Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany. Photo courtesy of xlibber via Flickr.
With its abundance of ancient buildings, fairytale castles and medieval villages, Germany is full of film-worthy locations and while its contemporaries across the Atlantic are battling budget cuts and losses, the German film industry is thriving, receiving some of its highest box office revenue to date in 2012 and plowing the money back into production.
Germany might lack a standout on-screen moment like London’s Harry Potter connection or Croatia’s link with Game of Thrones, but movie fanatics will still find plenty of recognizable film locations dotted around the country. Berlin in particular, has a number of blockbusters to its name, including the 2004 hit The Bourne Supremacy which showcased Berlin’s slick modernist architecture, featuring sights like Alexanderplatz, Potsdamer Platz, the famous Grand Hotel and Oberbaum bridge, as well as shooting scenes at Berlin’s Tempelhof airport and Ostbahnhof (East Station).
Kate Winslet’s Oscar-winning performance in The Reader and 2006 Cold War drama The Lives of Others were both filmed at locations around Berlin; and Tom Tykwer’s 1998 classic Run Lola Run featured Berlin’s historic Oberbaumbrücke, and scenes shot on Friedrichstraße and Gendarmenmarkt. Even Bollywood has come calling – Indian megastar Shah Rukh Khan filmed his 2010 thriller Don 2 in the city.
Germany’s film production industry doesn’t just center around the capital – head south to Munich and you’ll find one of the largest and most renowned film studios in Europe – the Bavaria Filmstadt (Film City). With part of the studio open to visitors, it’s possible to go behind-the-scenes on a Munich City and Bavaria Film Studio Tour where you’ll get to see props and sets from Wolfgang Petersen’s film Das Boot, The Never Ending Story and Asterix and Obelix vs. Cesar, and even star in your own mini movie. The film studios also host a hair-raising stunt show, as well as showing film premieres and screenings in their multiple award-winning cinemas.
Bavaria also boasts a number of other film credits – the fairytale Neuschwanstein Castle near Munich was famously used as the inspiration for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle and was also seen in the classic musical film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as Baron Bomburst’s castle. Another Chitty Chitty Bang Bang location was the nearby Rothenburg ob der Tauber, one of Germany’s most picturesque medieval villages, which also hit the screens more recently as Gregorovitch’s residence in Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part I and II. Finally, don’t forget to pay a visit to Germany’s most famous meadow, located in Marktschellenberg near the Austrian border. Nicknamed the ‘Sound of Music Meadow’ this is the location of the famous opening scene of the Sound of Music, where Julie Andrews sings the famous line ‘the hills are alive with the sound of music’.
Just north of Bavaria, the romantic Rhine River Valley has also been immortalized on screen in a number of films, but the most famous is the magnificent 12th century Eberbach Abbey, used to shoot the interior shots for the 1986 The Name of the Rose, starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater.