkeep. When he hits the dance floor it’s a “wow” moment. He seems to transform into a completely different man.

VB: In a second, the character becomes so much more complex. That was such a wild move from the script writers.

 

MHz: For research, did you read Volker Kutscher’s novels on which the series is based, or talk to people who’d experienced that era?

VB: I did. I read the novels in the beginning, but then I stopped because I was feeling that they’re so much different. I was getting confused by what’s what. So then I said, no, my Bible is the script and I’ll stick to that. And, of course, I was watching movies from that time and reading stuff. But to be honest, it’s a story, you know, and it’s all made up.

 

MHz: It’s historical, but there’s fiction.

VB: Right. In the end, you have to let everything go anyways and just be in the moment and deal with the scene you have, with the characters you have, with your dialogue and everything. So it’s good to prepare, but it’s even more important to let all this stuff go before you start working.

 

MHz: Would you say your character’s arc over these four seasons resembles the arc of Germany in this critical period?

VB:  It’s hard to, because I’m really having trouble making this a history lesson. Of course, you learn things about the time. However, German history cannot be a fictional character of a TV show.

 

MHz: Would you say that you don’t want to be reductive?

VB:  No, it doesn’t make any sense, I think, because it’s just so…I don’t want to be rude. It’s so much more complex. Even though Gereon Rath might be a complex character, I think German history is just way more complex than that.

 

MHz: And beyond Gereon, Babylon Berlin relies on an ensemble. Together, the characters all mix into a story.

VB: Yes, yes. This is such an amazing work by the screenwriters and also the casting, I think, because I love all the characters in the show.

BABYLON BERLIN Season 4 PRESS (2)
Liv Lisa Fries as Charlotte Ritter and Volker Bruch as Gereon Rath in BABYLON BERLIN Season 4.

MHz: Let’s talk about you and the actress Liv Lisa Fries who plays aspiring policewoman Charlotte Ritter in a time when few women entered that field. You two have chemistry from the moment Charlotte discovers you having a PTSD seizure on a bathroom floor all the way to the end. Can you discuss that?

VB: I met Liv during casting about eight weeks before we started shooting. It was clear that she was gonna make a big difference. Suddenly, then, it felt like okay, because if you have the chemistry between two people you don’t have to worry about anything. You can just trust on that. And that was always the case with Liv. The scenes were always different than I imagined them. And that’s good because if you know how something ends up, it gets boring. And if you have someone who likes to ping pong and who’s always putting something into the scene that surprises you, you just can react on it and it’s going to be surprising as well.

 

MHz: There’s plenty of conflict between Gereon and Charlotte. She’s strong enough to see past Gereon’s defenses.

VB: That’s what makes it so powerful. They need each other and they also need something that the other person has. It’s mutual. This is why they’re looking for each other all the time. They know that they are good for each other. When I was reading the script, and it was the same with every season, and it hasn’t stopped till now. There are not so many scenes between Gereon and Charlotte, to be honest. It feels like a lot, but they are often on their way on their own. But, when they do come together, it magically does something to the whole story, because the plots come together. There are many layers. It’s very joyful to play with Liv.

 

MHz: In Season 4, Charlotte bumps into Gereon on the street during Kristallnacht and Gereon is wearing a Nazi SA uniform. How did that feel when you looked at yourself in her eyes?

VB: For me, it was a different perspective, of course, because I have different missions. These costumes, they help a lot to play what you have to play, because to wear a uniform does something to your body. It’s like you’re standing upright…Don’t forget we’re in the past. The contemporary view on this uniform is very different from what it was back then. I mean, it was already something that was connected to violence and everything, but I think it’s important to leave the characters with the knowledge they have in that moment and not to add in too much perspective from today.

 

MHz: Would you say don’t project today’s perspective on the action?

VB: That’s very important. I think that’s really done brilliantly on this show in many ways. In the Kristallnacht scene, there’s a lot of adrenaline. Because it’s such a bizarre moment where so many things come together. I mean, this violence, this being undercover, not being recognized as who you are. You have to go along with it, but not too much. And then you see the woman you love. It’s crazy. It’s, yeah, it’s a very confusing, confusing moment.

 

MHz: During the shooting, what scenes made you anxious? What do you look back and say, oh, that was hard for me to do?

VB: The scenes that were hard to shoot were never the scenes that made me anxious. It doesn’t make sense to be scared of scenes because the most difficult ones will be the ones you think are easy. So, in the end, you just have to be there, know your lines and throw yourself in and say, okay, let’s do this. And let’s not be scared.

 

MHz: Will there be a fifth season?

VB: Yes. It’s in development. They’re writing the scripts right now. I’m very curious myself because I haven’t read anything but it’s been planned. It will happen.

MHz: Season 4 ends in a cliffhanger. Gereon is really in a place of choice.

VB: Yes. I’m very curious how this is going to end. It’s hard to imagine that this story that is so huge and has so many storylines, how this is going to come together. I hate ends of seasons or series. Often, they try to put everything together and the last season’s end is much too long. So I’m not a fan of endings, but I hope and I’m very curious on how our three geniuses [creators Tom Twyker, Henk Handloegten, and Achim von Borries] will solve this problem in Babylon Berlin.

 

MHz: In light of the upcoming Olympics, it’s like sticking the landing at the end of an epic gymnastics routine.

VB: Yes. We want that perfect landing.

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