‘A Stroke Of Luck’: Premiere For ‘Where’s Wanda?’
The Apple TV+ streaming service has had its first German-language series produced by UFA Fiction. “Wo ist Wanda?” (“Where’s Wanda?”) starring Heike Makatsch, Axel Stein, and Lea Drinda celebrated its premiere in Berlin last week. The series is available worldwide on Apple TV+ from today. In an interview with Bertelsmann, UFA Fiction producer Nataly Kudiabor tells us what makes this “dark comedy” so special.
“Where’s Wanda?,” the first German-language original series on the Apple+ streaming service, celebrated its premiere in Berlin last week. The eight-part “dark comedy” produced by UFA Fiction launches on the streamer today with the first two episodes. Another episode will follow every Wednesday. Actors Heike Makatsch, Axel Stein, Lea Drinda, Leo Simon, Nikeata Thompson, Palina Rojinski, and Kostja Ullmann, as well as the series’ creator, author, and executive producer Oliver Lansley, UFA Fiction producers Nataly Kudiabor and Sebastian Werninger, director and executive producer Christian Ditter, director Tobi Baumann, and the singer-songwriter Alice Merton attended the series premiere at the Delphi Filmpalast.
“Where’s Wanda?” tells the story of Dedo and Carlotta Klatt (Axel Stein and Heike Makatsch): parents desperately searching for their daughter Wanda (Lea Drinda), who disappeared without a trace months ago. Because the police fail to act, the family takes matters into their own hands and, with the help of their tech-savvy son Ole (Leo Simon), obtains surveillance equipment. Disguised as employees of an electrical company, they first bug their own neighborhood and then half the suburb. It turns out that, behind closed doors, their neighbors are not who they purport to be. Devid Striesow (“Im Westen nichts Neues”), Jasmin Shakeri (“The Magic Flute”) and Joachim Król (“Der bewegte Mann”) are also seen in other roles.
Bertelsmann spoke to producer Nataly Kudiabor about UFA’s first production for Apple+.
Nataly, what was it about the story that convinced you to take on the project as a producer? What options or leeway did you have in its realization?
Nataly Kudiabor: Sometimes a project just finds you. That was the case with “Where’s Wanda?,” which came to us via the director and author Zoltan Spirandelli and which immediately appealed to me due to its universal theme of “How far would you go to save your child?.” It was a stroke of luck, and I quickly had my colleagues Debora Rosenthal and Thomas Laue at my side in development, and later Sebastian Werninger and Oliver Ossege for the realization: an absolute dream team. The collaboration with Apple TV+ was very enriching, and of course it is also a gift for my own work to be able to work with someone like Jay Hunt, who has already overseen such outstanding series as “Sherlock” and “Luther.”
How does the series differ from other crime and mystery formats we’ve seen?
Nataly Kudiabor: “Where’s Wanda?” is a mix of genres, a dark comedy with a very special tone. There are big, honest emotions, love, pain and sadness, but also surprising, very funny narrative twists that make you laugh. “It’s a rollercoaster!,” as our English colleagues said!
Apple TV+ has an international focus. What significance does it have for you to realize the first German series on this platform, and what opportunities do you see for the German film and series landscape as a result?
Nataly Kudiabor: Of course it’s always great to be the first because you enjoy special attention. But we are fully aware of the responsibility. We very much hope that “Where’s Wanda?” will work well with an international audience, too, because, as described above, it deals with universal themes. And perhaps, like successful formats by my UFA colleagues such as “Deutschland 83/86/89” or “Maxton Hall – The World Between Us,” which have done extremely well internationally, we can prove that Germans can do humor as well as drama and therefore open doors for other German productions.
“Where’s Wanda?” is a production of the Fremantle subsidiary UFA Fiction. Its creator, writer, and executive producer is Royal Television Society nominee Oliver Lansley (“Flack”). Nataly Kudiabor is the producer alongside Sebastian Werninger. is Zoltan Spirandelli (“Vaya con dios”) is co-creator of “Where’s Wanda?”; the series is based on a story written by him. It is directed by award-winning and critically acclaimed filmmakers Christian Ditter (“How To Be Single”) and Tobi Baumann (“Faking Hitler”). Ditter is also executive producer. (benet)
