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8 years later!
In bed with Santa in German! In Berlin the 20:th of November 2007. Title: Meine Schöne Bescherung Can you imagine?!? Old (1999) Santa has been filmed again. In Germany It’s a remake and so damn cool. I can’t even tell you how great I think it is. So why don’t they just buy the already existing Swedish version? And have it dubbed as they usually do? Well.... The people who bought the rights have confidence in it. With German actors. And not just any German actors either... I’m in heaven. I actually was recently, well in april! When I flew home from Berlin after making a visit to the set. Wow. That’s all I can say. The German Sara is played by no less than Martina Gedeck seen recently in Sweden in the Oscar Awarded Das Leben der Anderen, (The lives of others) which the critics loved. I spoke with the Director Vanessa Jopp, with the distributor, the production manager, and with the German Dan Ekborg/Gunnar, i.e. Andreas Windhuis. He looked like – Gunnar... They all looked – the way they were supposed to... It was a feeling of déja vù at the same time as it was new. We were watching when they shot the scene where the neighbours are entering with their dark skinned child, and Sara has opinions on adoption. The guests squirm because of Sara being the only one is not aware that the neighbours just entered the room. Even though I don’t understand German at all I knew what they were saying! A strange feeling. And the team couldn’t help themselves laughing. That’s how it was during the Swedish shoot as well, at times. They were giggling at certain lines. Each time. Imagine how that made me feel. That’s right. Fantastic. Bubbly. Happiness. The house was the same. The German Sara is decorating just as much as the Swedish Sara. The fake snow was so beautiful! The children were adorable. Marika, who was played by Helena af Sandeberg, is here played by a very famous soap star, Alexandra Neldel. Isabell in the part. They were recognisable. My characters. Especially Gunnar. They only changed the names of a few – otherwise they kept the original names. Naturally the dialogue has been reworked and adapted to German ways. Surely some scenes are altered, others deleted and some are new, but I’m almost sure it’ll be recognisable anyway. What a remarkable thing to experience. To have your script filmed, not just once, but twice! With just as strong a cast of actors both times. Cast of characters: Sara - Martina
Gedeck 2007-08-29 Production was complete at the beginning of May and it’s getting close to the premiere which is on the 22nd November. (To the day eight years after the Swedish premiere!) The film has had a positive reception at previews and is printed in 200 copies. The posters are almost done and the title has been confirmed as final: “Meine schöne Bescherung”, which is a word play and can be translated as “My precious gift”, or something like that. In English the title is “In bed with Santa”. In Swedish in direct translation; “Santa is father to all the children”. Break a leg in Germany! Monica Rolfner, Screenwriter
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