Lars Eidinger on his new feature film, the eroticism of death and the nightmare of seeing yourself on the big screen

While waiting for an appointment in the lobby of a hotel during the Berlinale, I struck up a conversation with an English-speaking journalist. There are no German stars who are internationally relevant, she says. “What about Lars Eidinger?”, I ask. She laughs: “Nobody knows him internationally and nobody likes him in Germany.” Both are not entirely correct.

Eidinger has received critical acclaim internationally for his roles in the Netflix film White Noise and the HBO series Irma Vep. The New York Times referred to him on the occasion of a performance of Hamlet as “maybe the best Shakespearean actor you’ve never heard of”, but attested him increasing international fame. And in Germany, the film, series and theater audience seems at least incredibly fascinated by it Actor/Director/Photographer/Bag Designer/DJ.

Director Reiner Holzemer also wanted to get closer to the Lars Eidinger phenomenon and therefore accompanied him for nine months at theater rehearsals, shooting and all the moments in between. The result was around one and a half hours of insight into everyday acting, nudity, tears and sometimes maybe a bit of madness.

To be or not to be: Lars Eidinger no longer wants to be asked who he is

The documentary Lars Eidinger – To be or not to be is running from March 23, 2023 in German cinemas. I met Lars Eidinger in Berlin and spoke to him about vanity, his demands on the audience and the question of why he sometimes seems to have a bad reputation.

Moviepilot: The sentence “To be or not to be?” plays a big role in the documentation and obviously for you too. Are there moments when you’re not?

Lars Eidinger: The film actually describes exactly that: that I am always me. He’s trying to break down the stereotype that acting is about becoming someone else or transforming. There are formulations that are a bit revealing in this regard. That one says:
“That’s just played” or “Don’t make so much fuss”. The way I understand it, acting is more about being yourself. There are actresses and Actors who say their job is to lie. I would always say: My job is to be honest.

Isn’t it exhausting being yourself all the time?

It’s exhausting for all of us to be there. We all always behave in roles in some way. When you talk to me here now, you speak differently than you do with your partner, and when you go to an office, you also speak differently. That means it always has something to do with a facet or layer in which such a personality is represented.

Who are we really? And who can say that about themselves? Journalists often ask me about roles: “Who is that you’re playing?” I always want to ask: “Yes, who are you then?” How am I supposed to answer that? At best, I am everything and nothing. That’s why it’s actually complete nonsense to believe after a documentary that you now know how someone really is.

Lars Eidinger on the most controversial scene in his movie: “I felt cheated of the moment”
What is it like for you as an actor when you have a camera with you at work all the time? Does that automatically lead to everything becoming a performance?

Of course it is exactly that. Of course I play all the time. But I love gaming, so it adds more value to the moment. Looking back, the most painful moments for me were actually the ones in which I saw Reiner out of the corner of my eye [Holzemer] put away the camera. There’s a reason why someone becomes an actor. Why someone stands on stage and turns all the spotlights on themselves. It has a lot to do with wanting to be seen. That’s why it feels good for me when someone is watching me.

How does it feel when someone looks away?

That also appears in the film when the [Jedermann-]Director, Michael Sturminger, doesn’t watch me play. For me, that’s the essence of the film. If anyone thinks I’m there feel offended in my vanity and get angry about it, this is precisely this misunderstanding that the film wants to clear up. Vanity means void, meaningless, empty. Instead, it’s about something that means a lot, and anything loaded with meaning isn’t vain. Like the moment when we rehearse.

That is the moment after which I encounter death in the play Jedermann and I, as an actor, am asked to play an existential fear that leads to an immediate threat situation and has to be authenticated with a real emotion. I can do that on the test. I get into a real emotionality and I cry.

The moment I play this, I see the director walk over to the assistant and she whispers something in her ear. I felt cheated of the moment. It’s like an athlete doing something extraordinary at the Olympics while seeing his coach leave the stadium out of the corner of his eye. I don’t even understand anymore why I’m actually doing it. I don’t have to do it for me. I only do this in relation to the other person.

What was it like for you when you saw that scene in the film?


It’s not easy for me to look at it, because of course it’s an unprotected moment and you see me in my fallibility. I apologize for that afterwards. Nevertheless, I find this scene essential for the documentary. Of course, it would have been more confident if I had said: “Whatever, I’ll just keep playing.” But the more important moment is that through this conflict you understand what acting is all about. That I can’t open up on the one hand and make myself vulnerable and develop a sensitivity for atmospheres and my counterpart, and then make myself dull about the fact that someone just walks away.

That is also the only reason why I ask people in the theater where they are going, when they get up. Then it takes a moment before the person even understands that they are meant. But then she says: “I’m going to the bathroom.” Then I can decide how to deal with it. For example, if I say: “OK, then we’ll wait for you to come back.” I think it’s very important to have the opportunity to address this.

Whether it’s an HBO series or a Netflix film: Lars Eidinger hates having to watch premieres himself
Of course, in the theater you have the opportunity to be in direct confrontation with the audience. How about film and series shoots? Of course there are people watching, but actually you are doing it for the camera at that moment.

A certain concentration is also important to me, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone has to hang on my every word as if spellbound. I am already aware that the cameraman and the camerawoman deal with the camera and the gaffa person with his trade. When I see that there People suddenly scrolling through Instagram, it offends me but nice.

For me, the difficulty with film is actually that you play for an audience that sits in the future and that you can’t influence. I often find it difficult to sit in a film premiere and know: the film is now finished. I experience what doesn’t work with the audience and can no longer influence it. This is sometimes difficult to bear. It has often a nightmarish qualityto watch yourself in the cinema.

Lars Eidinger played a dealer in the Netflix film White Noise:

But you still make films and series. What do you enjoy about it?

I’m just not about having fun. It’s more about what the difference is between different media and that film is basically a memento mori. I find some of the terms that appear in the film revealing. that one says “The Scene Has Died”, when she’s twisted. But that’s not something I’m opposed to per se. For example, I think photography has a lot more to do with death than with life. Nevertheless, I am a passionate photographer. Often one only becomes aware of its importance in the absence of something.

There can also be beauty in that. If I’m invited to your place and bring a bouquet of flowers, then it has a certain eroticism, because it has something to do with impermanence and dying. You know that these cut flowers may look nice for three, four, five days before they wither. The potted plant can also be beautiful, but it has a completely different look because it claims to last for the future.

In an interview you once said that international colleagues know you more from your theater performances than from your films. Were there any reservations towards you on their part?

If I’m honest, it’s much more the German actors who have reservations. An actor came up to me on the set of the movie I’m shooting. He said he had told the Berliner Ensemble, where he plays theater, that he was shooting with me. Then the colleagues would have said: “Well, have fun!” They didn’t even know me, they never worked with me. He said he couldn’t understand these reservations after the experience with me. On the contrary.

That is like an image that sticks to you, but you never really know where it comes from. I always ask myself: How does something like this come about?

*. . .