Anika Decker is the most successful German screenwriter and also one of the bravest: she is currently suing Til Schweiger and Warner Bros. In “Die Boss” she reveals whether she would work with Schweiger again and why she hides feminist themes in her films.
Anyone who loves German comedy cannot ignore Anika Decker: the screenwriter is behind hit movies like “Keinohrhasen”, “Rubbeldiekatz” or “Traumfrauen” and is responsible for the concise humor of these films. However, Decker is currently in the headlines because of her spectacular lawsuit against Til Schweiger and the production company Warner Bros. It’s about a fairer share of the millions in revenue from “Keinohrhasen”. In the star podcast “Die Boss” she tells, among other things, why she dared to bring one of the most powerful men in the industry to court.
“I only learned for myself: money is respect. Payment is a form of respect,” says Decker in an interview with hostess Simone Menne. She has the possible consequences clearly in mind: “I firmly believe that I will get fewer orders as a result or that many people will no longer work with me because I am ‘uncomfortable’.” She was recently able to achieve partial success in court, the production companies have to give her insight into the income. Then it goes on in a so-called step action.
Decker, who also works as a director, also talks in the podcast about her time in an induced coma and rehab after severe blood poisoning, which she worked on in her first novel. “I just walked down some red carpet and then – boom – I was lying in this bed. You always say: In good times and in bad. And to actually experience that before you are 80 years old was an experience that made me totally blown away. To experience the love of my family or my close friends in the situation where I couldn’t do anything at all, that had to be described.”
Her new film Liebesdings, a romantic comedy starring Elyas M’Barek, will be released on July 7th. In it, Decker breaks with the usual and lets the love story play out in the feminist scene, sending her main character to queer parties, for example. “I didn’t feel like writing the cliched macho who comes into this world. I find him absolutely outdated as a male character. I don’t even want to see him in real life anymore!” You can find out more about the film and whether Anika Decker would work with Til Schweiger again despite the lawsuit in this episode of “Die Boss”.
In “The Boss – Power is Female” top women talk to each other: hostess and multi-supervisory board member Simone Menne (including BMW, Deutsche Post DHL, Henkel) meets female bosses from all areas of society to talk to them about their lives and careers. “Die Boss” appears fortnightly on Wednesdays on stern.de and the stern YouTube channel as well as on Audio Now and all common podcast platforms.
