{"id":9819,"date":"2018-08-07T09:00:39","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T13:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2018-08-08T09:02:12","modified_gmt":"2018-08-08T13:02:12","slug":"das-boot-ready-for-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/das-boot-ready-for-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Das Boot: Ready for Battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sonar Entertainment\u2019s David Ellender and Bavaria Fiction\u2019s Moritz Polter discuss with<\/em> TV Drama the co-production <\/em>Das Boot.<\/em><\/p>\n

Three powerhouses in the television landscape\u2014Sonar Entertainment, Bavaria Fiction and Sky Deutschland\u2014have come together for Das Boot<\/em>, an event series inspired by Wolfgang Petersen\u2019s Academy Award\u2013 and Golden Globe\u2013nominated film and Lothar G\u00fcnther Buchheim\u2019s best-selling novel of the same name.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith three strong partners working in close collaboration in every sense, the series has many selling points: iconic, instantly recognizable source material; an epic, universal storyline with a compelling and tense dramatic arc; a feature-film-level budget; the highest possible production values; and a strong international cast and production team,\u201d says David Ellender, the president of global distribution and co-productions at Sonar Entertainment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a great property, an incredible brand, and it absolutely fits Sonar\u2019s strategy, which is looking for drama in the convergence of theatrical film and TV fiction,\u201d he adds. \u201cThere are many elements of this particular project that we felt suited us creatively as \"***Image***\"well as commercially, so obviously, it was a tremendous opportunity that we grabbed straightaway.\u201d<\/p>\n

The eight-part event series picks up shortly after the 1981 feature film leaves off. It is set in fall 1942 in occupied France, as U-612, led by Commander Hoffmann, is about to make its maiden voyage into battle. Das Boot<\/em> also follows a storyline on land, as Simone Strasser\u2019s world begins to spiral out of control when she finds herself tangled in a love affair that has her torn between the two sides of the war.<\/p>\n

The central storylines of Das Boot<\/em> were shot in La Rochelle, France, one of the locations where the original movie was filmed. Filming also took place in Prague, Munich and Malta, both on the open sea as well as in a water studio, and a period-era U-boat was transported from Malta for the project. The series was filmed almost equally in three languages, with a budget of nearly $33 million.<\/p>\n

Ellender adds that shooting in La Rochelle brought authenticity to the event series. \u201cSome of the back streets of La Rochelle are like a movie set,\u201d he says. \u201cYou believe you\u2019re actually back in the 1940s, and it\u2019s not constructed; it\u2019s part of the city. From a cinematography standpoint, there are some stunning visuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought it would be best to do a sequel rather than a remake, because why remake a masterpiece?\u201d says Moritz Polter, executive producer of international TV series at Bavaria Fiction. After deciding to move forward with Das Boot<\/em>, the company sought partners to help bring the project to fruition.<\/p>\n

\u201cSky Deutschland was the first to come on board, and they very quickly said their sister companies in the U.K. and Italy were also interested,\u201d Polter explains. \u201cThat [partnership] covered the main territories in Europe outside of France, and we were able to get a nice portion of the financing settled.\u201d The next step for Bavaria Fiction was to find a U.S. collaborator that could serve as a production and distribution partner.<\/p>\n

Sonar Entertainment was the clear choice. \u201cSonar aligned perfectly in terms of the themes that we wanted to touch on,\u201d Polter says. \u201cI had prior relationships with Sonar. We approached them because we felt they were perfect as a distributor since they have a lot of tentpole projects such as Taboo<\/em> and The Son<\/em>, but also because they are a real producer in their own right, and we wanted a North American view to help create and better the project.\u201d He notes that Sonar was instrumental in securing top American talent for in front of the camera, adding to the creative role the U.S. company played in the co-production.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe experience that Sonar has in international production means we have a better understanding of different cultures and ways of approaching things,\u201d Ellender says. \u201cHaving that appreciation for different methods makes it, to some degree, slightly easier and smoother. There was alignment on the creative issues, so there were fewer areas where we were bumping heads, and therefore it was a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellender emphasizes that when producing a project with the scope of Das Boot<\/em>, it is critical to work with \u201clike-minded entities, because you don\u2019t want to be in a position where you have to compromise. Further, a co-production model is an inevitability with a project that has a scale of this nature\u2014this is a Europe-wide story. You need partners from creative and commercial standpoints.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Ellender and Polter credit a strong storyline and script for drawing leading international talent such as Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex<\/em>), Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men<\/em>), Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread<\/em>), Tom Wlaschiha (Game of Thrones<\/em>) and August Wittgenstein (The Crown<\/em>). Other cast members include Thierry Fr\u00e9mont, Rainer Bock, Robert Stadlober, Stefan Konarske and Rick Okon, who stars as the new commander of U-612.<\/p>\n

Ellender and Polter are hopeful that the project will return for future seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sonar Entertainment\u2019s David Ellender and Bavaria Fiction\u2019s Moritz Polter discuss the co-produced event series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":477,"featured_media":9820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,70],"tags":[2203,1031,2484,810],"class_list":["post-9819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-profiles","category-top-stories","tag-bavaria-fiction","tag-das-boot","tag-moritz-polter","tag-sonar-entertainment","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nDas Boot: Ready for Battle - TVDRAMA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/das-boot-ready-for-battle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Das Boot: Ready for Battle - TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sonar Entertainment\u2019s David Ellender and Bavaria Fiction\u2019s Moritz Polter discuss the co-produced event series.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/das-boot-ready-for-battle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-08-07T13:00:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-08-08T13:02:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2017\/07\/2018-08-06-DasBoot.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"319\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sara Alessi\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sara Alessi\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/das-boot-ready-for-battle\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/das-boot-ready-for-battle\/\",\"name\":\"Das Boot: Ready for Battle - TVDRAMA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-07T13:00:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-08-08T13:02:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/3a30a856ec6d9cc2372bf054d26a0418\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/das-boot-ready-for-battle\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/das-boot-ready-for-battle\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/das-boot-ready-for-battle\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Das Boot: Ready for Battle\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\",\"name\":\"TVDRAMA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/3a30a856ec6d9cc2372bf054d26a0418\",\"name\":\"Sara Alessi\",\"description\":\"Sara Alessi is the associate editor of World Screen. 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