Sky series "Der Pass 2": That's why the new season is worth it
Created: 01/22/2022, 09:22
By: Katja Kraft
They look harmless - but the stories that Cyrill Boss (left) and Philipp Stennert write have it all.
© Marcus sleep
"The Pass" continues.
Sky is now showing the second season of the super series.
We spoke to the two Munich directors Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert about their fascination with serial killers.
And the agony of writing.
They had hoped that there would be another premiere.
As in 2019, in season one, in Munich's Gloria Palast.
When Corona was still a foreign word.
But Omicron came – and with it the cancellation of the festival for the second season of “Der Pass”, which Sky is now showing.
The award-winning Munich directors Cyrill Boss (47) and Philipp Stennert (46) have again written the screenplay.
And created eight more episodes of this special alpine thriller.
Again you look amazed and don't really know where the two want to lead you this time.
But you willingly let yourself be drawn into the spooky area - and soon you want to look further and further.
What the hell is going on in your head that you can think of all these adversities?
Cyrill Boss:
(points to Philipp Stennert with a laugh:)
It's all dormant in him!
Philipp Stennert:
(Laughs.)
Yes, that's really an exciting question: Why do you feel so drawn to such abysses, both as a creative and as a viewer?
And what's the answer?
Philipp Stennert:
There is a bit of darkness in each of us, and abysses are a part of all of us.
In some people they are particularly terribly pronounced.
The more you read about serial killers and sex offenders, the more you become fascinated by the human psyche.
And once again you manage to find actors who make you think: I could have chatted with him yesterday in the canteen. Who seem so innocent...
Cyrill Boss:
How nice, that's how it should be.
Serial killers aren't monsters, they're often people who missed love in their childhood or who desperately long for approval.
For example, we dealt with American sex offenders beforehand, some of whom had a pathological mother complex.
It's a parallel that, combined with other factors,
can
make the difference in someone becoming a murderer.
However, there is never just
one
reason and no easy explanation.
The interesting thing in "The Passport 2" is also the brother of the perpetrator. He doesn't intervene - he even protects his brother from being caught.
Phillip Stennert:
That was our hope, that as a spectator you would waver and ask yourself: Who is actually the bad guy?
The one who can't help it because it's just in him?
Or the one who, for rational reasons, does not prevent the victims from suffering, although he could intervene?
Cyrill Boss:
But basically they are both disturbed.
through the parental home.
You have no other choice? The show says, "Anyone can change if they want to." Do you believe that? Or are we determined?
Cyrill Boss:
That's really the big question.
I think you can change up to a certain point, but in the end you're often a prisoner of your upbringing, your environment, your genes.
Exploring this limit, up to what point can I really change and when am I just hopelessly externally controlled, that's what's exciting.
We can speak so openly about the perpetrator because you identify him as such early on. Why?
Philipp Stennert:
Because we noticed during the research: It's so interesting to see how someone becomes a perpetrator in the first place.
So this time we wanted to start following this guy before the first corpse.
Cyrill Boss:
Basically, our stories always come about through the characters.
For season one we had to invent all the characters.
That was a lot of work.
The advantage now was that the main characters were already born - and we could now think: Okay, where are we going with Gedeon Winter and Ellie Stocker and what did the first case do to them?
Filming in the mountains: Philipp Stennert (left) and Cyrill Boss (right) with their leading actors Julia Jentsch and Nicholas Ofczarek.
© Hendrik Heiden
Did that make writing even more fun than it was in season one?
Cyrill Boss:
Funny enough, I recently read an interview with Franz Xaver Kroetz in which he said: someone who says, "I have so much fun writing!" is a total idiot.
(Laughs.)
And it's true: Writing is torture. You torture yourself and keep thinking to yourself: That's all crap I wrote there!
The pressure to succeed that season one put on you won't have helped much...
Cyrill Boss:
The Grimme Prize and the German Television Prize didn't come until we were already hard at work on part two. We were so busy rotating that we didn't have time to question whether it could keep up with the first season. And after all these years in this profession, one realization is helpful – namely that ultimately you have to find joy in doing. Because whether it will be a success or not, whether it hits a nerve, is no longer in your hands. When we were younger we racked our brains and often discussed: Why didn't this work now?
Philip Stennert:
Ultimately, you have to live up to your own expectations.
And in this case, they were brave not just repeating the formulas that were successful in season one.
Doing so is extremely tempting.
But we wanted to break new ground in terms of dramaturgy while retaining the visuality and the setting.
The series takes place in the German-Austrian border region. Why do you like shooting in this alpine world so much?
Philipp Stennert:
Because forests, mountains and lakes convey a sense of threat just by looking at them.
A feeling of: I don't know what's hiding under the water or the snow.
The view of free, flat land does not produce that.
And how much did you regret diving into this snowy world during filming?
Philipp Stennert:
(Laughs.) What's
interesting is that when you're freezing but standing in an overwhelming mountain setting, you don't really feel the cold that much.
The really bad locations are places like underground parking lots.
There's a draft and it's cold and ugly.
But if the panorama is right, you don't find it painful.
I hope the team felt the same way.
(Laughs.)
At least everyone you talk to says that the working atmosphere at your place is very special. Are the actors allowed to get involved?
Cyril Boss:
Always.
We write the characters, develop them further - and then something very important happens: the casting.
Our characters come to life with the actors.
At the "Pass" all the ensemble members were such great people!
A Julia Jentsch, for example, has many clever ideas, questions, suggestions.
Or Dominic Marcus Singer: He's an incredibly clever guy who quickly understands the character, absorbs it, questions it and brings in ideas.
We'd be really stupid if we didn't record them.
How much do you actually like your characters?
Philipp Stennert:
Basically you like them all.
You have to have empathy for even the really bad ones in order to be able to write and direct them.
And: Evil does not fall from the sky.
It's always triggered by something.
Boss:
Humans are extremely complex, someone can be a disgusting egoist today and a victim tomorrow.
There is no such thing as black and white.
Everyone has their story.
"Der Pass 2" can be seen in double episodes on Sky One from January 21, 2022 and as a complete season on Sky Ticket and Sky Q.
