Germany’s culture minister has been forced to intervene over reports of a “climate of fear” dominating the country’s film sets after numerous allegations of bullying and abuse were made against one of the industry’s biggest stars.
Til Schweiger, a multi-award-winning actor and director, has been accused of intimidation, bullying, violent outbursts and verbal aggression on the set of his latest film, Manta Manta – Zwoter Teil. He directed the film, which has been a box office hit since launching in March, as well as starring in it and co-writing the screenplay.
Fifty people have given separate accounts of his alleged misbehaviour to the news magazine Der Spiegel. They include reports of his heavily drunken appearances on set, with some alleging that his bad behaviour had started a decade ago.
Claudia Roth, the culture minister, has demanded a “comprehensive investigation” into the reports and threatened to cut off state subsidies to film productions which failed to follow rules of worker protection. She said it was finally time for Germany’s cultural world to have its moment of reckoning, five years after the start of the #MeToo movement, arguing that closer attention must be paid to allegations of abuse in creative and cultural industries.
Schweiger, 59, one of Germany’s biggest film and TV stars best known to international audiences for his role as Sgt Hugo Stiglitz in Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 Inglourious Basterds, denies the allegations. So does the Munich production company Constantin Film, with which he made Manta Manta, which received more than €2.1m (£1.8m) in state subsidies.
Since Der Spiegel’s report, a number of other film industry workers have come forward and said a toxic atmosphere on set is not just confined to Schweiger’s films but is far more widespread.
“I am happy that this is now being discussed in public,” said Caroline Peters, a leading film and theatre actor who said it was often hard to distinguish between despotism and assertiveness on film sets. “No longer will individuals be forced to put up with this in isolation.”
Actor Nora Tschirner said the allegations had been “an open secret for years”. She called on those in positions of responsibility to act, adding: “I no longer want to be a part of it.”
Roth said action was long overdue.
“The creative and cultural industry is clearly susceptible to power abuse, sexualised assaults as well as the contravention of labour protection laws,” she told journalists in Berlin.
She called for a code of conduct to which film productions would have to abide or risk losing state subsidies from next year.
“I say quite clearly,” Roth added, without naming Schweiger, “even artistic geniuses or supposed artistic geniuses are not above the law. The times when patriarchal blokes abused their power positions in the worst sort of way should really be over. Even if it’s obvious that not everyone has understood this.”
A lawyer representing Schweiger said he denied the allegations. Some of the “issues” raised, were she said, “unknown” to her client, and others “insinuate issues that did not happen”. She accused Spiegel of repeating rumours that had been circulating for years and erroneously presenting them as fact. In a statement, Constantin Film said the accusations were “overwhelmingly incomplete and distorted, and in some cases were simply wrong”.
According to the accounts, Schweiger frequently appeared on set in the mornings having consumed alcohol and was sometimes drunk and aggressive. Crew members described their shock on seeing Schweiger strike a colleague in the face after that person had tried to prevent the inebriated actor from coming on to the set, telling him he was not in a fit state to work. They said Schweiger, who treated the crew “like serfs”, had often screamed at colleagues on the set of Manta Manta and physically harassed them.
Der Spiegel reported that working time limits were frequently exceeded, with accidents occurring possibly due to tiredness, as well as colleagues who were brought to “psychological and physical breaking point” by their experience of working with Schweiger, who “constantly blew his top” and put workers down. In Manta Manta one young extra reported being forced to spontaneously remove her bra for a scene for which she had not been prepared. Some said it was this incident in particular that prompted them to approach Der Spiegel.
Germany had appeared untouched by the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, which began in October 2017, despite myriad rumours about abuse by high-powered men.
Themis, an independent counselling centre, established in 2018 and financed by the German government, broadcaster ARD and the German Federal Film Board to provide mediation and advice to people in the creative industries who have experienced sexual abuse, has conducted around 2,000 consultations, although it has no legal power to act on allegations.
Its director, Eva Hubert, said the Schweiger allegations had triggered an overdue discussion about the need to improve work conditions on film sets in Germany. “It has made it clear, as we have long said, that the film industry is a long way from being free of sexual harassment and violence … This has made the topic prominent,” she told the broadcaster Deutschlandfunk Kultur.
Ferda Ataman, the government’s anti-discrimination commissioner, said the culture industry was “still in the stone age” and argued that weak workers’ rights were at the heart of the problem. “Only those who are employed have the right to defend themselves and if necessary prosecute their employers. Freelancers and those in bogus self-employment haven’t got a leg to stand on,” she said, adding that many film industry workers feared “landing on a blacklist” and failing to get any more work.
“We need valid discrimination protection, which we currently don’t have,” she said.
• This article was amended on 7 May 2023 to correct the spelling of Nora Tschirner’s surname.
