Author Frank Schätzing at the »Golden Camera« 2019
Photo: Hannibal Hanschke / REUTERS
The author Frank Schätzing distances himself from the film adaptation of his world bestseller »The Swarm«.
In an interview in the current issue of the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT, the writer is outraged by the €40 million most expensive German-language TV production of all time.
The series is narratively »fundamentally wrong«.
It was "cobbled together nonsense" and "of no current relevance".
In the interview, Schätzing calls for more cinematic daring in film adaptations of literature.
The eight-part series produced for ZDF falls short of its potential: "Some things are ready for the cinema, others are touching and talkative relationship box TV.
It pilfers more than it swarms.
Good cast, but underwhelmed.
The global dimension of the threat is not noticeable, let alone the topicality or an intelligent alien strategy.
One should have trusted the narrative of the novel more, the maximum escalation of the thriller.«
Schätzing was initially part of the production team around Frank Doelger, the producer of "Game of Thrones", but withdrew due to differences in content.
"In the end he wanted to tell the 'swarm' on his own, just according to his ideas," says Schätzing.
Canceling the project, in which hundreds of people were involved, seemed "indecent" to him in times of crisis.
»I dropped out in the hope that the result would still inspire me.
Do not do it."
The series is available from February 22 in the ZDF media library.
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