Lauren Lee Smith (9/09 Hindenburg)
Variety 9/24/09: Lauren Lee Smith (Pictures on Koeln, Starpulse & WNOZ) | Hindenburg
Lauren Lee Smith boards 'Hindenburg': Stacy Keach, Greta Scacchi star in TV pic
By ED MEZA Posted: Thurs., Sep. 24, 2009, 9:27am PT
BERLIN -- A big-budgeted TV event movie about the doomed flight of the Hindenburg is taking flight in Germany with an international cast that includes Stacy Keach, Greta Scacchi and Lauren Lee Smith ("CSI"). Based on a script by Philip LaZebnik ("Mulan") and directed by Philipp Kadelbach, the two-parter chronicles the doomed 1937 transatlantic voyage of the giant airship. Smith stars as a U.S. congressman's daughter, who is involved with the Zeppelin's young German engineer (Maximilian Simonischek). Berlin-based TeamWorx, RTL Television and EOS Entertainment are co-producing the Euros 10 million ($14.7 million) movie with financing from regional funders FFF Bayern and Filmstiftung NRW. Heiner Lauterbach, Ulrich Noethen, Christiane Paul and Hannes Jaenicke also star. "Hindenburg" is scheduled to air on RTL in early 2011.
© Variety
Excerpt from Virtual Press Office 9/28/10: Lauren Lee Smith
Beta Film brings event productions of the year to MIPCOM
Munich, 28 September 2010 - (Virtual Press Office) .
MIPCOM starts on 4 October in Cannes. The dramatic and still unsolved mystery of the explosion of the Hindenburg (2 x 90’) just before it landed in New Jersey in 1937 ranks among the greatest catastrophes of civilian aviation. The mini-series by teamWorx and EOS tells the story of a German-American conspiracy devised by the industrialist van Zandt (Stacy Keach, “Prison Break”) who is hoping to make a fortune with helium. For airship constructor Merten Kroeger (Maximilian Simonischek, “Tausend Ozeane”) and his sweetheart Jennifer van Zandt (Lauren Lee Smith, “CSI”) a race against time begins to find the hidden bomb on the airship.
© VPO
RTL 12/9/10: Lauren Lee Smith | English
Interview with Lauren Lee Smith, lead actress on the movie 'Hindenburg'
What was the decisive factor for you to be a part in this German project? What would you say is the special appeal of your role?
In the U.S. it is rare to find a project that is based on historical facts these days; I was well aware of the story behind the Hindenburg, it was something that I grew up reading about. To have the opportunity, to dive into a story that has been such a part of history that we all are aware of is a very interesting challenge. And to play around with the different theories out there as to what really happened aboard the ship I also found appealing. The role of Jennifer was a great opportunity for me for a few reasons. I had been looking to do a period piece for the last few years, as well she is a very self assured, confidant, strong female character, which you do not see all that often in films these days... let alone from that era. She is not just the "damsel in distress" character, she is very pro active throughout the film. Those are qualities that are always important to me when considering material... I don't have much interest in playing 'typical' female characters that are just there to look pretty, and feed nothing to the story.
You are used to work for American or Canadian productions - what would you say is the difference while comparing the work at this German project with your other experience? What impressions did you take home and which occurrences in particular during the shoot did stick to your mind?
This was the second time working in Germany for me, and the fourth German director I have had the pleasure of working with. What is always amazing to me is how much faster and efficient things get done in Germany. It is always half the amount of crew compared to a U.S set and things get done in half the time. It is very impressive. There is also many more excuses to throw a party throughout shooting, which is fun!
© RTL
Excerpt from RTL Group Backstage 1/19/11: Lauren Lee Smith | Pictures at Carreck, Style Bistro, Wireimage and Zimbio
Great Cinema
This sentiment might have been expressed by any one of the more than 550 guests who attended last night’s premiere in Berlin of the two-part TV movie Hindenburg, produced by Teamworx for RTL Television. After the end of the screening, the makers of the film - especially the director Philipp Kadelbach, the two Teamworx producers Sascha Schwingel and Jürgen Schuster and of course the actors - took their bows to enthusiastic applause that refused to die down.
