Z.B. – Zoran Bihac (Director).
E.F. – Emanuel Fialik (Rammstein manager).
T.L. – Till Lindermann (Vocalism).
R.Z.K. – Richard Z. Kruspe (Solo-guitar).
P.H.L. – Paul Heiko Landers (Rhythm-guitar).
C.S. – Christoph Schneider (Drums).
C.F.L. – Christian Flake Lorenz (Keyboard).
O.R. – Oliver Riedel (Bass-guitar).
L.R. – Luciana Regina (Actress).
S.S. – Survey Squad.
M.A. – Make-up Artist.
A-D. – Actor-Double.
U.M. 1 – Unknown Man 1.
U.M. 2 – Unknown Man 2.
U.M. 3 – Unknown Man 3.
U.W. – Unknown Woman.
С.S: The song is all about an event that took place in Germany last year: Two men made a date to get to know each other via the internet, and one of them butchered and ate the other one, which took place voluntarily. We decided to write a song about it.
Z.B.: The song is sung from the perspective of the man who was eaten. Mein Teil, "My cock", refers to the part where they ate his cock. Everything has eroticism and something morbid, even homo-eroticism. Now Till wants to be beaten while he sings the refrain. We call that frying, so it's during frying (showing). Then I thought, but that's only a part of it all. There's no lust. So how do we bring the lust into it? He then just said: Let's do it the right way! Okay! And I think everyone said: Good, then he's doing the video (laugh). And it's going to be recorded this morning. Under major intimacy secrecy. The concept is such, that no one really knows, what the others are doing. They keep that to themselves. With some of them, I really don't know what will happen. because that's how we planned it.
T.L.: I do know roughly what will happen, but actually, I know nothing. That's probably the reason behind the whole thing. They throw us in at the deep end... we'll see. There is a kind of framework plot, but what exactly happens, is something known only to the director. We liked the idea of doing an improvisation cycle like this, and he had a few surprises up his sleeve, which we had to learn how to handle. It's a lot more interesting than when you have a predefined storyboard, where you only do what's in the script.
Z.B.: In fact, the whole thing is improvised, which, of course, can also easily backfire. And when it backfires, I'm the one who gets shot (laugh). It's the first time in a while, where I couldn't sleep prior to a production. Because of this scene. Not only with Till, but the others too. I've never done anything like this before, no idea!
T.L.: I'm quite excited actually, so... yes. That's good, that's how it should be, when it isn't, it's shit, I think.
S.S: (On shooting stage) Then we should begin to clear up the set. Only Sascha and Daniel should stay here.
S.S: (On shooting stage) Which means, apart from those two, everyone else... there are tables and benches in the catering area. Please wait there until we hear something from inside. Thank you. As of now.
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) Guys, for the first 3 minutes, we'll really darken up the place, easy now, so that we can warm up.
Now the po... Now, Kulle! Sorry!
S.S: (On shooting stage) Sorry, the time has arrived, in which I have to ask you to leave and have a coffee or a cola. Thank you.
R.Z.K.: (On shooting stage) It's all about a wrestling match?
U.W.: (On shooting stage) Yes, but you are doing the wrestling.
R.Z.K.: (On shooting stage) Let's check that out.
U.M. 1: (On shooting stage) Hang on, hang on! Don't go in just yet, wait a minute! It's all locked, they're shooting.
U.W.: (On shooting stage) And the back door?
U.M. 1: (On shooting stage) I'll call the technician, he'll open it for you.
U.W.: (On shooting stage) Okay.
U.M. 1: (On shooting stage) Stay out front, he'll be down in a moment.
C.U.: (On shooting stage) No one knows how long it'll take, but it's going well apparently.
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with T.L. on screen).
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) Did it look good, hopefully?
S.S.: (On shooting stage) Looks quite okay.
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) What do you mean, looks okay? Are we shooting it again, or what?
S.S.: (On shooting stage) That was the first take?
S.S.: (On shooting stage) Yes.
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) That's great, the laughter! Super, Super, Super!
P.H.L.: The suit is meant to look old, and in my opinion, it didn't look old enough. What I did was, an old Rammstein recipe, I threw soluble coffee and water over it. But it still didn't look old, and then a young girl from make-up handed over her bronze make-up, 100 grammes for 600 dollars, and used it all on the suit. It practically became an 8000 dollar suit.
