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Oscar prize-winner Karl Markovics plays the part of the corvette captain and hard-line Nazi Wilhelm Petri in the UFA production 'Ship of No Return - The Final Voyage of the 'Gustloff''. Markovics also plays the main role in 'The Counterfeiters', which has just been awarded the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. In this film he brings to life the memories and experiences of a master forger, Smolianoff, who is imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp and forced to work for the Nazis, while in 'The Gustloff' he takes a diametrically opposed part. Corvette Captain Wilhelm Petri is itching for the opportunity to prove himself once again and to strengthen the German Navy with new strike power. But he is so obsessed that he underestimates the dangers lurking in the Baltic Sea, which is heavily mined, and it emerges that the enemy is closer than he thought. Speaking about his part in 'Ship of No Return - The Final Voyage of the 'Gustloff'', Markovics says: "It's interesting to see how a macho, military faith in invincibility leads to arrogance and, in the end, loss of contact with reality. Petri, as he is depicted in the script, is single-minded, insensitive, obsessed with his career and out of his depth. He is so convinced that he is in the right, he doesn't care at all whether other people like him. He's actually quite a pathetic figure, but I didn't want to portray the character in such a way that you end up feeling sorry for him. You should feel sorry for the 9,000 people who lost their lives in the disaster." ZDF Enterprises, co-producer of 'Ship of No Return - The Final Voyage of the 'Gustloff'', is handling worldwide marketing of the production, which cost over €15.2 million US dollars - making it the most expensive UFA project of all time. |