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Before coming to RTL Television viewers on their living room screens, most of the movie’s actors - its two leads Maximilian Simonischek and Lauren Lee Smith and stars including Ulrich Noethen, Jürgen Schornagel, Christiane Paul, Hannes Jaenicke, Wotan Wilke Möhring and Pierre Besson - attended last night’s premiere to celebrate their film, a TV movie that truly sets new standards. As Schäferkordt emphasized, they all “committed a lot of passion, dedication and incredible attention to detail to this project.“ The public invited, including many actors, media industry representatives, journalists, and of course our colleagues at RTL Television and Teamworx, were able to witness the results of this passion first-hand last night: they watched the complete first part of the film, and a summary of Part II.
© RTL
Excerpt from The Province 2/14/11: Lauren Lee Smith
Easy listening to star of the Listener
By Glen Schaefer, The Province February 14, 2011
It’s hard to pin actor Lauren Lee Smith down, either geographically or thematically.
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“For me it’s all about balance,” says Smith. “I did this film last year called Hindenburg, a period piece, a big epic. Then I came to Vancouver and did the lowest budget film I’ve ever done in my life.”
© The Province
Excerpt from Connected Magazine 2/28/11: Lauren Lee Smith
The Truth At Last? Hindenburg floats along to AMC
By Kendon Polak | Posted: Feb 28th, 2011
Nothing has been proven, definitively, but endless fascination with the mysterious engineering disaster has sparked another dramatization - a two-part German miniseries starring Stacy Keach, Greta Scacchi and Canadian actress Lauren Lee Smith.
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Hindenburg premieres March 12-13 on AMC
© Connected
Excerpt from Futon Critic 1/5/13: Lauren Lee Smith
ENCORE PREMIERES “HINDENBURG: THE LAST FLIGHT” ON MONDAY, MARCH 11TH AT 8PM ET/PT
Golden Globe® winner Stacy Keach, Emmy® winner Greta Scacchi, Lauren Lee Smith and Maximilian Simonichek Star in The Two-Part Dramatic ENCORE Original Event, Based on the Historic Airship Aviation Disaster
Pasadena, Calif., January 5, 2013 - The U.S. television premiere of the dramatic ENCORE Original Event, “Hindenburg: The Last Flight,” will debut Monday, March 11th and Tuesday, March 12th at 8pm et/pt on ENCORE. Based on the 1930s disaster that ended an era of airship aviation, the two-part drama will air as part of ENCORE’s “Big Miniseries Showcase,” a weekly programming destination of fan favorites and classic titles. The year was 1937, the world was on the verge of war and the Hindenburg was the pride of powerful Nazi Germany. “Hindenburg: The Last Flight” is a fictional account of one of the most devastating accidents in aviation history, which reveals an insider look into the story before the airships fatal destiny. Maximilian Simonichek (“Die Schöne und das Biest,” The Foster Boy) leads an international cast of seasoned actors, as Merten Kroger, a young engineer who helped design of the legendary zeppelin. A man of meager means, he falls in love with a wealthy socialite that is beyond his reach. Lauren Lee Smith (“The Listener,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” Trick ‘r Treat) stars as the beautiful socialite Jennifer van Zandt, who is the daughter of Helen van Zandt, played by the Emmy® Award winning, Golden Globe® nominated actress Greta Scacchi (Ways to Live Forever, Brideshead Revisited) and Edward van Zandt, played by Golden Globe® winner Stacy Keach (The Architect, The Bourne Legacy), a wealthy, American oil industrialist with power and privilege.
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The series was produced by RTL in association with co-production from TeamWorx Television & Film for BETA Films. Following the premiere, a “Hindenburg: The Last Flight” marathon will air on Sunday, March 17th beginning at 10am.
© The Futon Critic
Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal 3/7/13: Lauren Lee Smith
Man-Made Disasters
By DOROTHY RABINOWITZ March 7, 2013, 5:58 p.m. ET.
