Rabbit Without Ears

Rabbit Without Ears (Keinohrhasen)
German promotional picture
Directed by	Til Schweiger
Produced by	Til Schweiger Thomas Zickler
Written by	Til Schweiger Anika Decker
Starring	Til Schweiger Nora Tschirner
Music by	Stefan Hansen Dirk Reichardt Mirko Schaffer
Edited by	Charles Ladmiral
Distributed by	Warner Bros.; SevenOne International
Release dates	20 December 2007 (2007-12-20)
Running time	115 minutes
Country	Germany
Language	German
Budget	€4,200,000
Box office	$74,000,000

Rabbit Without Ears (German title: Keinohrhasen, lit: No Ear Rabbits), is a 2007 German romantic comedy film, written, produced and directed by Til Schweiger. Co-written by Anika Decker, and starring Nora Tschirner and himself, the story of the film revolves around yellow press reporter Ludo and his ex-classmate Anna, who reconvene after years when he is sentenced to 300 hours of community service at her day-care facility.

Produced by Barefoot Films and Warner Bros., the film premiered in theaters across Germany on 20 December 2007, and became a surprise box-office hit, eventually grossing $74,000,000, mostly from its domestic run. By 20 April 2008, Keinohrhasen had reached over six million viewers, ranking it sixth on the list of the most successful German films in Germany since the beginning of the audience census in 1968.^[1] Also a critical success,^[2] the film was awarded the Goldene Leinwand, a Bogey Award, the Deutscher Comedypreis and a Bambi and received a nomination for the Audience Award at the European Film Awards 2008.^[3]

A sequel, entitled Rabbit Without Ears 2 was released on 3 December 2009.

Plot

Ludo Decker (Schweiger) is a Berlin based yellow press reporter. With his photographer Moritz, his daily routine is to spy on celebrities for the tabloid Das Blatt. He also uses his work for frequent sexual contacts with his objects of interest.

When heavyweight boxer and celebrity Wladimir Klitschko is about to toast his fiancee Yvonne Catterfeld at their engagement party, Ludo and Moritz are on the scene to report about it. Ludo breaks through a glass dome of the party venue, falls into the cake and is subsequently sentenced to 300 hours of community service at a daycare center.

There he meets Anna Gotzlowski (Tschirner), the center's manager. Anna grew up in the same neighborhood as Ludo and used to be picked on and mocked by him. She gets her revenge by appointing him to perform humiliating tasks. Ludo cannot fight this as his parole is at stake. Still, he is interested in one-night stands, and has an affair with a child's mother who frequents the facility.

After a while, the tensions between Anna and Ludo dissipate and the two become friends. When Anna's date with another man goes awry, she appears at Ludo's flat seeking comfort. The two of them end up in bed, yet Anna's hope that this could develop into something more serious is destroyed for the time being. Ludo sees her only as a friend, until Anna soon starts dating actor Jürgen Vogel, whom she meets in a park. After Ludo writes about her attending the German Film Awards ceremony with Vogel, describing her as the most beautiful woman around, he is fired by his editor.

In the end, Ludo realizes that he feels more for Anna than he had previously thought. During a children's festival at a local theatre, he crashes a performance and swears his love to Anna, who sits in the audience with the children. After his discharge from the tabloid paper, he takes up work at Anna's facility.

Cast

• Til Schweiger as Ludo Decker, a well-known yellow press reporter and libertine who is sentenced to three hundred hours of social work in a local day-care facility run by his ex-classmate Anna Gotzlowski.^[4] Ludo is Latin for "I play". His character was conceptualized as a "comedic tour de force" for Schweiger.^[5]
• Nora Tschirner as Anna Gotzlowski, Ludo's ex-classmate and head of a day-care facility for children, who initially harbours an improbable resentment of Ludo, having not overcome his teasing over 20 years ago.^[4] Schweiger created the role of Anna specifically with Tschirner in mind, citing her "one of the best screen actresses in Germany."^[4]
• Matthias Schweighöfer as Moritz, a paparazzo and friend of Ludo.^[4]
• Alwara Höfels as Miriam Steinfeld, a colleague and friend of Anna.^[4]
• Barbara Rudnik as Lilli Decker, Ludo's elder sister.
• Paul Maximilian Schüller as Lollo, Lilli's son.
• Emma Tiger Schweiger as Cheyenne-Blue, a kid at the day-care facility.
• Lilli Camille Schweiger as Sacha, another kid at the day-care facility.
• Luna Marie Schweiger as young Anna
• Valentin Florian Schweiger as young Ludo
• Rick Kavanian, as the choleric chief editor of the tabloid Das Blatt
• Jürgen Vogel as himself
• Christian Tramitz as Anna's date.
• Wladimir Klitschko as himself.
• Yvonne Catterfeld as herself.
• Wolfgang Stumph as a taxi driver.
• Armin Rohde as Bello.
• Fahri Ogün Yardım as Mucki.
• Kai Lentrodt as a taxi driver.
• Sonsee Neu as a judge.
• Pasquale Aleardi as Ludo's attorney.
• Elena Uhlig as a hotel worker.
• Gregor Bloéb as Michi Nußbaumer, a folk musician.
• Nina Proll as Daniela Berg, Michi's partner.
• Anne-Sophie Briest as Mandy, a headline-making "Ministerluder".

