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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.
The song is sung from the perspective of the man who was eaten.
Mein Teil, "My ***", refers to the part where they ate his ***.
Everything has eroticism and something morbid, even ***-eroticism.
Now Till wants to be beaten while he sings the refrain.
We call that frying, so it's during frying.
Then I thought, but that's only a part of it all. There's no ***.
So how do we bring the *** 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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
I'm quite excited actually, so... yes.
That's good, that's how it should be, when it isn't, it's ***, I think.
Then we should begin to clear up the set.
Only Sascha and Daniel should stay here.
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.
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!
Sorry, the time has arrived,
in which I have to ask you to leave and have a coffee or a cola.
Thank you.
It's all about a wrestling match? - Yes, but you are doing the wrestling.
Let's check that out.
Hang on, hang on! Don't go in just yet, wait a minute!
It's all locked, they're shooting. - And the back door?
I'll call the technician, he'll open it for you.
Okay.
Stay out front, he'll be down in a moment.
No one knows how long it'll take, but it's going well apparently.
Did it look good, hopefully? - Looks quite okay.
What do you mean, looks okay? Are we shooting it again, or what?
That was the first take? - Yes.
That's great, the laughter! Super, Super, Super!
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.
Okay? - Yes.
How about a rehearsal? I say yes. I'll do it quickly.
But not yet! -Just one rehearsal.
Okay.
It works? - Yes.
Let's all say thanks to Luciana, for the super performance!
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.
Hopefully, my mother doesn't find out. No, it's alright.
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!
It was such a ...
Zoran had thought up something himself, which he really wanted to do, but...
It was all planned beforehand, so I knew how far it would go.
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.
No, everything's perfectamente!
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.
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.
Paul, that's absolutely incredible!
Don't tug too much. Here in front we ... - Stop complaining!
It's getting better. - Here, on the side too.
Good, Paul. One more time.
I didn't have to change my ways.
I just did things that way I normally do them.
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.
How do you want to do that with the reflection?
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. - Okay.
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!
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.
You want it like this? Entangled in one another.
We'd better put these underthings on first.
If you want. - Because we've got the wigs on too.
But you can step into these. - I don't have to pull them over my head?
No, the blouse ... - Oh, right.
Take the blouse and look if it's to be buttoned or pulled over your head.
No, it has to be buttoned. - Video! Camera! And action!
It's great kissing myself! - Yeah.
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. 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.
I think she looked better. - We'll do her hair again.
The mama looked older somehow. More make-up.
Or is this like during rehearsals?
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.
Ready? Okay, we're rolling!
Everyone OK? Cool. Action!
Playback!
Cameras!
Man, that was exhausting!
Last time I struggled like that was 1 5 years ago.
Theres 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!
Pull the skirt up higher. Crab your *** 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!
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.
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.
That's about all I know. As a woman. Well, I am the mother.
The perpetrators mother.
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.
Make a lot of gestures. Screw your eyes up.
Do that until we're rolling. - Do an ugly face. Yeah, totally ugly.
Without poking your tongue out. Just ugly. Right.
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?
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.
Video rolling! Camera!
Speed. And action!
Perfect. In the can.
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.
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.
Turn on the 2 chimeras again.
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.
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.
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?
Okay by me. - Absolutely super.
Half an hour tochange the set. - Yeah, last set for today.
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.
The elated feelings are over. Now it's delivery time.
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.
Rammstein is emotional and all the more you try to cram into a concept,
the more you lose.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ajourney into ...
the unknown, into the dark, evil. Into the wondrous, affection.
And despite all of this, you can still expect Rammstein to be Rammstein.
Very good. Cut. - It's a wrap.
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.
It's a wrap! - Yeah, time to grab some grub.