Daniel Brühl named partner at Amusement Park Film

Daniel Brühl, the German star of A Most Wanted Man, Rush and Marvel’s forthcoming Captain America: Civil War, is set to become a partner at Hamburg/Berlin-based production company Amusement Park Film.

Brühl will join forces with Malte Grunert and Klaus Dohle as a producer with the aim of finding, developing and producing material across both film and television. Their focus will be on English-language products.

The collaboration has been in the pipeline for some years following Brühl and Grunert’s first experience of working together on Anton Corbijn’s adaptation of John le Carré’s A Most Wanted Man (2014).

Brühl and Grunert are both attending the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 10-20) this coming week with their own projects.

Brühl will be in town to support Colonia, Florian Gallenberger’s thriller set in 1973 Chile in which he co-stars with Emma Watson. It receives its world premiere on Sunday (Sept 13).

Grunert will attend with director Martin Zandvliet for Land Of Mine, a Danish/German co-production set in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War. The film opens the new Platform section on Thursday (Sept 10).

Grunert said: “I always knew Daniel as a great actor, but as we got to know each other following the filming of A Most Wanted Man, we felt we shared the same taste and passion for working with talented filmmakers, at home in Germany as well as internationally.

“I think our networks of partners complement each other very well, as do our past experiences and approaches to the industry.

“Our chief aim is to grow the company by increasing the number of projects on our slate, with Daniel also actively working in a producer’s role, not necessarily only on projects he feels are interesting from an actor’s point of view.”

Brühl added: “For a few years now I have had the wish to involve myself in the creative and commercial process of filmmaking beyond my usual role as an actor.

“It was always clear that I wanted to do this in a partnership with people that shared the same taste and values. Being based in Berlin but working mostly internationally it took a while, but I am convinced I have now found the perfect partnership, both structurally as well as creatively.

“I am very excited and look forward to a good run and collaborating on many great projects with Malte Grunert and Klaus Dohle within Amusement Park Film over the next years.“

Whilst Grunert will continue to run the day to day business of Amusement Park Film and remain the MD, Daniel will join him and Klaus Dohle as an equal partner.

Dohle has been under his banner Erfttal Film an active producer and investor in the German industry for several years. With his partnership in Amusement Park Film he is broadening his approach towards international projects as well as allowing the company to grow and build a bigger and stronger slate of projects, across feature films and television.

Amusement Park Film was founded in 2009 by Malte Grunert, formerly head of features at Studio Hamburg. To date, Malte has produced 11 feature films, including A Most Wanted Man and David Mackenzie’s Perfect Sense.

The company also co-produced Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner and is in post-production on English/German co-production Remainder, debut of video-artist Omer Fast, based on a thriller by Tom McCarthy.

The current development slate includes new projects by directors David Mackenzie (Starred Up) and Lone Scherfig (An Education) as well as James Bond writers Purvis & Wade (Casino Royale, Skyfall).

Several TV projects are also in development.