'Oppenheimer's Matthias Schweighöfer To Star In 'The Life Of Wishes'

Matthias Schweighöfer, Erik Schmitt Panteleon Films/Lina Tesch, Seven Elephants

EXCLUSIVE: German actor Matthias Schweighöfer, who most recently starred in Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer, is joining forces with German director Erik Schmitt for upcoming project The Life of Wishes (working title).

The film, which is based on Thomas Glavinic’s best-selling novel Das Leben Der Wuensche, follows a disillusioned family man who is lost in a world where more is always better. When he is given the power to grant his every wish, he soon becomes confronted with his own dark and unconscious desires.

The film will be produced by Pantaleon Films’ Dan Maag, Marco Beckmann, Schweighöfer and Alexander Dreissig as well as ProU Producers United Film’s Willi Geike.

Fabian Gasmia of Seven Elephants, who most recently produced Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry starrer Treasure, will co-produce the project with Stefan Gärtner of SevenPictures Film. ProU Producers United Film will distribute the film in Germany and discussions for a sales agent are currently underway.

The film is backed by Germany’s FFF Bayern, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and the German Federal Film Fund.

“The Life of Wishes is an imaginative film that delves deep into the connection between desire, unconscious longing and reality itself,” said Schweighöfer. “The story explores the nature of human desire, impermanence and the power of self-awareness in shaping our relationships.”

Schweighöfer recently portrayed German physicist Werner Heisenberg, the principal scientist in the Nazi nuclear weapons program of World War II, in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. He has previously starred in projects such as Valkyrie, with Tom Cruise and Kenneth Branagh, Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead for Netflix and Sally El Hosaini-directed pic The Swimmers.

Director-writer Erik Schmitt most recently directed fantasy-feature Cleo, starring Marleen Lohse and Jeremy Mockridge. Gasmia launched his Seven Elephants banner with directors Schmitt, Julia von Heinz and David Wnendt in 2018.