Partying with the Shooting Stars

Last night in Berlin the ten Shooting Stars were seen on the red carpet for the Berlin-Brandenburg Film Fund party at the Ritz-Carlton, and later walked over to the Tesiro Golden Bear Lounge at the Hotel Hyatt, for a private reception celebrating the jewellery brand's association with the annual award scheme. At the Berlin-Brandenburg party, I first spoke with Sweden's Edda Magnason, who has made a remarkable transition from musician to actor with her film debut, playing famed Swedish jazz singer Monica Zetterlund in Waltz With Monica. She won the role by an unconventional route, after somebody attending one of her concerts suggested to director Per Fly that she should be considered for the role. Multiple screen tests and almost a year later, the film-making team were convinced that they had found their Monica. Edda, who won Best Actress at last month's Swedish Film Awards, has been busy recording her third album, which will be released in the spring.

From left-right): Cosmnia Stratan (Romania), Mateusz Kosciukiewicz (Poland), Jakob Oftebro (Norway), Miriam Karlkvist (Italy), Maria Dragus (Germany), Richard Shen (President of TESIRO), Danica Curcic (Denmark), Marwan Kenzari (The Netherlands), Nikola Rakocevic (Serbia), Edda Magnason (Sweden) and George MacKay (UK)  © Markus Nass

I also caught up with the UK's George MacKay, who is in Berlin on a special break from his London play The Cement Garden. George is coming off a big UK box-office hit, Sunshine On Leith, which is adapted from a stage musical that incorporates songs from Scottish band The Proclaimers. The film was released on the same day in the UK as two of George's other 2013 films, dystopian teen romance How I Live Now, and the gritty low-budget drama For Those In Peril, which won him a Scottish BAFTA. George spoke about losing weight for one of his 2014 films, Duane Hopkins' Bypass – a mindboggling thought since his frame definitely already qualifies as lean. The film-making team soon realised that a dietician was needed to help George lose the weight safely and responsibly.
George's other 2014 film is Pride, from Matthew Warchus, who is best known in the UK for directing stage smash Matilda: The Musical. The film is inspired by the true story of the gay rights activists who set up a group supporting the striking miners in their epic – and ultimately doomed – battle with Margaret Thatcher's UK government in 1984-5. George and I are both excited about a young actor called Ben Schnetzer, an American who studied acting in London and is making his career in Europe, first in The Book Thief (playing a German Jew), and then in the British films Pride and Posh – the latter an acclaimed adaptation of a Royal Court stageplay. I believe Ben is playing a Russian in it, and he is an actor that Europe will be very happy to adopt.

All the Shooting Stars were a little giddy after their epic eight-hour photo shoot yesterday, which between set-ups had left plenty of time for hilarity to ensue. After the shoot, local Shooting Star Maria Dragus took George for an authentic Berlin experience: currywurst and chips at Curry 36. I caught up with Maria at the Tesiro party, where I was teasing her about her resemblance to Elle Fanning (I'm not the first person to mention this), and she told me all about shooting White Ribbon with Michael Haneke. His directing style is surprisingly straightforward and non-cerebral, I learnt, and we talked about how details in the set decoration, often invisible to the camera, nevertheless help the actors believe in the moment and commit to the role, thus elevating their performance. All the Shooting Stars were presented with gifts by Tesiro, and were welcomed by the company's President, Richard Shen.