Hindenburg: The Last Flight Monday and Tuesday, March 11 and 12, at 8 p.m. EDT on Encore. It requires heart of some kind, admittedly, to sit through the drama aboard the Hindenburg, whose main action involves interminable dark pursuits through grim passageways, with characters slamming in and out of cabins looking for secret plans, bomb components and, on occasion, love. There's at least one sexual assignation-enjoyed in the midst of the urgent search for a bomb, which, the show's hero Merten Kröger (Maximilian Simonichek) and heroine Jennifer van Zandt (Lauren Lee Smith) have learned, has been placed somewhere on board and is timed to go off just as the Hindenburg lands in Lakehurst, N.J.
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Those plans, it turns out, haven't taken into account the activities of his beloved daughter Jennifer, who discovers, to her horror, her father's evil plot.
© The Wall Street Journal
Excerpt from Media Life Magazine 3/8/13: Lauren Lee Smith
‘Hindenburg: The Last Flight,’ so bad: Encore two-parter serves up a lethal dose of conspiracy and romance
By Tom Conroy March 8, 2013
A two-part production that tries to graft a conspiracy theory and a love story onto the 1937 tragedy, it fails to touch our hearts or get our pulses racing, thanks to a chemically inert leading couple and inane, illogical plotting.
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The romance, meanwhile, is forced. At least Leo and Kate got to consummate their star-crossed love before the ship hit the iceberg. Poor Merten and Jennifer have to squeeze in a quickie knowing that there’s a bomb somewhere that they really should be trying to find before everyone on the vessel goes down in flames. Even knowing that, they have a brief, purportedly charming discussion about maybe going for seconds.
© Media Life Magazine
Excerpt from Pittsburgh Post Gazette 3/10/13: Lauren Lee Smith
TV review: 'Hindenburg' miniseries burns and crashes
By Rob Owen / March 10, 2013 12:17 am
Encore's four-hour miniseries "Hindenburg: The Last Flight" (8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday) is indeed a disaster -- just not the kind producers intended.
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Even before the conspiracy kicks into high gear, "Hindenburg" suffers from plain weirdness. The dialogue and its delivery -- by all the actors, not just one or two -- is consistently stilted. It's as though the actors in this German production are speaking in a foreign language and being dubbed, although lip movements match the dialogue too precisely for that. Still, the intonations are largely robotic, as if spoken by audio-animatronic characters from a theme park.
© Post Gazette
Excerpt from Bloomberg.com 3/11/13: Lauren Lee Smith
Nazi Schemers Bomb ‘Hindenburg’; Cheney Love Letter: TV
By Greg Evans Mar 11, 2013 12:01 AM ET
Encore, the barely noticed corporate sibling of the higher profile Starz, does nothing to distinguish itself with “Hindenburg: The Last Flight,” a woeful two-part drama.
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Also heading to newsreel immortality are a wealthy German family carrying secrets to Argentina, assorted Nazis and a spunky American socialite (Lauren Lee Smith) whose businessman father (Stacy Keach) could make a fortune in helium sales if only he could dream up some way of illustrating the dangers of hydrogen. “Hindenburg: The Last Flight” airs Monday and Tuesday March 11 and 12 on Encore at 8 p.m.
© Bloomberg
Excerpt from The Mild Reels 2/11/14: Lauren Lee Smith
The Hindenberg (2011) - Philipp Kadelbach
February 11, 2014 by TD Rideout
That is except for one actor who seems to give her all in every scene, the Listener’s Lauren Lee Smith. She shines, and looks great in period costume. Which leads us into the good things, Lauren Lee Smith, the costumes, and the VFX of the Hindenburg herself, not to mention her infamous end.
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Lauren is great, and I hope she kept that cap she wears, we’ll ask her to bring it with when she comes back to the studio, the VFX are very good, but the line delivery of the non-English speaking actors (through no fault of their own) isn’t so great.
© The Mind Reels