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Das Boot is a German television series produced by Bavaria Fiction for Sky One and a sequel to the film of the same name, based on Lothar-Günther Buchheim's book Die Festung, the…
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Investigate this subjectDas Boot is a German television series produced by Bavaria Fiction for Sky One and a sequel to the film of the same name, based on Lothar-Günther Buchheim's book Die Festung, the series focuses on events on land and sea in World War II.
Das Boot is a German television series produced by Bavaria Fiction for Sky One and a sequel to the film of the same name, based on Lothar-Günther Buchheim's book Die Festung, the series focuses on events on land and sea in World War II.
In late 1942, a mutiny occurs on U-612 against Captain Klaus Hoffmann, while French Resistance in La Rochelle recruit German translator Simone Strasser. In 1943, Captain von Reinhartz attempts to defect to America on U-822, while Hoffmann's loyalty to Germany is divided. The war continues to exert its forces on unexpected territories, neutral Portugal and Kiel, while Royal Navy Commander Swinburne pursues U-949 in the Atlantic. Opposition to Adolf Hitler gains strength from within the Kriegsmarine, and Hoffmann's conviction to save Germany takes U-330 in the thick of the Allied invasion of Italy.
In June 2015, it was announced that a television series adaptation of the 1981 film, Das Boot, would be made. In July 2016, it was further announced that the series would be in eight parts, to be directed by Andreas Prochaska and produced by Bavaria Fiction, Sky Deutschland and Sonar Entertainment. The series was based on Lothar-Günther Buchheim's book Das Boot (1973) with additions from Die Festung (1995).
The director of season one, Andreas Prochaska, explained that it was important for the series to maintain the anti-war stance and "explore the perennial theme of what war does to people", but it would not be possible to sustain "the original film's relentless focus on a submarine crew ... over an eight-part TV series". Therefore, the decision by the creators and co-writers, Tony Saint and Johannes W. Betz, to set the series in late 1942, "after the Allies have cracked the German military's Enigma code and can track the movement of their submarine fleets", enabled a foretelling of the impacts of these events, not only upon the U-boat crews but also their loved ones and others connected to them. Prochaska discussed the series as "[going] a step further than the film did" by adding the Resistance storyline, stating, "[it] gives a chance to bring in strong female characters".
The cast for season one, announced in September 2017, included Vicky Krieps, Tom Wlaschiha, Vincent Kartheiser, James D'Arcy and Thierry Frémont, Lizzy Caplan, Rick Okon, August Wittgenstein, Rainer Bock, Leonard Scheicher, Robert Stadlober, Franz Dinda, and Stefan Konarske.
In season two, Clemens Schick, Thomas Kretschmann, Michael McElhatton, Ulrich Matthes and Rochelle Neil joined the cast.
The new cast in season three included Ray Stevenson, Luise Wolfram], Elisa Schlott, Anna Schudt, Joana Ribeiro, Florian Panzner, Artjom Gilz, Jo Hartley, Fritzi Haberlandt, Johann von Bülow, Trystan Pütter, Franz Hartwig, and Ernst Stötzner who replaced Ulrich Matthes as Wilhelm Hoffmann. Jürgen Prochnow, who starred in the original film, was offered a role but refused.
Joining the cast season four are Sascha Geršak, Steffan Rhodri, Marco Leonardi, Wilson Gonzalez Ochsenknecht, Lara Mandoki, Stefan Murr, Benjamin Dilloway, Joshua Collins, and Rosalie Thomass, who replaces Luise Wolfram as Hannie Hoffmann Lessing.
From 2020, the series is filmed in 8K resolution. Cinematographer Armin Franzen explains that an advantage of the larger 8K format is not having to use wide camera lenses such as the 21mm when shooting inside the small enclosed interiors of the submarine sets. By using longer focal lengths, such as the 29mm, 35mm and 50mm, the subjects are brought closer to the camera, thus allowing the audience to "be closer to the characters' emotions" as the tragedies of war mount.
Filming for season one started on 31 August 2017 and finished on 20 February 2018. The budget was 33 million euro (USD 39 million). In December 2018, plans for a second season were announced. Malta, Germany (Munich), France (La Rochelle) and Czech Republic (Prague) were chosen for the location shooting.
Filming for season two began in April and completed in July 2019, taking place again in Malta, Prague and La Rochelle, and a new location, England. In England, specifically, Liverpool and Manchester were used for the scenes set in New York. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020 and it was no longer possible for the production team to travel to the Prague studios, some of the post-production work, such as visual effects and sound mixing, were completed by the remote work arrangement.
In season three, Prague was the location for the exterior scenes set in Kiel and Liverpool, while Malta was used for the interiors of Lisbon and Liverpool.
For the fourth season, filming of the six episodes began in June 2022 and wrapped in September 2022. The locations for season four included Kalkara, Marsa and Kordin in Malta.
With dialogue in German, French, English, Portuguese and Italian, the series features characters (e.g., Simone and Frank Strasser) who not only speak in multiple languages but also embody different language identities. German and British writers, Johannes W. Betz, Tony Saint, Colin Teevan and Judith Angerbauer, among others, collaborate to ensure that the nuances of the languages are appropriately translated and deployed.
For the opening theme, composer Matthias Weber added to composer Klaus Doldinger's anthem for the 1981 film "a simple piano" melody and "an underlying bass pulse". Working with director Andreas Prochaska in season one, their goal was to find a balance between the emotional and the abstract in order to express "a sense of loneliness" as well as "vast space". For the remainder of the score, Weber also wanted to achieve a contemporary feel in a similar way to Doldinger by employing only the sounds of the Haken Continuum without accompaniment and adding drone-like rhythms. After previewing the first episode of the series in 2018, Doldinger commented: "it was fascinating to see how the world of Das Boot is brought to life tog
Source: Das Boot (2018 TV series) (CC BY-SA)
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