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A biopic on Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is in the works.
Berlin production company AVE is in development on a feature film on Merkel — or “Angie” to her fans. Dirk Kurbjuweit, a journalist and author of two books on Merkel, wrote the screenplay for the feature film, which AVE’s Walid Nakschbandi will produce.
“She is charming and known worldwide,” Nakschbandi said in a statement. “She causes quite a stir, she gets involved. It’s time to film her life for a worldwide audience.”
Speaking to THR, Nakschbandi said the project was being set up as an international co-production but would likely be in German with a German actress playing Merkel. “But there is a lot of international interest in the project, so you never know,” Nakschbandi said, saying he was open to an international name playing the lead.
Kurbjuweit called Merkel “the most fascinating politician of our time,” adding that he has been “following Merkel’s political path for many years, critical, but always spellbound.”
AVE is looking to set up the film with an international cast. No word yet on who will play the chancellor. Release is planned for 2017, timed to Germany’s elections. Polls suggest Merkel, who has been chancellor since 2005, would easily win a fourth term.
AVE has revealed few details of the project, except to say it would explore both Merkel’s personal life and her astonishing political career. Born the daughter of a pastor in communist East Germany, Merkel trained as a scientist before the fall of the Berlin Wall thrust her into politics. She rose through the ranks to become Germany’s first female chancellor in November 2005.
As chancellor, Merkel has been both wildly praised and roundly condemned for her handling of Europe’s recent debt crisis, where she pushed for more austerity against calls for a bigger bailout of harder-hit eurozone countries.
AVE is currently in production on both a documentary and a feature film on Anne Frank.
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