The European Shooting Stars initiative, organised by European Film Promotion, is one of the most exciting parts of the Berlin Film Festival which presents the next big European actors. Previous winners have boasted alumni such as Daniel Brühl, Carey Mulligan and Alicia Vikander. Over the next couple of days, Sleek Magazine is teaming up with Audi to put a spotlight on five of the final winners. Next up: Louis Hofmann.
Louis Hofmann
Louis Hofmann is currently riding a wave of critical acclaim with his brutal war drama Land Of Mine nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards. This is in addition to awards from the Tokyo and Beijing Film Festivals as well as Denmark’s Bodil Award.
Having started acting at the age of nine, Louis Hofman shows no signs of slowing down. His most recent credits include the first ever German-language original Netflix series Dark as well as Jakob M. Erwa’s Center Of My World. His style is both charismatic and reflective, making him an especially dynamic actor.
We sat down with the actor to talk about what it means to be a recipient, what he enjoys about acting and whom he’d like to work with next.
SLEEK: Previous winners of the Shooting Stars include Rachel Weisz, Daniel Brühl and Carey Mulligan. What does it mean to you to be a recipient?
Louis Hofmann: Considering the amazing actors that I am now kind of following the route of, it is a huge honour to be part of this. They were honoured with the same award, and so the people who give me this award anticipate some kind of similar career to the ones that they awarded ten years ago. That is amazing for me.
But not only this, Land of Mine has been nominated for a foreign-language Oscar. What do you think your chances are, especially in comparison to Toni Erdmann?
Well, I think Toni Erdmann is an incredibly well-done movie which I really liked. I also think that now Trump is on the run in the US, Americans kind of have the need to be political. That’s why I think our film and The Salesman have very good chances to be part of a very close game.
Are you going to attend the ceremony?
I don’t think so. I’m going to go to LA but the tickets are very limited. Roland Møller, the director, the cinematographer, and the producer will be attending.
You’ve had a film at the Berlinale before. What do you think of the festival?
Last time I had a film here with Alone In Berlin, and I had a really really small part, so I couldn’t attend the screening. But since I live in Berlin, I attend the Berlinale for all the parties and I really like it. It’s very stressful, and you’re always busy, but at the end of the day it’s great to make connections and get to know people.
Have you always wanted to be an actor?
I think at the age of six or seven or eight, I wanted to be a football player, just like pretty much every single boy. Then I started acting at the age of 11 as a hobby, but I was really into it and wanted to do it so bad. Then at the age of 15 I realised that I wanted to do this as a job.
What is your favourite thing about acting and being on set?
What I love is that you’re in a very close situation with a lot of people that you get to know and you are close with. You travel a lot. On set it is like a microcosmos, where nothing outside matters. It’s only you and the role and the topic. That’s what I love about it, you can dig deep into it and forget everything around you.
Who would be your next ideal director to work with?
I don’t want to limit it down to one, but I would say Thomas Vinterberg, Martin Scorsese and maybe Sebastian Schipper.
Photography by Stefan Dotter
Styling by Rachael Rodgers
Makeup by Nora Belovai
Hair by Noriko Takayama