09 March 2023 , 17:30
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It is the hot favourite for the Oscars after sweeping the board at the Baftas.
But German-language war film All Quiet on the Western Front could have been a very different proposition - after initially casting Daniel Radcliffe as the lead actor.
The film’s producer has told how the star agreed to play main character Paul Baumer in 2011 as one of his first projects after finishing the Harry Potter film franchise.
Scot Lesley Paterson, 42, said she was delighted to land the star and was convinced his signing would convince movie bosses to finally commit to making the World War One epic.
She said: “When we optioned the book 16 years ago, the landscape was so different. There’s no way you could have done a German-language, film and raised any money for it.
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“So we decided pretty early on, we would probably have to pitch it as English speaking with German accent.
“And we thought: “What names are going to raise finance? And at that time, Daniel Radcliffe was coming off the back of Harry Potter.
“And lo and behold, he read the script and loved it.”
Lesley remembers flying out to New York to meet him.
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter (Publicity Picture)“We had an overnight flight as we didn’t have any money to stay in the hotel and arrived in the morning, knocked on his door, and for a second we thought he wasn’t going to answer, but he did. And we went and had a cup of tea with him, and he loved the script.
“It was just bananas. And we were like, ‘oh my god, this is it. We’re going to get a film made.’”
But despite the thrill of securing Radcliffe’s services, Lesley said that his name failed to secure any film funding.
“We realised pretty quickly that although he’s a wonderful actor, he wasn’t right for this, and his name actually didn’t raise any finance,” she says.
“Because ultimately, what's made him known is the brand of Harry Potter and not him as an actor. And there’s a difference.
“These are all the business aspects of film that we learned on the journey.”
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Asked how Radcliffe would feel now with the film enjoying such success and hotly-tipped for the Oscars, Lesley said he would be “so supportive”.
She said: “He was so lovely. I bet you if I met him, he would just be like: 'Oh my God, that’s amazing!’ He would be so supportive of the fact that this was the right vision for this project and the fact the film would be in German.”
Lesley Paterson at the BAFTAs (Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock)The team finally secured funding from Netflix after director Edward Berger got involved with the reworking of Erich Maria Remarque’s 1928 novel of the same name, and the decision to go for all German speakers.
Felix Kammerer was cast as Baumer.
It won Best Film at last month’s Baftas as well as seven out of the 14 categories it was nominated in.
Now it is up for Best Film this Sunday as well as in eight other categories. No German film has ever been up for Best Film before.
Lesley said the film’s anti-war sentiment may strike a chord with Academy voters given the war in Ukraine.
“In terms of the voters, they tend to support politically resonating films in the belief that our industry can make a difference,” she says.
“The support for this film has always been huge in the UK, but the more people that watch the film in the States the better.
“After the Baftas, we are a little more confident.”