Katja Studt: Mentor Dieter Wedel "really gave me great advice"
With the TV three-part "Wild West inclusive" (1988), the then 13-year-old from Hamburg, Katja Studt (44) became a celebrated child star. Director of the sensational production - at that time the most expensive German television game - was Dieter Wedel (76). Even after this collaboration, he remained for a long time the mentor of the student, who ended up only by a coincidence in television.
In an interview with the news agency spot on news, the actress, who appears on Thursday in the comedy "Ironically Sylt" (May 3, 20:15 clock, ZDF) explains how she was when she heard of the shocking allegations , who became loud at the beginning of the year against their former supporters - several women accuse the director of having sexually harassed her. In conversation, Katja Studt also reveals how she was fated as a child star at the time and whether her two nine and four-year-old daughters would also be allowed to go to the camera if they wanted to.
Your first role you had in the three-part "Wild West inclusive" by director Dieter Wedel. What do you think about the movie today?
Katja Studt: At the time I was not aware of what that was. Neither my parents nor anyone else around me had anything to do with the film industry. The newspaper with the ad, to which I then boldly applied, I just coincidentally in the hands of a homework. Maybe it was destiny. That it then was a project with Dieter Wedel, who was a very respected director back then, was of course a coincidence. It was a great project that has shaped me for life. The actors and the crew that were there at the time were all so great. I thought that's how it always is.
How surprised were you when you heard about the allegations against Dieter Wedel for the first time?
Studt: That shook me up a lot. I would never have thought that. I was confronted with something that I did not even think about at the time. When I worked with him, I was 13 and still very childish, and he still cared for me artistically in the first years after the trilogy. He gave me advice when requests or scripts came, because he knew everyone and I had no idea. He really gave me great advice and support, and he never let anything get in debt to me. But I have not had contact with him for a long time. I believe women, but I would like to say very clearly that the presumption of innocence still applies to me. That's why it's incredibly hard to say anything right now. But in the end, judging by it is not my thing anyway, that's the job of the judiciary.
What do you think about the #MeToo debate in general?
Studt: I'm shocked by what I have to read in the press. But there is a difference between catching a silly spell, having to fend off any advances, or experiencing a real encroachment. That's a huge field. I find that very difficult.
Back to your beginnings as a child actress. Did the school suffer?
Studt: No, I did my Abitur as a normal student and only shot one film project a year. The fact that this passion really became my profession, of which I still live and that I still love, has already been a great, great happiness.
How was it after the broadcast of the tripartite at the school?
Studt: First we filmed in Cologne and three months later it was the big part, for which we were away for a few months. That I was so long to turn, I think was much more exciting for my classmates than the broadcast itself. After the shooting, they asked me a lot and were also proud that they had background information. What was a bit strange after the broadcast were completely strangers who suddenly greeted me. Since then I had to first think about why they do it. Otherwise I owe it to my parents that my life actually went on as normal as before.
You are a mother of two children. If your daughters had ambitions in the direction of acting, would not you put a stop to that?
Studt: I would never put a stop to it, but I would never push it or let my relationships play. I think that childhood is so magical and magical, and should be a sure cosmos, in which the film industry actually has no business. But if it happened by accident, which I see again and again, I would not ban it. That would probably not make a mother. But if, for example, they want to learn a craft, I would support them as well. I just wish that they find something that fulfills them.
