'Never Look Away' Director Credits Painter Gerhard Richter's Struggles for Inspiring Film

There’s a common adage that beautiful works of art — important art — can only come from a place of real suffering. It’s an adage that set writer-director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck on the path to his newest film, “Never Look Away,” which is based on the life of German painter Gerhard Richter.

“My favorite book about filmmaking is Elia Kazan’s autobiography ‘A Life.’ He talks about his work with artistic geniuses and he says their artistic talent was the scab that formed on the wounds life had dealt them,” von Donnersmarck said during the question and answer portion of TheWrap’s screening series Wednesday night.

“That’s this very poetic phrase he used… and this film is about a genius painter and it’s a very beautiful analogy that you can stretch quite far, that if the wound is still open you can’t create art and once it’s healed you’re rewarded,” he continued. “I think the analogy works.”

Also Read: 'Never Look Away' Film Review: 'Lives of Others' Director Returns With Bold Tale of Art and Love

“Never Look Away,” which on Thursday earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, is a sweeping romantic epic. The film, which spans three decades (1930s-1960s), follows the life of painter Kurt Barnert (Tom Schilling), who is a fictionalized version of Richter.

Barnert’s life is filled with beauty, heartbreak and tragedy that begins when his Aunt Elizabeth is carted away to a mental asylum and then to a Nazi death camp. As the emotional wounds mount for Bernert, he finds himself on a journey to discover art that truly speaks to him and his still open scars.

Also Read: How 'Never Look Away' Juggled Art, Love and the Madness of German History

“I was always on the lookout for a movie that would allow me to illustrate that whole thing and show how people would take their own suffering and turn it into something beautiful,” von Dommersmarck said. “I had this hope, and I still haven’t given that up, that I’d find it in the world of opera. I looked through all of my favorite operas and I didn’t find anything. Then, there was a journalist who wrote this in-depth portrait of Gerhard Richter in the early 2000s.”

The journalist, von Dommersmark said, uncovered a truth during his research for the profile that Richter himself hadn’t known until he was in his 70s: The father of the woman Richter married had been a high-ranking SS doctor, and was responsible for 900 of the forced sterilizations the Nazis performed in an era in which they were determined to weed out “inferior” blood, which led to his aunt’s death.

“I thought it would be interesting to show, here you have a young man trying to find his voice as an artist, trying to overcome his own suffering and at the same time he’s living under the same roof as a man, who he has no reason to think he’s responsible for it in any way, but on some instinctual level he must feel it,” von Dommersmark said.

Golden Globes 2019: See the Nominees (Photos)

Here is the full list of nominees in the 76th Annual Golden Globes for 2019 in all 25 categories. The awards will be handed out on Jan. 6.
20th Century Fox/Amazon/Disney/FX
Best Motion Picture - Drama

"Black Panther"
“BlacKkKlansman”;
“Bohemian Rhapsody”;
“If Beale Street Could Talk”;
“A Star Is Born” (pictured)
Warner Bros.
Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born,”;
Willem Dafoe, “At Eternity’s Gate”;
Lucas Hedges, "Boy Erased"
Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody” (pictured);
John David Washington, "BlacKkKlansman"
20th Century Fox
Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Lady Gaga, “A Star Is Born”;
Glenn Close, “The Wife” (pictured);
Melissa McCarthy, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”;
Nicole Kidman, “Destroyer”
Rosamund Pike, "A Private War"
Sony Pictures Classics
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

“Crazy Rich Asians” (pictured);
“The Favourite”;
“Green Book”;
“Mary Poppins Returns”;
“Vice”
Warner Bros.
Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Viggo Mortensen, “Green Book” (pictured);
Christian Bale, “Vice”;
Robert Redford, “The Old Man and the Gun”;
Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Mary Poppins Returns”;
John C. Reilly, “Stan and Ollie”;
Universal
Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Emily Blunt, “Mary Poppins Returns” (pictured)
Olivia Colman, “The Favourite”;
Elsie Fisher, “Eighth Grade”;
Charlize Theron, "Tully"
Constance Wu, “Crazy Rich Asians”;
Disney
Best Supporting Actor