Soundtrack

Music from the Motion Picture album

Keinohrhasen
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released	7 December 2007
Genre	Pop Rock Film music
Length	68:47
Label	Universal Music

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
CDStars	[6]

Track listing

1. "Mr. Brightside" (Jacques Lu Cont's Thin White Duke Mix) (The Killers) – 8:48
2. "Deepest Blue" (Deepest Blue) – 3:24
3. "Is It Love" (Stefan Hansen, Dirk Reichardt, Mirko Schaffer) – 2:18
4. "Anna & Ludo – Hold Me Now" (Rea Garvey) – 1:47
5. "Springtimes" (Stefan Hansen, Dirk Reichardt, Mirko Schaffer) – 2:56
6. "Lifeline" (Angels & Airwaves) – 4:16
7. "Autumn Leaves" (Stefan Hansen, Dirk Reichardt, Mirko Schaffer) – 1:42
8. "Everybody's Changing" (Keane) – 3:35
9. "Looking for Atlantis" (Prefab Sprout) – 4:03
10. "Rain" (Stefan Hansen, Dirk Reichardt, Mirko Schaffer) – 1:18
11. "I Still Remember" (Bloc Party) – 4:20
12. "Liquid" (Stefan Hansen, Dirk Reichardt, Mirko Schaffer) – 1:43
13. "Everything's Magic" (Angels & Airwaves) – 3:51
14. "Some Time" (Stefan Hansen, Dirk Reichardt, Mirko Schaffer) – 1:59
15. "Sad Song" (Au Revoir Simone) – 4:07
16. "Apologize (Timbaland presents OneRepublic) – 3:04
17. "A Rainy Day in Vancouver" (Stefan Hansen, Dirk Reichardt, Mirko Schaffer) – 1:38
18. "Rocket Brothers" (Kashmir) – 5:27
19. "Perfect Circle" (Stefan Hansen, Dirk Reichardt, Mirko Schaffer) – 2:57
20. "Cheyenne Blue" (Stefan Hansen, Dirk Reichardt, Mirko Schaffer) – 1:40
21. "Der Zauberlehrling" (Junge Dichter & Denker) – 3:54

Charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

The title

While doing handicraft at the daycare centre, Ludo sews a stuffed rabbit without ears. As Anna criticises him for it, he points at the fact that another rabbit made by the child Cheyenne-Blue has no ears as well. Anna thereupon claims that it is a Keinohrhase, a no-ears rabbit, which is able to hear through its nose. This scene was also used for the first teaser trailer.

A rare earless rabbit born in February 2012 at a zoo in Limbach-Oberfrohna, Saxony was named "Til", in reference to this film's title and its director. The baby rabbit was accidentally crushed when a television cameraman stepped on him, an event that was briefly the subject of international media coverage.^[11][12][13]

American remake

In January 2010, Schweiger sold the rights for the US remake of Keinohrhasen to Newmarket Entertainment; as he stated he hopes to direct the film and to engage Ben Affleck as leading man.^[14]

Awards

• 2008: Goldene Leinwand mit Stern for more than 6 million viewers
• 2008: Bogey Awards in gold for 3 million viewers within 30 days
• 2008: Ernst Lubitsch Prize
• 2010: Bronze Palm Award at the Mexico International Film Festival^[15]

References

External links

• Rabbit Without Ears at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website (German)