First Official German Erdoğan Atalay-Fanpage, © Barbara Fuckner 2002-2011
www.erdogan-atalay-fanpage.de/
"EXPRESS"28-04-2002
"Talk on Sunday"
© Publication permitted in writing by author Horst Stellmacher - thank you!
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He’s the
intuitive man of the show. The one who will sometimes bend the rules. Always
quipping, always flirting a little. He does not like stylish guys, wears
denim and leather instead of a suit and tie. Turkish inspector “Semir
Gerkhan” in “Alarm for Cobra 11” – that is German actor Erdoğan Atalay
(born in Hanover to a German mother and a Turkish father). For the first time
he reveals to Sonntag-EXPRESS how he came to the show, what he thinks of a
female partner and what it is like to live in Germany, bearing a Turkish
name. Interview by Horst Stellmacher |
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EXPRESS: At the beginning of your career, did you ever
imagine you could one day be the face of the most successful German action show
?
Atalay: No, surely not. Initially, I wanted to do musicals, just
like Gene Kelly in “Singin’ in the Rain”. Unfortunately, my singing isn’t very
good, I was too small to be an ensemble dancer and too old to be a solo dancer (laughs).
Great preconditions for a career ! So I didn’t do that, attended drama school
instead and later did theatre.
EXPRESS: Now you have ended up in a rougher place.
How many baddies have you killed so far ?
Atalay: I never counted them. I shot an incredible number of people
and killed at least 30. That is never done in cold blood, but only when there’s
no other option left to stop the bad guy. Mostly the bad guy kills himself
before it comes to that, by manoeuvring himself into mortal danger and then not
getting out of it again.
EXPRESS: And how many cars have you wrecked so far ?
Atalay: Countless. Often they are prototypes straight from the
factory that would have been scrapped anyway.
EXPRESS: Was it problematic for you, when you held a
gun in your hand for the first time ?
Atalay: No. It is somewhat grotesque - even though I never spend
time in the military I know most weapons because of my job and, of course, know
how they work.
EXPRESS: With that you show that problems may be
solved with guns. That is some sort of glorification …
Atalay: You may say that to Arnold Schwarzenegger or Bruce Willis.
If someone is so feeble-minded to take our show for real, then he does not need
our series. He will loose it, no matter what.
EXPRESS: The action is quite American. But what
about sex ? Your character has quite a Spartan life in that regard.
Atalay: Not quite. Every now and again there’s a fling. And don’t
forget Semir’s long-time girlfriend Andrea, with her things get hot every now
and then.
EXPRESS: Soon your long-time partner Réné Steinke
will be leaving the show. What would you think of a woman as your new partner ?
Atalay: I did an episode with a female recently. She is funny, dreamy,
needs a lot of love. Has short legs, long ears and a cold nose. Her name is
Chayenne - but she is a lady dog. (Note from
webmaster: he’s talking about “Johannes”) But apart from that we
will stick with a male partner, because we tell the story of a male friendship.
EXPRESS: What is Cobra 11’s secret of success,
getting top ratings year after year after year ?
Atalay: It was Germany’s first own action series. In the beginning
viewers were curious what it would be like: German action on German Autobahns
with German cars and German actors. It was received with critical good will.
That would no longer be possible today. When a new action series is released
today, it has to be perfect.
EXPRESS: In the early days of “Cobra 11” the actors
seemed hardly to matter, people only paid attention to the action. Has that
changed ?
Atalay: Fortunately it has. The action is surely still a big part
of the success, but we have long ago become equally important.
EXPRESS: Do you lose your good reputation as an
actor, when you do episodic television ?
Atalay: No. After all it is your work that you are measured by.
Besides, there is more of me on TV – on 16 May, for example, the action movie
“Maximum Speed” is aired, which I filmed in Berlin. It has nothing to do with
“Cobra 11”.
EXPRESS: How do you see your character in “Cobra 11”
?
Atalay: I am not interested in action heroes who are not afraid.
You have to see the human beyond the character. We show that we are afraid
before we kick in a door. And if we climb up the outside of a building you can
see that we are not comfortable doing this. We do it to rescue someone, not
because we enjoy action.
EXPRESS: Your father is Turkish and you have a
Turkish name. Do you think that has influenced your career - either positively
or negatively ?
Atalay: Neither. The character I play does have a Turkish name,
but he is assimilated. In the beginning there was talk about maybe heaving him
talk with a Turkish accent, but I did not want that. Because he has German
roots, like million others have as well. Only in Germany are foreigners still
given special status. Even in the USA everyone has settled down and is no
longer viewed as having special status.
EXPRESS: Are you a star in Turkey ?
Atalay: Yes, they also show “Cobra 11” there. The show is so popular that when I visited Turkey it was on the news there. Despite the fact that I hardly speak Turkish.
EXPRESS: Did you ever have negative experiences in
Germany, because people saw a Turk in you ?
Atalay: In Berlin the officials once did not want to extend the
validity of my passport because the official in charge thought I had illegally
obtained German citizenship 35 years ago. Totally insane arbitrariness of
officials! And once I was bullied on the streets and someone said to me “Go
back to where you came from”, which did not make sense at all, because I was
born in Hanover.
Notes:
The man who walks through fire: Erdoğan Atalay
(Erdoğan means “born as a soldier”). In Cologne he is filming (for most
part of the year), in Berlin he relaxes. He is engaged to actress Astrid Ann
Pollmann. Hobbies: deep sea diving, rollerblading, horse riding.
Interview online 19-01-2005
So many thanks to Ute Lafin for translation !!