As of: February 7, 2024, 5:05 p.m
By: Bettina Stuhlweißenburg
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Michael Ende (1929-1995) with “Momo” actress Bokel during filming in Rome in 1985.
© Wolfgang Jahnke
In a few weeks, filming will begin on the new film adaptation of “Momo”, the classic children's book by Michael Ende.
As our newspaper has learned from industry circles, the Munich-based Rat Pack Film and Constantin Film will be filming in Croatia from spring.
Munich - As reported, the production company Rat Pack ("Fack ju Göhte", "Wickie", "Die Welle"), founded by Christian Becker in 2002, had started the remake of the material.
Christian Becker has experience with filming Ende books.
For example, he was responsible for Dennis Gansel's “Jim Knopf and Lukas the Locomotive Driver” (2018) - and thus also impressed Roman Hocke, representative of Michael Ende's estate and friend of the writer, who was born in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1929.
Christian Ditter takes his place in the director’s chair for the “Momo” film adaptation.
Among other things, he directed the series “Biohackers” for Netflix and, with “Suburban Crocodiles” based on Max von der Grün, he proved that he has a feeling for how literature needs to be adapted for the screen.
Successful novel by Michael Ende
Michael Ende's 1973 novel “Momo.
The Strange Tale of the Time Thieves and the Child Who Brought Back the Stolen Time to People has been translated into 53 languages and sold more than 12.5 million copies worldwide.
The story of the barefoot girl with the unkempt curls who stands up to the gray men from the Zeitsparkasse still inspires a wide audience today.
Not only because the topic of time pressure is always relevant: Ende is a good narrator who takes children seriously as readers, writes in an entertaining way and without a pedagogical pointing finger.
Cult: the first “Momo” film adaptation from 1986 with Radost Bokel.
© ullstein bild - United Archives
Continuing this approach in the cinema is one of the challenges for the makers of the new film.
For the first time, director Johannes Schaaf set out to bring the material to the screen.
His film was released in German cinemas in 1986 - with Radost Bokel as Momo, John Huston in his last role as Master Hora, with Mario Adorf, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Sylvester Groth and with the author himself: Ende treated himself to a cameo appearance Passenger on the train.
However, Rat Pack and Constantin do not want to announce the cast of the new film yet.
Filming location Croatia
The first “Momo” film was shot in the 1980s in the Roman film town “Cinecittà,” which offered an optimal backdrop for the story, which Ende set in a southern-Mediterranean-looking town with an amphitheater.
Because of this setting, the Munich-based Rat Pack and Constantin decided to film the remake in Croatia.
Filmmakers regularly used and use the geographical features of the country on the Adriatic coast - from “Game of Thrones” to “Mamma Mia 2: Here we go again” to “Winnetou”, where the country impressed as an American double.
Rat Pack also already has experience with Croatia: the Munich company filmed its “Winnetou” three-part television series there in 2015, among other places.