A brief look into Luxembourg and the filming industry

At this point everyone in Luxembourg and beyond should have heard of Vicky Krieps, considering she was featured in the British Vogue, the New York Times and won best actress in the 'European Film Awards'.

While she is undoubtedly the most successful Luxembourgish export at the moment, she is by far not the first, nor will she be the last. In fact, the Grand Duchy has seen quite the success when it comes to the film industry.

It's time to grab a blanket, a drink and a bowl of (sweet) popcorn and start this little reading journey.

Actors

Actors are the heart and soul of every good movie and series, and finding success in the business is not easy. Before starring next to Daniel Day-Lewis in Phantom Thread, Vicky Krieps had numerous roles in Luxembourgish productions. This role however made her receive critical acclaim and her career started ascending.

She famously starred as Empress Elizabeth in Corsage and got a part in the the sequel of the iconic German television series Das Boot.

Thierry van Werwecke is another icon of the Luxembourgish film industry. He starred in over 60 films and TV shows from 1988 until his death in 2009, made regular appearances in German productions and played the main character in THE cult Luxembourgish film, Troublemaker.

Thierry van Werwecke

Another prominent name in Germany is Desirée Nosbusch. Most of her career took place there and she has been in numerous German productions as an actress and a TV presenter.

Last but not least, we've got to mention Luc Feit, a star in the Luxembourgish film community. He is an actor as well as a director and writer and was nominated for an Oscar for Werk ohne Autor as "Best Foreign Language Film". In addition to this nomination, he starred in The Monuments Men next to George Clooney and took part in several well-known productions such as Netflix' Dark and the German series Babylon Berlin.

Movies

We can't take a brief look at the film industry without mentioning Superjhemp retörns, Luxembourg's very own super hero comic. The Luxembourgish film features many known faces such as Luc Feit, Desirée Nosbusch and Jules Werner, the latter being known from Capitani. In the movie, retired Superjhemp needs to save his country from a terrorist plot but unfortunately he has lost his superpowers..

Already mentioned before, Troublemaker is seen as the Luxembourgish cult film. The movie tells the story of Jacques, a loudmouthed prison inmate who likes to call himself Johnny Chicago. In prison, he comes up against a fellow inmate named Chuck. They get into a fight, then become friends. Together they dream of going to America. No one, not even Jenny, Johnny's girlfriend, manages to stop the two buddies.

Another movie, or should I say short film, deserves to be mentioned, considering it got the Grand Duchy an Oscar in 2014. Yes you've heard right! Mr Hublot, a Luxembourgish/French animated short film won the Oscar for, you guessed it, "Best Animated Short Film" in 2014. The length is less than 12 minutes and is about a withdrawn character with obsessive-compulsive disorders, who is afraid of change and the outside world. Never leaving the house therefore, he faces a new challenge when a robot dog turns about and he has to share his home with the little fellow.

Mr Hublot / © RTL

If you are curious about other movies being shot in Luxembourg, I recommend this excellent Knowledge Bite about famous filming locations in the Grand Duchy. Can you guess who went skinny-dipping in the Mullterthal?

Series

Capitani, the country's first Netflix series and of course collaboration of yours truly, RTL. Season 1 of the Samsa production has broken the records of any RTL fiction ever produced, with 90.4% of viewers that wanted another season. Well their wish was our command and a second season was released in February 2022. In case you missed it, you should definitely check it out! In a review, Forbes wrote, "... Capitani proves to be a very well-paced series with complex storylines, slowly letting all the lies and secrets surrounding the small village unravel."

Another successful series that both was shot and set in Luxembourg is Bad Banks. I first heard about it in my German literature class, which was pretty modern when it came to teaching us serial storytelling. The series is a Luxembourgish-German production features loads of famous actors from all over Europe, five different languages and many scenes that were filmed in Kirchberg, the City and RTL City. The series follows a young investment banker trying to navigate her life and career between Luxembourg and Frankfurt. Definitely worth a watch if you're into thrillers.

Filming of Bad Banks at RTL City / © RTL

Honorable mention

At this point you're probably wondering why I mentioned Breaking Bad. The iconic American series deserves an honorable mention because, well, it presented us with an honorable mention of Luxembourg during one episode.

And it all started with 'Die Kirk', Luxembourg. Little fun fact you need to know about me, is that during the time of Breaking Bad I was a student at the Lycée Classique in Diekirch. One day I went to school and everyone was really excited about something that they saw in a new episode of Breaking Bad. Apparently they had mentioned the little town of Diekirch in this big American series.

© Breaking Bad via reddit

To be fair, excitement is an understatement, I think the word pride would by far be a better fit. For years, this has now been one of my fun facts whenever someone asks me about Luxembourg. Or where I went to high school.

Definitely worth a mention, and maybe even your newest fun fact to share with non-Luxembourgers.