Thüringer Allgemeine Zeitung
March 25, 2002
By Markus Stelle

To be called "medieval looking" is generally not exactly a compliment. But for about 150 thuringians it may mean an unforeseen appearance onscreen. A lot of extras will be needed during the filming of the life of Martin Luther that will begin in April, some of it at the original scenes.

"Men with beards and long hair, people with prominent noses or ears", that's how Alexander Stahl imagines those medieval people. He has to select them. As the person responsible for the casting it's his job to put together the team of extras. Two weeks ago 450 applicants were already queueing at the public casting in Gotha and on the weekend at the Augustiner monastery another 80 were given the chance to apply. "As we are shooting scenes here in the monastery we wanted to give the people who work here and their families the possibility to play a part", Stahl explains.

Casting, in this case, is a short interview and a photograph. These pictures will help decide who – in the weeks to come – will be allowed to play a monk, a nobleman, a soldier, a member of the town council or a peasant. Besides a small salary and the short screen time it is mainly the thought of meeting big stars like Peter Ustinov or Joseph Fiennes, who is to play the young Luther, that attracts people to the casting.

Alexander Stahl does not make a secret of the fact that the filming will not always be nice and easy – especially for the little applicants; he is also looking for children from six to twelve years. During the expensive - and therefore few - days of filming everyone involved will have to get up very early and – at least the adult members of the crew – go to bed very late. The crew will only spend five days in the monastery to catch a little bit of authentic atmosphere. Many scenes will be shot in other places – namely in Czechia, Italy, southern Germany.

And there's something else that probably scared away male applicants. Men cast as a monk will have to shave their hair to a tonsure. So if during the next weeks men in Erfurt are seen with that unusual hairdo then they were probably called by Alexander Stahl. And then, with a little luck you can see them in autumn on the big screen.