Nikolai Kinski: Awakening Dreams

Nikolai Kinski is self-confident, successful, multi-faceted – and when he sleeps, he dreams of flying. At least that’s what the 48-year-old actor tells us in a video interview. He sits relaxed in front of the screen in his apartment, wearing headphones and drinking his morning matcha. While he looks like a normal Berliner-by-choice at this moment, Kinski has actually been shaking up the film industry for several years now. Time and again, he can be seen on the big screen in films such as Yves Saint Laurent and Point Break, or recently in season three of the series Vikings: Valhalla and the mini-series Masters of the Air.

But just this week, Kinski celebrated the premiere of another very special film project: Traumnovelle by director Florian Frerichs, based on the work of the same name by Austrian writer Arthur Schnitzler. In this erotic thriller, Kinski plays the seemingly tidy and exemplary doctor Jakob, who leaves the facade of bourgeoisie and morality behind to embark on a journey into Berlin’s underworld. While he starts exploring his desires, dreams and fantasies, the lines between reality and dream blur more and more. It’s a story of splendor and decay, kindness and revulsion, new beginnings, trust, and the power of the subconscious.

On this morning in front of his computer, Kinski tells SLEEK how he set out on a search for his own subconscious through the shoot itself, how Schnitzler keeps reappearing in his life, and why his dreams wake him up.

S: Hi Nikolai, what made you smile today?

Nikolai Kinski: My morning matcha. My girlfriend always makes it for me. So, she actually made me smile first.

S: This week, Traumnovelle was finally released. Were you nervous about the premiere?

NK: Of course, always. In fact, that’s also an aspect of what the film is about: It’s about confronting situations you’re afraid of, things that have an uncertain and unknown quality. Right before the premiere, I was naturally excited and curious to see how it would be received.

S: What specifically drew you to the role of Jakob?

NK: I have to say, the entire story itself intrigued me. The exploration of human sexuality and the hidden, darker sides of desire and dreaming—this whole world of Traumnovelle – was incredibly fascinating.

S: The film addresses the idea of removing a mask – what does this theme mean to you, and how did you reflect that in the movie?

NK: Masks are a topic that concerns all of us. It’s mostly about the facade we consciously or unconsciously build. Jakob is someone who, outwardly, seems to have everything under control: he’s successful, intelligent, and organized. But internally, it’s the opposite. He’s completely torn. Full of insecurities. He has hidden desires, longings, and things he can’t make sense of. I found it exciting to explore this tension between these extremes, between control and chaos, during filming and to search for and convey this energy within myself.

S: How did you prepare for this complex role?

NK: You could say I prepared for the role by sleeping a lot. I delved deeply and intentionally into my own dreams, practicing how to remember them, to find access to my subconscious. Through this, I also discovered lucid dreaming, where you become aware that you are dreaming and can consciously control your dreams. Sleeping is a gateway to our inner self; The more we engage with it, the better we can understand ourselves. I took this as an opportunity to do just that.

S: How did that show itself during the filming?

NK: At some point, filming felt like an extended dream. It can be helpful when the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur during shooting, and that was especially extreme with this movie. We filmed in Berlin so I could sleep in my own bed, but I was basically on set the entire time – we filmed up to 15 hours straight some days, so there wasn’t any time to decompress. Eventually, I even started dreaming as Jakob, processing the experiences of the shoot from his perspective.

S: What did you learn from the intense engagement with dreams?

NK: For me, it’s not about losing yourself forever in a dream world. Instead, by consciously engaging with yourself, you can become much more present and aware in waking life. It also showed me that there’s nothing to fear when you’re actually inside your subconscious. You’re allowed to think, say, do, try anything…flying – that’s my favorite activity when lucid dreaming.

S: Did you read Arthur Schnitzler’s Traumnovelle before filming as well?

NK: Of course. It’s amazing that Schnitzler wrote Traumnovelle 100 years ago, still it remains so relevant and modern. The way he explores these themes is timeless. That really impressed me.

S: Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut is also based on Schnitzler’s novel; how does this new version differ in its interpretation and execution?

NK: Although I’ve known Florian for over ten years, I initially turned the film down because I was unsure why one would want to revisit it after Kubrick. But Florian’s version, unlike Kubrick’s, stays very close to the original and its psychological depths. The story is set in modern-day Berlin, in a way that feels fresh and relevant while also incorporating many dreamlike elements of the novella.

S: I saw in your career that you’ve performed Schnitzler’s works in the theater before.

NK: Yes, it was the play Der einsame Weg. That was my first German theater production. Back then, 20 years ago, I came to Germany to connect with my roots. I was living in New York when 9/11 happened and I wanted to get away from the US. But at that time, I didn’t speak a word of German. So, Der einsame Weg, four years after I moved to Germany, was the first time I performed on a stage in German in front of 800 people. That was obviously quite different than a film shoot, where you can stop and do another take.

S: That sounds like it must have been very nerve-wracking for you.

NK: Yes, quite. That was definitely a milestone for me. But I’m also someone who always goes where I can grow the most. I’m just as scared as anyone else. But I find overcoming fear an incredibly fascinating process where you learn the most about yourself.

S: Did your past engagement with Schnitzler’s work help you prepare for the film?

NK: I’m sure it did. Actually, apart from Der einsame Weg, Schnitzler had already crossed my path. In Vienna, I was in a film about Gustav Klimt with John Malkovich. I played Egon Schiele, and it was directed by a wonderful Chilean director, Raúl Ruiz, who also used Traumnovelle as inspiration for that film. That was my first encounter with Traumnovelle. So, Schnitzler has definitely accompanied me over the years, and I already knew through these various experiences how deeply he delves into the human psyche and soul.

S: Did you feel like you got to know Berlin in a new way during the filming of Traumnovelle?

NK: Absolutely, yes. Florian is a true Berliner. He knows so many locations that you normally wouldn’t see in Berlin, and many of them are now featured in the movie. But we also shot a lot in Babelsberg. This created a surreal yet beautiful and impressive image of Berlin on two different levels: on one hand, you have the real Berlin at night, and on the other, the constructed set in Babelsberg.

S: Did you prefer shooting in the real Berlin or the film-set Berlin?

NK: Well, the raw and tight feel of real Berlin is just as much a part of the film as the artificiality of the film set. But there’s definitely something special about walking through this constructed film-set version of Berlin all alone. It’s eerie and completely unreal. There were times when I genuinely felt like I was in a dream. You’re there in the middle of the night; there’s no people around, no traffic, no sounds of life…You’re completely alone in a fabricated city.

S: Would you say that there’s still a part of Jakob in you today?

N: Most definitely, that’s the beautiful thing about being able to be other people.