Mahershala Ali, “Green Book”;
Timothee Chalamet, “Beautiful Boy” (pictured);
Adam Driver, "BlacKkKlansman"
Richard E. Grant, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”;
Sam Rockwell, “Vice”
Amazon
Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams, “Vice”;
Claire Foy, "First Man";
Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk”;
Emma Stone, “The Favourite” (pictured);
Rachel Weisz, “The Favourite”;
Fox Searchlight
Best Director

Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born”;
Alfonso Cuaron, “Roma”;
Peter Farrelly, "Green Book";
Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman” (pictured);
Adam McKay, "Vice"
Photographed by Tyler Mitchell for TheWrap
Best Screenplay

“The Favourite”;
“Green Book”;
“If Beale Street Could Talk” (pictured)
"Roma";
"Vice"
Tatum Mangus/Annapurna Pictures
Best Original Score

"A Quiet Place," Marco Beltrami;
"Isle of Dogs," Alexandre Desplat;
“Black Panther," Ludvig Goransson;
“First Man” Justin Hurwitz; (pictured)
“Mary Poppins Returns," Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman
TheWrap
Best Original Song

“All the Stars” from “Black Panther”;
“The Girl in the Movies” from “Dumplin'”;
“Requiem for A Private War” from “A Private War”;
"Revelation" from "Boy Erased"
“Shallow” from “A Star Is Born” (pictured)
Warner Bros.
Best Motion Picture - Animated

“Incredibles 2” (pictured);
“Isle of Dogs”;
"Mirai";
“Ralph Breaks the Internet”;
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”
Pixar
Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language

“Capernaum”;
“Girl”;
"Never Look Away"
“Roma” (pictured)
"Shoplifters"
Netflix
Best Television Series - Drama

“The Americans” (pictured);
“The Bodyguard"
“Homecoming”;
“Killing Eve”;
“Pose"
FX
Best Actor in a Drama Series

Jason Bateman, "Ozark" (pictured);
Stephan James, "Homecoming";
Richard Madden, "The Bodyguard";
Billy Porter, " "Pose";
Matthew Rhys, “The Americans”;
Paramount Network
Best Actress in a Drama Series

Caitriona Balfe, "Outlander"
Elisabeth Moss, "The Handmaid's Tale"
Sandra Oh, “Killing Eve”;
Julia Roberts, “Homecoming” (pictured);
Keri Russell, “The Americans”;
Amazon
Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy

“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (pictured);
“Barry”;
“The Good Place”;
"Kidding";
“The Kominsky Method”
Amazon
Best Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy

Kristen Bell, “The Good Place” (pictured);
Candace Bergen, "Murphy Brown"
Alison Brie, “GLOW”;
Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”;
Debra Messing, "Will & Grace"
NBC
Best Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy

Sacha Baron Cohen, "Who Is America";
Jim Carrey, “Kidding”;
Michael Douglas, “The Kominsky Method”;
Donald Glover, “Atlanta”;
Bill Hader, “Barry” (pictured)
HBO
Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

"The Alienist"
“The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” (pictured);
"Escape at Dannemora"
“Sharp Objects”;
“A Very English Scandal”
Ray Mickshaw/FX
Best Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie

Antonio Banderas – “Genius: Picasso”
Daniel Bruhl – “The Alienist”
Darren Criss – “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”
Benedict Cumberbatch – “Patrick Melrose”; (pictured)
Hugh Grant – “A Very English Scandal”
Ollie Upton/SHOWTIME
Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie

Amy Adams, “Sharp Objects” (pictured);
Patricia Arquette, “Escape at Dannemora”;
Connie Britton, "Dirty John";
Laura Dern, “The Tale”;
Regina King, “Seven Seconds”;
HBO
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Limited Series or Movie Made for Television

Alan Arkin, “The Kominsky Method”;
Kieran Culkin, "Succession";
Edgar Ramirez, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”;
Ben Whishaw, “A Very English Scandal”;
Henry Winkler, “Barry” (pictured)
Amazon
Best Supporting Actress Series, Limited Series or Movie Made for Television

Alex Borstein, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”;
Patricia Clarkson, “Sharp Objects”;
Penelope Cruz, “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story”;
Thandie Newton, “Westworld” (pictured);
Yvonne Strahovski, "The Handmaid's Tale"
HBO