Ms. Speidel, in your new Christmas film “The Most Beautiful Gift” (December 13th, 8:15 p.m., ARD) you play a woman who tries to save her son’s broken marriage. She’s some kind of Christmas angel, isn’t she?
Absolutely, the whole thing is going in that direction. It’s about reconciliation and togetherness and, above all, about not only seeing all problems from your own perspective, but also taking others into account and setting out to understand their perspective.
Sounds like a Christmas message.
Absolutely, and that’s exactly what the author intended, after all it’s a Christmas film for the whole family.
You’ve been in the business for a long time – how many Christmas films have you made?
That was six if I can get it right. The first was many years ago with Heinz Hoenig, but the absolute bestsellers in my Christmas films are two others: one with Günther Maria Halmer and one with Henry Hübchen. These two are repeated regularly and, to my great joy, they are extremely well received by the audience.
To personJutta Speidel (70) took part in comedies like “Pepe, the Timpanic Horror” as a teenager. After training at a Munich drama school, she had her breakthrough in 1979 with the thriller “Fleisch”. Since then, it has been hard to imagine television screens without her. The series role as Sister Lotte in the long-running monastery hit “For Heaven’s Sake” was one of her greatest successes. Speidel has two daughters from previous relationships and lives in Munich, where she runs the Horizont association for homeless mothers and children.
Which classic is your favorite Christmas film?
You’ll laugh, but this is “Dance of the Vampires” by Roman Polanski. It’s not a classic Christmas film, but it’s been a tradition in my family for many years and we watch it every Christmas. We stopped for a few years because my grandchildren were too young for it, but now they are older and this year the tradition is being picked up again. “Dance of the Vampires” is incredibly funny, I love this film.
Can Christmas films be cheesy?
Sure, there’s always a bit of kitsch in a Christmas film. But you can’t overdo it, and we didn’t do that in our film. I think you can understand all the characters well, even without a lot of ringing and hallelujah. There are no chubby cherubs blowing the trumpets, and that doesn’t have to be the case. (laughs)
But it’s pretty human…
True, but that’s part of it. Otherwise it’s not a Christmas film. And of course it has a happy ending. We all urgently need something like that in these times, so a dose of optimism like we convey in our film is just right, I think.
Scene from “The Most Beautiful Present”: Navid (Ramin Yazdani) and Britta (Jutta Speidel) and are happy. | Image: ARD Degeto Film/Richard Kranzin
How are you celebrating Christmas this year?
We stay at home and make sure that as many of my family as possible are there. On Christmas Eve we have to split up a bit, but on Boxing Day we’ll be together at my place in Munich.
Which rituals do you definitely not want to miss?
On my homemade Christmas stollen. I bake six pieces every year and they are really good. (laughs) I prepared the stollen for the first time in a baking program with the top chef Eckart Witzigmann, and I’ve been baking it every year since then.
No cookies?
Nope, they always get rock hard for me. I can’t bake cookies.
Do you sing under the Christmas tree?
And yes, unfortunately wrong. (laughs) Also, we’re not text-safe, but we don’t care. We drink champagne and look at our candles, which are of course real. Artificial candles or electric ones or something like that don’t come into my house at Christmas.
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What’s on the table this year?
I don’t even know yet. There was a goose last year, but I’m not going to do that this year – I don’t feel like all that crazy effort in the kitchen.
Is it particularly beautiful in Munich at Christmas, perhaps more beautiful than in other cities?
I would say so, and if we are lucky enough that it also snows, then it will be beautiful in Munich. Only Salzburg and Vienna can keep up. (laughs)
And will you also meet up with your colleague and good friend Michaela May during the Christmas season?
But of course, the circle of friends that we both belong to has its own little Christmas party. We have been a clique for almost 40 years and meet every Christmas.
