While the Wacken Open Air has just started and is attracting tens of thousands to the Schleswig-Holstein province, a fictional series will soon be dedicated to the festival. “The Legend of Wacken” is the working title for a six-part series that Florida Film is currently producing for RTL+. The shooting will obviously also take place at this year’s Wacken Open Air.
The series developed by Florida Film is inspired by true events and tells the story of the festival’s founders, played by Charly Hübner, Aurel Manthei, Sammy Scheuritzel and Sebastian Doppelbauer. Katharina Wackernagel, Marc Hosemann and Detlev Buck can also be seen in other roles. The material about the people behind and on the stages of Wacken Open Air was created in close cooperation with the founders Thomas Jensen and Holger Hübner.
“Wacken Open Air is a cult and a symbol of a very special attitude towards life and it was long overdue to tell this unique story in fiction,” says Hauke Bartel, Head of Fiction at RTL Germany. “We are delighted that, together with Florida Film, we can bring a piece of music history and the dream of two soldiers of fortune from the northern German provinces to RTL+ with such great creative people and an ingenious cast.”
Maren Knieling, Managing Director of Florida Film: “When you grow up in a village in the North German lowlands in the 80s, you want to leave as soon as possible – but as soon as you are there, you miss it. And that was exactly the ingenious trick of Thomas Jensen and Holger Hübner: Because the world was often too far away, they brought it to Wacken. A unique story that promises great emotions, hard drama and a lot of humor.”
Shooting is expected to continue until mid-November – and incidentally almost exclusively in Schlesweig-Holstein. Anne Solá Ferrer and Lars Jessen are responsible for production, the screenplays are by Ingo Haeb, Julia Melder, Lennard Eberlein and Frank Schulz. Directed by Lars Jessen (“Late Hour”, “Forever Summer 90”) and Jonas Grosch (“Mrs. Jordan Equals”, “Best Friends”). It is scheduled to be broadcast next year.