Director: Helmut Dietl
Script: Helmut Dietl, Patrick Süskind,
Photography: Ingo Hamer, Kristian Gripenberg, Otto Kirchhoff, Petrus Schloemp, Wolgang Mayer
Editors: Ulrike Pahl, Corina Dietz, Inez Regnier, Anja von Rüxleben
Music: Konstantin Wecker
Sound: Simon Buchner, Harald Henkel, Berthold Posch, Nicos Parakis
Production Design: Hans Gailling, Dieter Bächle, Albrecht Konrad, Nicos Perakis
Casting: Kurt Raab
Principal Cast: Franz Xaver Kroetz, Senta Berger, Dieter Hildebrandt, Ruth-Maria Kubitschek, Billie Zöckler, Mario Adorf, Harald Leipnitz, Peter Kern, Erni Singerl, Rudolf Wessely, Corinna Drews, Martin Wimbush
Producer: Jürgen Dohme
Series Producer: Ike Werk, Eric Moss, Erwin Mäkelburg
Commissioning Editors for WDR: Jörn Klamroth, Johannes Pechtold
Production: balance film for WDR
Distribution Germany: WDR
Tel: 0221 220 0
fernsehen@wdr.de
www.wdr.de
First Broadcast Germany: 22.09.1986, WDR
It was a must-see series: in the 1980s, "Kir Royal" created quite a stir. The series was about tabloid journalism, and everyone was talking about it when it aired on ARD. "Kir Royal" has agitated, pleased, and enraged the nation. The six-part WDR television series written by director Helmut Dietl and bestselling author Patrick Süskind ("The Perfume") gave audiences quality entertainment par excellence.
The Cologne Conference 2008's Night of Cult Television brings back legendary tabloid reporter "Baby" Schimmerlos (Franz-Xaver Kroetz). That said, what good would the best reporter be without his very own "court photographer" by his side? Though being knocked around by Schimmerlos all the time, Herbie Fried (Dieter Hildebrandt) still feels ties of a friendship of sorts to his client. He does as his master commands, and manages to get some snapshots that are fit to print even from most ticklish situations. A scathing exposure of the vanities of Munich's "Bussi-Bussi" (pecks-on-the-cheek) crowd, the comedy also stars a host of high-profile actors and actresses in other roles, including Senta Berger as "Mona", Ruth Maria Kubitschek as "Frau von Unruh", and Mario Adorf as "Generaldirektor Haffenloher". As "Funkkorrespondenz" magazine put it, "it is in dazzling 35 mm cinematic format, under glistening photography's delicate caress, that wickedness becomes truly delightful."