Franz Rogowski gets vulnerable in AnOther Magazine
Arthouse cinema prince Franz Rogowski is on the cover of AnOther Magazine's Winter/Spring 2025 issue, photographed by Michael Bailey-Gates wearing the likes of Gucci and Saint Laurent. But in the accompanying story, the 38-year-old star of Andrea Arnold's Bird (out November 8) bares all about his career, mental health and unconventional childhood.
• On the parallels between his childhood and Passages (2023): "My parents have been together since high school, and my biological father was a friend of my social father at university. They had an intense ménage à trois for a few months, and I'm the result. I grew up with my mum and my social father, while my biological father was more like an uncle-father, an adventurer-father, someone I'd go to the mountains with."
• On losing weight for Great Freedom (2021): "I felt really bad during that shoot. I lost 20 pounds, which for me is quite a lot and really put me in a bad situation. I had zero libido for four months and 100 percent depression all day. Then, when COVID hit, I had to lose all that weight again for the concentration camp scene. I'd gained 30 pounds and then I had to lose it all again. I'm not sure what damage it did to me."
• On the German film industry: "I haven't made anything here for five years. I feel somewhat detached from my home market. But as a German, in the world of cinema, you can only be a Nazi or a villain. I'm stuck in between those worlds now-80 percent of what I do is read scripts and not do them. I can assure you that most offers are related to the Holocaust and it needs to be an incredible project for me to engage with those kinds of roles. I've been reading scripts for 12 months, and I haven't found one yet."
• On battling depression: "I really feel like there's something chemically wrong with my brain. I just wish I could somehow change gear. I don't feel like I need to understand more about my trauma, because I know there's trauma, and I feel I have agency, and I live my life-I'm just... I'm in pain.
"My [sister's] therapist said I should take an antidepressant and just take the burden off my shoulders. I'm not sure whether I should do it or not. There's a stigma attached to antidepressants that is not helpful, but these are also strong medications and, somehow, I sell my problems-they're part of my persona and the world that I create as an actor. So I'm hesitant to try."
• On loneliness: "I sometimes wonder if it's worth it, being this picky arthouse guy who always says no-it can feel a bit unproductive sometimes. It has left me a bit lonely, and I wonder if that's the way I want to live."
Read it here. https://t.co/SfmnCbm8y5
- AnOther Magazine (@AnOtherMagazine) October 28, 2024
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