people - With 'Lola runs' in the spotlight - Franka Potente turns 50
Franka Potente is just a few weeks before turning 50 and is in high demand as an interview guest in US media. This is due to her iconic role in "Run Lola Run." Under this title, the cult film "Lola rennt" by director Tom Tykwer came to American cinemas 25 years ago. The actress from Nordrhein-Westfalia looks back nostalgically in interviews.
What makes "Run Lola Run" timeless, a reporter from KTLA in Los Angeles wanted to know. "The film has a fast pace and a simple storyline. You have 20 minutes to save your friend - that has the same energy today as it did 25 years ago," Potente replied. With long, blond hair, she beams into the camera, the fiery red Lola-do had her put back on right after filming.
Lola runs without training
This was in the summer of 1997, when Potente was 23 years old and already had some film experience. Her career aspiration had been set since she was 15, she said back then. She studied acting in Munich for two years, and attended seminars at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York. Her first leading role was in the coming-of-age comedy "Nach Fünf im Urwald" in 1995. The breakthrough came with the critically acclaimed action thriller "Lola rennt," which started in Germany in the fall of 1998.
In the film, the red-haired Lola (Potente) has 20 minutes to raise 100,000 Mark and save her small-time criminal friend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu). Lola runs through Berlin in three versions - fast, with techno and digital effects. Each attempt is similar, but small changes have significant consequences.
Of course, Potente had to run a lot during filming, but she hadn't prepared for it. "I didn't even think about it," she told US trade publication "Variety" in June. Back then, she was still smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. She was carried away by the energy on set.
The hair color was more problematic. Her jet-black dyed hair had to be bleached eight times in a row. She couldn't wash her hair during filming because the red dye would have come out.
There was tension between the actress and director Tykwer at the time, they became a couple. At the same time, it was the starting point for Potente's international career. Her Hollywood debut came alongside Johnny Depp in "Blow" (2001), about the rise and fall of cocaine dealer George Jung in the 70s. She then worked with "Lord of the Rings" star Elijah Wood on the comedy "Try Seventeen." This led to a romance, but it ended after a few months.
Praise from Hollywood
The spy thriller "The Bourne Identity" (2002) and "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004) with Matt Damon as the amnesiac agent and Potente as his lover and savior followed. "Franka is really a very, very good actress," Damon praised her back then. "She is professional, disciplined, and talented. She works very hard, maybe that's a German trait."
In the fall of 2004, she packed her bags to seek her luck in Los Angeles. After barely a year, she returned to Berlin and continued working with international stars. US director Steven Soderbergh cast her with Benicio Del Toro in "Che" about the life of Cuban revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara in front of the camera.
Two children added to that.
Power took the leading role in the biographical drama "Beate Uhse - The Right to Love" (2011) about the sex entrepreneur. In that year, the actress, now living in the USA again, gave birth to her first child for the first time. In 2012, she married US actor Derek Richardson, whom she had met during the shooting of an episode of "Dr. House." A year later, her second daughter was born.
The American writer wrote her first novel "Slowly Becomes Day" (2014). In it, she describes the fate of a man in his forties who suddenly loses his job and his wife and seeks answers.
Then she moved behind the camera and presented her directorial debut "Home" in 2021. The setting is the poor, American hinterland, to which a man (Jake McLaughlin) returns after 17 years in prison. Oscar-winning actress Kathy Bates plays his sick mother. Long takes bring calm to the independent film. Power, as the running Lola, has already shown rapid tempo.
- Apart from her upcoming birthday, Franka Potente is frequently sought after by US media due to her iconic role in the American release of "Lola rennt."
- In Los Angeles, a reporter asked what makes "Run Lola Run" timeless, and Potente attributed it to the film's fast pace and simple storyline.
- In Munich, Potente studied acting and attended seminars at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York before gaining her first leading role in "Nach Fünf im Urwald" in 1995.
- Filmed in Berlin, "Lola rennt" follows Lola's (Potente's character) attempts to save her friend Manni within 20 minutes, with three versions showcasing small differences leading to significant consequences.
- During filming, Potente didn't prepare for the running scenes, and her black hair needed to be bleached eight times to achieve the fiery red color for Lola's distinctive look.
- In "Blow" (2001), Potente debuted in Hollywood alongside Johnny Depp, and later starred in the comedy "Try Seventeen" with Elijah Wood.
- Damon, who worked with Potente in "The Bourne Identity" (2002) and "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004), praised her as a talented, professional, and hardworking actress.
- Potente relocated to Los Angeles in the fall of 2004 but returned to Berlin a year later, continuing to work with international stars and celebrities.
- Potente directed her first film "Home" in 2021, a calm independent film set in the American hinterland, with Kathy Bates playing a significant role.