U.M. 2: (On rehearsal) Okay?
R.Z.K.: (On rehearsal) Yes.
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) How about a rehearsal?
L.R.: (On shooting stage) I say yes. I'll do it quickly.
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) But not yet!
T.L.: (On shooting stage) Just one rehearsal.
L.R.: (On shooting stage) Okay.
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) It works?
L.R.: (On shooting stage) Yes.
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with T.L. on screen).
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) Let's all say thanks to Luciana, for the super performance!
T.L.: It's good that we have that behind us. I didn't know, what would happen. I had to do something I didn't want to do (laugh). Hopefully, my mother doesn't find out. No, it's alright.
L.R..: I'm not new to erotics. You get this routine, if you often have something to do with it. But it's great, when everything fits: The make-up, the hair, the music!
T.L.: It was such a... Zoran had thought up something himself, which he really wanted to do, but...
L.R.: It was all planned beforehand, so I knew how far it would go (laugh).
T.L.: My toothe aches. I think Zoran... my bridge is loose here. I should go to the dentist. We have a little time before this evening (laugh). No, everything's perfectamente!
Z.B.: (Smoking) Our fears were... dispersed, after we had done it a few times and seen exactly how it is. But it was really very important for us to be completely alone. Very important! Even those who were in there were almost too many. But we have some really nice material and crossed some borders. Meaning, I was really in a sadistic mood today. I stuffed feathers into his mouth and that almost made him vomit. He just carried on recording and performing and stuff. And Iri, she's classy and real sweet. She just couldn't punch him, which is why I had to do it. Of course, it should have been her hands, but it'll be ok when we edit. He thumped me first and I thumped him back. That was okay.
P.H.L.: I don't know yet, what I will do. I'll probably... My aim is to deliver pictures, that fit the song well, without using an instrument or aids of any kind. Zoran suggested using the suit. He said, that there are Japanese dancers who wear tattered outfits like that. I said: "Okay, then
I'll take a tattered suit". What happens, happens, I just don't know.
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with P.H.L. on screen).
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) Cut.Paul, that's absolutely incredible!
A-D.: (On dressing room) Don't tug too much. Here in front we...
R.Z.K.: (On dressing room) Stop complaining!
It's getting better.
A-D.: (On dressing room) Here, on the side too.
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with P.H.L. on screen).
S.S.: (On shooting stage) Good, Paul. One more time.
P.H.L.: (On shooting stage) I didn't have to change my ways. I just did things that way I normally do them.
R.Z.K.: I thought "Mein Teil" is my alter ego, with whom one always struggles in life, and tried to make amends with my second me, my shadow, to find a kind of balance. I tried to capture this on film, by wrestling with myself, so to speak. Maybe it will work and I can learn something from it.
R.Z.K.: (On shooting stage) How do you want to do that with the reflection?
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) We only use the mirror to be able to see you in it once. Then you meet yourself in the mirror. Then we see you in the room twice.
R.Z.K.: (On shooting stage) Okay.
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) Then I would come up really close and back off again. And smile, look serious. Look at yourself as you are now. Get up really close with your face. Try to smell that stuff, or whatever. And now you.
This hand has to be lower, do it like this. Right, Andy? That's better. Get even closer. Now smell. Show us your profile like this. Right. Do this with your mouth... Right, that's it!
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with R.Z.K. on screen).
Z.B.: They will all show their characters. It's Rammstein unmasked, we can say. They have their own problems with this. If someone performs in a woman's costume, it's a part of him. It's a part of his personality. It's really incredibly brave of them, to allow this to happen. I find it really stimulating, which is why I do it. They're naked! It's actually a bit like a psychogramm.
R.Z.K.: (On shooting stage) You want it like this?
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) Entangled in one another.
C.S.: (On dressing room) We'd better put these underthings on first.
M.A.: (On dressing room) If you want.
C.S.: (On dressing room) Because we've got the wigs on too.
M.A.: (On dressing room) But you can step into these.
C.S.: (On dressing room) I don't have to pull them over my head?
M.A.: (On dressing room) No, the blouse...
C.S.: (On dressing room) Oh, right.
M.A.: (On dressing room) Take the blouse and look if it's to be buttoned or pulled over your head.
