Maximilian Schell - biography

“I never played the right roles, or very rarely got the right roles offered, except on stage.”

“We should never forget that Hollywood was built by Europeans, and the old Jewish boys from Eastern Europe.”

“Except here it’s more power, more energy, younger and also in Europe it’s still not only entertainment.  Theater or films are looked at as a moral institution.  That’s why maybe they’re so poetic.  Here it’s clear entertainment.”

“And in reality, I don’t think it’s a real documentary.  It’s more a story of her life.  It’s a story of survival.  It’s a story of the time in which she lived.  The story of success and failure.”

“First love is first love, first marriage is first marriage, disappointment is disappointment.”

“I played piano, I learned a lot about music.”

“I think there’s a poet who wrote once a tragedy by Shakespeare, a symphony by Beethoven and a thunderstorm are based on the same elements.  I think that’s a beautiful line.”

“Music in this film is a very important part.”

“The interesting thing is that I found scenes which I put together which could appeal to almost every woman, or apply to almost every woman after the war.  Falling in love, dancing, marrying.”

“A conversation goes sometimes into personal things and that’s nicer.  You look to each other and you have a different picture, you get into a relationship.”

“And it’s interesting, but I’m always interested in the story behind the story.”

“I did have fun, for example, in The Black Hole which was very popular among youngsters.”

“I just think the word interview, although it is the view between two people exchanged, became a sort of cliche.  You ask questions and the other one answers.”

“I’m always happy when I’m left alone, but if somebody comes and is nice, then we talk.”

“Well, I did Marlene 15 years ago and that’s in the style.  It’s somehow similar and not similar because Marlene was much more aggressive, funny and sad.”

Maximilian Schell has appeared in the following films:
Kinder, Mütter und ein General (1955)
Ein Mädchen aus Flandern (1956)
The Young Lions (1958)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Five Finger Exercise (1962)
I Sequestrati di Altona (1962)
The Reluctant Saint (1962)
Topkapi (1964)
The Deadly Affair (1966)
Counterpoint (1967)
Paulina 1880 (1972)
Pope Joan (1972)
The Rehearsal (1974)
The Odessa File (1974)
Der Richter und sein Henker (1975)
Sarajevski atentat (1975)
St. Ives (1976)
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
Cross of Iron (1977)
Julia (1977)
Avalanche Express (1979)
The Black Hole (1979)
The Chosen (1981)
Les Îles (1983)
The Assisi Underground (1985)
The Rosegarden (1989)
The Freshman (1990)
A Far Off Place (1993)
Little Odessa (1994)
The Vampyre Wars (1996)
Telling Lies in America (1997)
Deep Impact (1998)
The Eighteenth Angel (1998)
Left Luggage (1998)
Mein liebster Feind – Klaus Kinski (1999)
Festival in Cannes (2001)
The Brothers Bloom (2008)