You’re a bit afraid of you in “Family Dinner”. How did you feel about your character in the script?
PIA HIERZEGGER: The request came at very short notice. I was completely exhausted from rehearsing for the research show at the Volkstheater. I only had time for it because of Corona. Before “Family Dinner” I had never done horror, I found both the role and the dialogue exciting. I had a feeling this would work. I was booked as the mother for both the movie “Breaking the Ice” and “Family Dinner”. The association: So now I’m of an age for aunts and mothers.
Does that annoy you?
It doesn’t annoy me. But I think there are a lot of stories about women in their 50s. It doesn’t always have to be about the mother of the protagonist, it could also be your own story. It’s not like “Family Dinner” isn’t an exciting role.
Best of all, you can be scary and unpredictable. And sneaky.
i’m just friendly
Her friendly smile is frozen. How hard was it to play that?
Strangely enough, I only noticed when I saw that I was smiling so friendly. Just reading the dialogues, you get the feeling that she totally cares. One does not know which goal she is pursuing. That’s why it wasn’t strenuous.
An overweight teenager comes to live with her aunt in the country. She wants to lose weight and is given a strict fasting program. Where is the horror in this story for you?
The horror lies in the stubbornness, in the ignorance of other opinions. In that you only believe what you have discovered for yourself, how you build the world including alternative facts. That this mother goes through with it, that’s the horror. Once the son says to the mother that nothing else matters to her at all. That too is horrifying.
Corona demos, fake news: How formative was reality for the shoot?
It helped, but of course it doesn’t have to be built into a story 1:1. The most exciting thing about a character is that you can develop a feel for it. And that’s what Peter (director Hengl) did.
The other level of horror is the super fine food your character dishes up especially for the son. Everyone else is fasting. How much gourmet excess is allowed?
I know that as an actress you always pay attention to how much you are – this disturbed interaction. That was interesting. It was reflected in such a way that Michael Pink prepared for the film, trained intensively and fasted for so long that I felt like I had to be part of it. It can’t be that I say: “Nobody is allowed to eat anything!” And you take it from him and not from me.
Also?
We ate little and slept little during the shoot because we often shot at night. I was pretty drained, but maybe that helped: the horror was in this desperation the whole time. I felt like I was just functioning.
It was your first foray into horror. Will there be another?
I’m interested in the relationships, the play with the other characters, the additional level of realism. If I feel like it’s just genre, I can’t relate to it. This doesn’t just apply to horror, but to every genre. It bores me when it is well fulfilled. I’d love to play something shady sometime, as well as something sweet. It is not up to me.
You play something sleazy in “Family Dinner” too! What would love be?
Not necessarily a victim, but a warm person. I don’t play that very often. Maybe the others know I can’t.
If you look back on your career: Have female figures become more diverse, apart from lovers, mothers, victims?
Yes, that’s because a lot more women are writing female roles. I recently saw a play at the theater in Germany that I wrote 15 years ago and I was shocked! A lot has progressed for me and in society. Luckily.
You are an actress, presenter and screenwriter. Would you like to direct yourself?
I’ve been writing for a long time and I’ve often been a co-director in the theater. I’ve been fortunate twice that books of mine have been made by people I respect very much, and yet there’s a desire to try it out for myself. It’s a personal story. A film about three women my age. It’s maybe a bit inflationary, a lot of actors and actresses are directing. But if you’ve never tried it, you might get annoyed. Just take a look.
Which projects are pending?
I wrote the sequel to the Carinthian country thriller “Waidmannsdank”. Filming begins in February.
Tell us more!
Jutta Fastian is also back as an investigating police officer. Daniel Prochaska is directing again. We are shooting around Lake Ossiach and at the moment the film is called “Unto my soul is cold”, which is a quote from a poem by Christine Lavant.