C.S.: (On dressing room) No, it has to be buttoned.
S.S.: (On shooting stage) Video! Camera! And action!
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with R.Z.K. and here double on screen).
R.Z.K.: It's great kissing myself! Yeah.
C.S.: We now want to try something completely new. Something entirely experimental. A basic rule is that no one knows what the other one is doing, or knows what the other one looks like. And another rule is, that we listen to a song and move our bodies to it, or perform and feel the lyrics inside. Then, once we begin to edit, we can see if the music fits in one way or another (laugh). We're not sure just yet. With any luck, we can reach new levels, which are mostly discover much later, We're speculating on both levels somehow manifesting themselves.
C.S.: (On dressing room) I think she looked better.
M.A.: (On dressing room) We'll do her hair again.
C.S.: (On dressing room) The mama looked older somehow. More make-up. Or is this like during rehearsals?
C.S.: As soon as you change in this direction, funnily enough, you also change your mannerisms and way of talking. It's as if you discover a certain trait in yourself, which... is definitely inherent, yes. I probably won't do much. I'll just be more... ...more woman (laugh).
S.S.: (On shooting stage) Ready? Okay, we're rolling! Everyone OK? Cool. Action! Playback! Cameras!
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with C.S. on screen).
R.Z.K.: (After shooting) Man, that was exhausting! Last time I struggled like that was 15 years ago.
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with C.S. on screen).
E.F.: There’s a tiny picture in a German magazine report about Armin Meiwes. A tiny picture from his private archive next to him, which shows his mother and it is so perfect. And that's the original hairstyle. It's unbelievable!
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with C.S. on screen).
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) (He said to C.S.) Pull the skirt up higher. Grab your cock properly. Even higher. As high as you can, both hands. Even higher. Spread your legs a little. And now touch yourself there! Right! And on three, stand up and tidy yourself up, grab your bag and move out of the picture. 1,2,3. Right. It's all over, now smarten yourself up again. A change of light would be good. Exactly. Are the buttons ok? Okay, Do your hair and leave. Perfect. Cut! Schneider, you are super!
C.S.: It's interesting, when you do the things spontaneously in that moment, and take inspiration from the music and the circumstances, and immediately implement it. This is the moment we are searching for.
I was always torn between whether I should move like a woman or not, which often just comes out of you, or if I should be Schneider. It became a mixture of both. A small, internal struggle (laugh).
We'll do a days shooting outside tomorrow, As far as I know, I'll have the other guys on a leash or in chains (laugh). That's about all I know. As a woman. Well, I am the mother. The perpetrators mother (laugh).
O.R.: The idea of the video is, that you let yourself go, and pass the ball amongst yourselves. Zoran suggests a topic and you just do it. Then he says: "Stay like that! Again!" Something like that.
M.A.: (On dressing room) Make a lot of gestures. Screw your eyes up. Do that until we're rolling.
Z.B.: (On dressing room) (He said to O.R.) Do an ugly face. Yeah, totally ugly. Without poking your tongue out. Just ugly. Right.
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with O.R. on screen).
P.H.L.: (On shooting stage) Later on, we'll get back into the mud again in groups. That was how it was planned. We just weren't sure if that works, whether it's enough. It is enough, huh?
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with O.R. on screen)
C.F.L.: I haven't put much thought into what could happen. I just wanted to... ...do something completely different to what I had seen on Swedish TV. I was shocked to see the kind of music videos that were broadcast. I felt that none of them really supported the music at all. It was all produced in such a weird way, like holding a wedding ceremony. It was like a provision of services for a song, which was not appealing, neither artistically nor for the audience. And I didn't want to line up with this huge group of acts, that simply make a video because it's the done thing, like an ad in the newspaper.
S.S.: (On shooting stage) Video rolling! Camera! Speed. And action! (Olly falls).Perfect. In the can.
C.F.L.: There's nothing great about it. I try to dance, but I really just can't. Everyone knows this and think it's funny. I don't. I feel like you do before a visit to the dentist.
O.R.: I have a good feeling, but this is only because, I could switch off this control mechanism one hundred percent. The way it looks, I don't really know.
S.S.: (On shooting stage) Turn on the 2 chimeras again.
C.F.L.: The dancing shoes I got from Zoran were much too small. I keep falling backwards, which makes every step really painful. It certainly intensifies the acting. That was his plan, but I enjoy the pain immensely.
