Milla Jovovich, Christoph Waltz and Orlando Bloom: Hollywood shot in Würzburg in 2010. Over 300 Main Franconians were allowed to play. Heribert Kadletz even gave a celebrity wine tips.
The Würzburg night watchman recently introduced him to tourists as “our film star” when he happened to see him on a tour of the city on the Old Main Bridge: Heribert Kadletz still enjoys local fame ten years later. “It was a great experience,” the 70-year-old remembers the filming in September 2010.
At that time, Hollywood filmed the Alexandre Dumas classic “The Three Musketeers”, that famous story about bravery, intrigue, friendship and heroism, with great fuss in several places in Bavaria. Würzburg stood upside down for two weeks. More than 300 women and men from the area got hold of an extra role. Thousands of onlookers lined up to catch a glimpse of Hollywood greats like Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom or Christoph Waltz.
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Heribert Kadletz was very close with his leading role. As a valet, he was allowed to support the scheming Cardinal Richelieu alias Christoph Waltz on his way through the courtyard garden and residence and put on the red coat and cloak. Director Paul W. Anderson has staged him five or six times (“I don’t remember exactly anymore”). A photo that documents the performance hangs in the living room at home. He still distributes copies of it every now and then – “naturally with my autograph,” smiles the retired employment agent.
School children were chauffeured by taxi
At that time there was a state of emergency in Würzburg. Historic buildings such as the fortress or the residence (including the courtyard) are temporarily inaccessible, thoroughfares such as the Balthasar-Neumann-Promenade are blocked for days, modern street lamps are dismantled. And the locals also have to do without the 400 parking spaces at Residenzplatz for over a week. They endure the limitations with an astonishing amount of long-suffering. Even the closure of the Old Main Bridge, which also serves as a backdrop, cannot dampen the mood. On the contrary: schoolchildren are happy to be chauffeured to the other bank of the Main by taxi at the expense of the film production.
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“The people of Würzburg are really proud to be part of the project,” said Peter Oettinger, head of tourism at the time. Even if the residence in the film is not the residence, but is alienated to the Louvre in 17th century Paris, and the fortress embodies the Buckingham Palace in London, advertising for the city is priceless, according to Oettinger. Last but not least, the hotel industry in the region also benefits: a good two dozen guest houses accommodate the 350-strong film crew during the two Würzburg weeks.
“In Würzburg even the paparazzi ask if they can photograph the stars.”
Robert Kulzer, producer “The Three Musketeers”–
After word got around that Orlando Bloom, accompanied by his wife at the time, the heavily pregnant model Miranda Kerr, lived in the Steinburg and worked out his fitness in the Adami bathroom, a few Hollywood fans with their cell phones stopped by. But everything within the framework. “In Würzburg even the paparazzi ask if they can photograph the stars,” says producer Robert Kulzer, commenting on the considerate sympathy. Orlando Bloom knows what he owes his fans: He willingly poses for photos and signs autographs on Residenzplatz. The “Orlando, Orlando” calls don’t want to stop there.
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Around 300 extras come even closer to Hollywood. Six weeks before the start of filming, hundreds of interested people queue in front of a Würzburg discotheque to be cast for an extra role. “From now on I was no longer allowed to shave,” recalls Heribert Kadletz, whom the agents had picked out for the role of minister. He bravely endures the mockery of his partner and work colleagues about the messy hair on his face, but then the rejection comes shortly before filming begins. One has enough ministers, it is said succinctly.
The dream of the film role seems to have been over when the casting agency again contacted Kadletz: Would he perhaps also play Cardinal Richelieu’s valet? “The red suit didn’t fit three candidates, I got it right away.” The next morning the time has come, at 6 o’clock we go into the make-up, then at noon the first meeting with Waltz. “Very personable”, so the impression. The extra is booked for four days in Würzburg for scenes in the courtyard garden and in the stairwell of the residence. Later there is even a day of shooting in Herrenchiemsee.
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The extra quickly casts off his reverence for the Oscar winner. They start chatting – about the Franconian wine. Waltz said he didn’t like a Würzburg Domina bottle that much, recalls Kadletz. “I then recommended a red one from Bürgstadt or a classic Silvaner.” Attempts to bring the Hollywood star a goat bag are prevented by strict security.
Photos taken together on set are also not allowed, nor are autographs. But Komparse Kadletz is resourceful. He succeeds in smuggling prints of pictures taken by a press photographer friend with the telephoto lens in the waistband of his valet costume from the extras changing room into the residence and hiding them in the toilet. “During a break in filming, Waltz then gave me five signatures.”
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Not every extra comes so close to the stars. Kadletz’s colleagues play gardeners, market traders and medieval ranks. Most of them embody soldiers of the blue robed royal or the black and red cardinal guard. Already uplifting, as they stand in their splendid costumes on the trellis on Residenzplatz. Here and there an extra grumbles about the long waiting times on the set, a fee of 55 to 90 euros for the twelve-hour day is not much compensation. But what outweighs the curiosity, the fun, to be able to immerse yourself in the world of Hollywood.
And so it is a big hello when Cineworld boss Lothar Michel invited the 300 Franconian amateur players to the cinema in early September 2011 on the occasion of the premiere of the 3D spectacle. In front of the screen, the extras remember their experiences during the shooting. The film screening itself is great fun. “There, there I am,” whispers through the audience when an extra recognizes himself. And despite all the alienation of the literary model and the original locations of the Musketeer novel: Main bridge, fortress, residence and courtyard garden come out impressively opulent in the finished film. Of the 1.2 million viewers who see the film in Germany, 65,000 come from the two major cinemas Cineworld and Cinemaxx in Lower Franconia.
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Meanwhile, Heribert Kadletz gets his film fame particularly crowned. At an extra demonstration of the “Musketeers” for friends, acquaintances and colleagues, his partner Kirsten Mittelsteiner gives him an Oscar. “Of course the one for the main actor.”
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