Tidbits

In his book "Fan*Fan", director Eckhart Schmidt makes the following claims and statements:
*he got the idea for the script while doing a reportage on German "Schlager" (naff pop music) and its often excessive idolatry, where fans would wait for days to get their favourite star's autograph
*he describes the sujet as a "totalitarian love story"
*he notes that often it is the star, not the supposedly vulnerable fan, who meets the bitter end
*he originally wanted to emulate the musical style of the then-popular "Schlager" music but settled on New (German) Wave, which was at the time still some years away from its commercial breakthrough
*he followed Danish-American director Douglas Sirk in "cross-casting" his characters: Désirée Nosbusch who plays the fan (Simone) was already a national (arguably even international) celebrity and, despite her young age and waifish looks, a hard-nosed showbiz professional, whereas Bodo Staiger who plays the star "R.", was in real life shy, friendly and a dedicated artist
*Nosbusch didn't agree with Schmidt's choice of the near-unknown Bodo Staiger for "R." and pushed to have him replaced by a bigger star
*Nosbusch's manager had nude pictures of his ward taken, sold them to a men's magazine, and then unsuccessfully tried to have the film banned (presumably because he anticipated that it wouldn't become the smash success he had anticipated and because he banked on the controversy)
Thought I'd let you know.