Screenwriter Michael Soter (including “My Name Is Eugen”, “Grounding”) died in September. We spoke with his creative partner Michael Steiner about his lifelong love of cinema.
- “Gopfertammi, daughter-in-law!”
- “I’ll crush your crust.”
- “I promise you, I won’t have air.”
Anyone who has recognized even one of the above quotes has experienced the wonder of Swiss cinema at the start of the new millennium with productions as big as Ready, tight, Charlie!, My name is Eugene as well as grounding cinemas were full. All of these films have one thing in common: screenwriter Michael Sauter had his fingers on the keyboard everywhere.
Michael Soter passed away on September 15, 2022. Who was behind all these popular films? To find out, we spoke to his longtime creative partner, Michael Steiner.
Our name is Michael
Steiner and Sauter met at work. My name is Eugene. Sauter wrote the screenplay for the film Lausbuben with Steiner and Christoph Frey. It happened the same year that Soter was writing breakout scripts with his colleague David Keller. straw as well as Ready, tight, Charlie! wrote. Steiner still remembers that time and the mocking differences. “For him it was Eugene the film is clearly Marxist, more anarchist to me. We teased each other with our looks.”
Sauter, a big cinephile, argued with him, among other things, Starship Troopers – probably not the most obvious movie to compare when you think of Eugen, Wrigley, Basteli and Eduard. According to Steiner, he once brought with him the creation of the subversive 1997 sci-fi hit and asked Paul Verhoeven to explain how he brought his Marxist ideas to the film. Thus, it was also a major challenge for Soter to convey the message in each of his scenarios.
In addition to Verhoeven, Sauter had many other directors he admired, including George Miller.Crazy Max), Sam Peckinpah (wild bunch) and George Roy Hill. How the boys jump into the Limmat in one of the scenes, and Eugene shortly before that tells his friends that he can’t swim – this is 1:1 from The Hills. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid received.
“He was one of the greatest connoisseurs of cinema, especially in the horror genre. One of his obsessions was a list of films banned at the time in Switzerland. One day he made a list and marked four films that he had not yet had. He informed everyone that if anyone has these films at home, please bring them.” (laughs)
Swiss Quentin Tarantino?
The love of cinema and the joy of quoting are somewhat reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino. A comparison that Steiner considers not entirely accurate. “I would say that the work of Sauter is closer to Richard Schweitzer (Gilbert de Courgenet, Palace Hotel) are located. Thanks to his great knowledge of cinema, his precise observation and characterization, as well as his good intuition and understanding of dramaturgy, great scripts have always been created in which the mechanisms of a lucky turn worked wonderfully.
However, the funny story that Steiner recalls brings us back to Tarantino. Sauter said so at the press presentation My name is Eugene disagreements with Tages-Anzeiger critic Thomas Bodmer. However, the screenwriter did not see the need for a long conversation. Because Soter still remembered how Bodmer Mad Dogs did not like it at first, and had to revise the criticism four weeks after release. Therefore, it is not worth discussing, since Bodmer did not foresee the advent of postmodernism.
A difficult situation for Steiner, who Eugene was a co-producer with a lot of money and was therefore somewhat dependent on media support. “And then Soter just annoys the journalist. This is just unreal!” (laughs)
Intelligent machine gun
Sauter always benefited from his education during heated discussions: “He studied religious studies and German studies, was incredibly well-read and had an extensive literary and musical knowledge – including in relation to pop culture. They really didn’t want to clash with Sauter. He was an intelligent machine gunner and could quickly draw you into a discussion with cool cross-comparisons. But he was also incredibly funny and had an incredibly subtle sense of humor.”
Other joint projects followed. Grounding – the last days of Swissairin which Steiner wrote the political part, Sauter was in charge of the drama, and they wrote the dialogues together. Sennentunchi as well as The Missing Massacre followed. It was after the last film was completed that Soter’s health began to fail, making further projects difficult.
Thanks
With his scripts, Michael Sauter played a big role in making Swiss cinema take such a big leap forward in the 2000s. FROM straw, Charlie as well as Sennentunchi he kicked the ass of a somewhat well-mannered Swiss film. He was one of the most talented screenwriters that has ever been in Switzerland. The scenes and lines he cut will remain in the memory of many moviegoers, as will his great role models. So his great love for cinema will be passed on to many generations.
Source: Outnow
I’m Raymond Molina, a professional writer and journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. I currently work for 24 News Reporters, where I write for the health section of their news website. In my role, I am responsible for researching and writing stories on current health trends and issues. My articles are often seen as thought-provoking pieces that provide valuable insight into the state of society’s wellbeing.