Franz Rogowski Talks ‘Sex and Power’ in ‘Lubo,’ Finding His Confidence As an Actor: ‘I Am on My Way Now’
09.09.2023 - 09:01
/ variety.com
Marta Balaga In Giorgio Diritti’s film “Lubo,” based on Mario Cavatore’s novel “Il seminatore,” Franz Rogowski seduces as Lubo, a Yenish traveling performer, father and husband, who has to join the Swiss army in 1939. He is one hell of a charmer, although his passion has dark undertones. “Our take is more playful, but the book put more emphasis on the fact that this man impregnated over 100 women in Zurich.
He wanted to make sure his people would survive,” says Rogowski. In the film, Lubo finds out that while he was away, his wife died trying to save their children, taken away in accordance with the infamous national “re-education” program for “Children of the Road.” “He is a passionate man. But it’s also his revenge, in a way,” he adds.
“Many people have been describing my acting as very physical and my roles as ‘experimental,’ and I have been exploring sexuality before. But it’s just a human condition and a part of our life. Sex and power can be so closely intertwined.” With True Colors on board as the sales agent, “Lubo” is produced by Indiana Production, Aranciafilm, Rai Cinema, Hugofilm Features and Proxima Milano.
Recently seen in Ira Sachs’ “Passages,” Rogowski jumped at a chance to portray another “character of many colors,” as well as his decade-spanning search for missing children, one that constantly forces him to transform. “He is a stranger. Someone who is always alone, wherever he goes.
I knew that his story would also put me in that role. Swiss German is very different from the German I speak. Italian is not my language.