PRESS RELEASE Stuttgart / Berlin, July 20, 2006
Joseph Fiennes vs. THE RED BARON
Ladies and Gentlemen, Colleagues and Friends
NIAMA- FILM is delighted to announce that the famous actor JOSEPH FIENNES, who is known to audiences from a large number of international cinema productions, plays the role of Manfred von Richthofen’s greatest opponent in
directed by Niki Müllerschön starring Matthias Schweighöfer and Lena Headey, as well as Til Schweiger, Jan Josef Liefers, Hanno Koffler, Volker Bruch, Tino Mewes, Maxim Mehmet and Steffen Schroeder .
With Joseph Fiennes, NIAMA-FILM has succeeded in casting one of the most outstanding British stage and screen stars in the role of the legendary Canadian fighter pilot Roy Brown. In the aerial battles of the First World War, Brown repeatedly comes up against von Richthofen, whom he holds in great respect as a first-rate pilot despite their being enemies.
Joseph Fiennes is well-known for several big box-office hits, including John Madden’s “Shakespeare in Love” with the charming Gwyneth Paltrow, Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “Duel - Enemy at the Gates” alongside Jude Law, and the extremely successful production “Luther” in which he played the title role. Most recently he co-starred with Al Pacino in Michael Radford’s “Merchant of Venice”; he has also just finished shooting Bille August’s “Goodbye Bafana” in South Africa, in which he plays the guard of Nelson Mandela during his years of imprisonment on Robben Island.
THE RED BARON is a NIAMA-FILM production; Dan Maag, Thomas Reisser and Roland Pellegrino are its producers.
For the latest news about the production, please go to: www.redbaron-themovie.com
Synopsis:
Europe in 1916. Thirsting for adventure and carried away by the euphoria of the moment, 24-year-old Manfred von Richthofen (Matthias Schweighöfer) goes off to war like thousands of other young men. As celebrated fighter pilots, he and his comrades soon become cult figures for the soldiers on the battlefields, admired by friends and foes alike.
Marked by sportsmanlike conduct and ambition, technical exactitude and knightly propriety, they have their own code of honor. They decorate their aircrafts in a whole range of motifs. Manfred von Richthofen’s red Fokker DR I becomes a symbol of the feared but revered flying squadrons of the First World War.
Though it is not long before von Richthofen begins to understand that his hero status is deceptive. His love for Käte (Lena Headey), a nurse, opens his eyes to the brutality and viciousness of war. A war which leaves no room for valiant deeds and, even worse, eliminates many of his friends, who lose their lives in reckless aerial combat.
When Manfred from Richthofen comes to realize that he is being misused by the military regime for propaganda purposes and so actually contributing to encouraging thousands of soldiers - who worship him blindly - to rush headlong to their destruction, he decides to escape his fame. A decision that makes him legendary... but with tragic consequences.
Press contact:
LimeLight PR Petra Schwuchow & Sandra Paule Köthener Str. 44 D - 10963 Berlin Phone: + 49 - 30 – 2639 698 18 Fax: + 49 - 30 – 2639 698 77 Email: [email protected] [email protected]
For the latest news about the production, please go to: www.redbaron-themovie.com