"It was terrible" Actress Andrea Sawatzki on her first meeting with her current husband
Was it love at first sight? "No, not at all. It was terrible," Andrea Sawatzki remembers the first time she met her current husband Christian Berkel. Nevertheless, the two married in 2011.
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- Andrea Sawatzki and Christian Berkel have been one of the best-known actor couples in the German-speaking film industry for almost 30 years.
- The couple met in 1998 while filming on the North Sea coast and married 13 years later.
- Since then, Sawatzki and Berkel have had a scandal-free relationship - away from the film sets and sometimes in front of the cameras.
- The film "A Taxi for Two", which will be shown by ARD on Friday, January 16 at 8.15 p.m., is strikingly reminiscent of their real-life relationship, which was marked by stumbling blocks.
Sharing everyday working life with your spouse: For many, this is not an ideal. For Andrea Sawatzki and Christian Berkel, apparently it is. At least occasionally.
After "Scheidung für Anfänger", "Sportabzeichen für Anfänger" and "Entführen für Anfänger", the actor couple can now be seen together again in a turbulent comedy.
"Taxi für zwei" is the title of the film, which will be shown by ARD on Friday, January 16 at 8.15 pm.
Andrea Sawatzki: "It was terrible"
Andrea Sawatzki and Christian Berkel have been one of the best-known acting couples in the German-speaking film industry for three decades. The two TV stars married in 2011.
However, the now 62-year-old actress and author and her husband, who is five years her senior, had already met in 1998 while filming on the North Sea.
The film was called "Death on Amrum" of all things - "but we're both still alive," joked Sawatzki when she was recently asked about that fateful shoot in the ARD pub talk show "Inas Nacht".
When asked by host Ina Müller whether it was love at first sight, the former "Tatort" star answered clearly: "No, not at all. It was terrible."
She had already noticed Christian Berkel unpleasantly at the airport when he arrived with two large suitcases. "He just wants to go to Amrum like me," was what went through her mind. "I only had one small suitcase. Then I thought: what kind of suitcase is that?"
Misunderstanding brought Berkel into disrepute with Sawatzki
She also knew that Christian Berkel was divorced at the time. "We were the only two adults in this thriller. Otherwise, only teenagers were in it," Andrea Sawatzki recalled on "Inas Nacht". She continued: "I thought: now I have to spend four weeks on an island like this with someone who is going through a divorce."
She herself was also separated at the time. "I would have liked to have met someone. But this man came with the two big suitcases and I thought: Oh, my God!"
However, it later turned out that the two suitcases were full of books. "That was because Christian reads a lot," said Sawatzki. She had mistakenly thought "this is someone who changes his clothes ten times a day".
Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, her professional colleague immediately seemed much more attractive: "I thought it was great that someone would take two huge suitcases of books with them. And thinks he doesn't need anything else - until he meets me."
Berkel is a misanthrope, Sawatzki the romantic
Since then, Andrea Sawatzki and Christian Berkel have had a scandal-free relationship - away from the film set and sometimes in front of the cameras. The current ARD film "A Taxi for Two" is strikingly reminiscent of their real-life relationship, which was characterized by stumbling blocks.
Berkel plays the seemingly emotionally cold misanthrope Gregor Basil. The curmudgeon is a writer, albeit a little more successful, at least with the books he writes under his own name. The cheesy romance novels he writes - and hates - under the pseudonym "Vanessa Fox", on the other hand, are bestsellers.
Basil gets into the cab of the fun-loving, romantic Elke (Sawatzki), in which, as so often, the cheesy soundtrack of the French teen romance "La Boum" is playing: The stage is set for the first delicious verbal exchange, which will be followed by many, many more.
Gregor is used to leaving his fellow men speechless with his brusque, dismissive manner. But with the quick-witted, good-humored fairy Elke, he has met his ultimate opponent.
Gregor's publisher Caroline (Lavinia Wilson) has an idea: a woman who embodies Vanessa Fox is needed. And that's where Elke comes into the picture. She could do with a cash injection and so, despite her aversion to Gregor, gets involved in the game of lies.
It's going to be fun until the awards ceremony, for which Gregor not only has to brief Elke, but also dress her. By the end, Elke has internalized her role to such an extent that the quarrellers even discuss which of them is the real Vanessa ...
