- The premiere is the toughest thing for every filmmaker, not only because you are afraid if everything will work out technically, but also because in some way you have to say goodbye to your film, and it can feel like you're thrown out of an airplane. [2016]
- [on presenting Toni Erdmann (2016) in Cannes] On last Monday I was still doing the [movie's sound] mix, and on Tuesday I was seeing the final version, and on Wednesday I went shopping to buy a dress. I bought a suit. And then I came here and showed the film. So it was really, really crazy, and very, very nice. [2016]
- [on editing Toni Erdmann (2016)] And almost six weeks after I had the feeling it was finished, the discussion about the length came up and up and up. And I said, "OK, I have to be 100 percent sure. Let me try everything." I took out lots of things, but I put everything back, except maybe 10 seconds. Because when I took things out, the film felt longer. It was strange sometimes. I have to make excuses for the length, but it really lost when you made it shorter. [2016]
- [on the reception of Toni Erdmann (2016)] I really didn't expect that so many people would like it. [With] my previous two films, maybe a bit more people liked them than didn't like them, but there were always people who said, "I don't like those films." With this one, I was expecting people to say, "No, it's too long, I don't like that woman..." I was expecting many more critics. [2016]
- [press conference for Toni Erdmann (2016) at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival] I had the wish for a long time to make something about this family topic - about the roles everybody played, about all these rituals, things that repeat themselves again and again, and to have on the other side - you had to tell something about the wish to break out of this, to maybe start from zero. So I found this father, this joker, who brought in with Toni the possibility to tell this thing. I found out during writing that the father-daughter thing is a very emotional topic, this children-parents thing.....there's a lot of secret aggression, secret longing, secret fears in that - I could use that very well.
- [Cannes press conference for Toni Erdmann (2016)] It's my third film and it's a great honour - to be here is what you always dream of as a filmmaker and it feels good because I have the feeling maybe they give me another carte blanche for the next film! There are so many great directors this year, a lot of them that I like a lot, and if I can make the German film industry happy, it's also good!
- [on the origins of Toni Erdmann (2016)] My family is often my first source of inspiration - it feeds my narrative and can influence the links between the characters. Winfried, Ines' father, invents for himself an alter-ego, like a desperate and bold attempt to reignite their father-daughter relationship. Toni Erdmann thus came to life! Humour is often the best way to transcend reality. Winfried, unable to communicate with his daughter, finds a way here to escape from this situation in creating this character. Humour is his only weapon, and it's going to enable him to communicate afresh.
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