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with C.F.L. on screen).
Z.B.: Flake was uncertain. I think it was super, what he did. With an Iggy Pop body and all that. Incredible. Especially because it's the complete opposite of everything we did before. It's crazy, what they... That is talent, I have to admit it.
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) (He said to C.F.L.) And stand straight, straight! Real proud, real proud. And really smooth motions. Very smooth, very smooth. And now the dying swan. Super! Bravo! Super! We got it, ok (laugh)?
C.F.L.: (On shooting stage) Okay by me.
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) Absolutely super (laugh).
Half an hour tochange the set. Yeah, last set for today.
C.F.L.: It was harder work than I thought. At least physically, as it is rare to dance with as much committment as I did. Not for pros of course, but for me, that was really exhausting work. The real work begins here (laugh). The elated feelings are over. Now it's delivery time.
Z.B.: This scene here is a kind of intensification of a picture, that I showed to them from the Butoh Theater. It was greeted with rejection and acceptance. And what they did, that was Butoh Theater. There are quotations like: My dance is born of mud, and depictions of pain and stuff. We had tension like this the whole time and I now have to dissipate it. They can let off steam now. Let it all out. Then there will be a real break and we can begin with a new story with new pictures. That's how I imagined it.
R.Z.K.: Rammstein is emotional and all the more you try to cram into a concept, the more you lose.
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with all groups on screen).
T.L.: The bottom line of the story is, that a huge amount of changes take place. With all the individuals, in unity as a band, as a structure. It's all different to how it was before. So many factors have a role to play. You age and become more mature, and have a better understanding of the things that you do.
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with T.L. on screen).
C.S.: This record was like a new beginning for me, because prior to it, we had an awful lot of personal differences within the band and it was within the realms of possibility, that we wouldn't stay together for much longer and maybe all just go our own ways. But then we found a really good way we could make it work.
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with all groups on screen).
P.H.L.: To keep going forward, this time we found a different way: We weren't quite as critical. Whenever we had an idea, we incorporated it in pre-production just as it was. We just made the best out of it. Even if someone said: "It's a bit over the top", we did it anyway. In the past, we would have just scrapped it. This time around, even weaker songs had a chance. Illness, throat aches, weary legs. Then there were days, where there was a new leg. Leg attached. Then he could walk again and all that was missing was the hat or the jacket. And at some point he was given a jacket and was then... the boss. The best song near or far.
C.S.: As a drummer, I simply refused, to play the same old rhythms and patterns like we did before. I simply tried out some new stuff and on this record, I was able to develop much more and unfold, and free myself from the strict Rammstein regulations of the pervious years (laugh).
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with all groups on screen).
O.R.: Like others go to the factory, we went to the rehearsal room. Maybe were weren't so uptight. This time, everyone should just come when they felt like it, more laid back. Without all of the pressure to perform that we often experienced in the past.
R.Z.K.: My job? That for once, I wasn't always exactly aware of what I was doing. Normally, everything was controlled, by me basically. This time around, I could deal a lot better with what I had played. Often, I just came in, without knowing, what I would be playing and simply tried some stuff out. That was more creative and was a lot more fun, than reproducing things you already had in your head. It was a whole new experience and that was nice.
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with all groups on screen).
C.F.L.: For the uninitiated, it's a completely normal Rammstein album, But for us, it's something totally different and new. But you can't really convey all of this, if you hadn't done it yourself.
(Shooting video "Mein Tell" with all groups on screen).
R.Z.K.: First, you can expect a band to develop itself further. You can expect a singer, who has become an absolute singer. You can expect beautiful and dark lyrics, if you understand them that is. You can expect a journey into... the unknown, into the dark, evil. Into the wondrous, affection. And despite all of this, you can still expect Rammstein to be Rammstein.
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) Very good. Cut.
T.L.: (On shooting stage) It's a wrap.
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) Y-E-E-A-A-R!!!
Z.B.: What I have learned more than anything, and what the solution to many things seems to be, is the ability to let go. Even some of the ideas, that you grow attached to, because something better happens. But to be able to find security in this, is in fact the most important.
U.M. 3: It's a wrap!
Z.B.: (On shooting stage) Yeah, time to grab some grub.
