Nastassja Kinski told a newspaper last month that she has spent 15 years unsuccessfully trying to get Wenders to change the Wrong Move. Photograph: Ahn Young-joon/APNastassja Kinski told a newspaper last month that she has spent 15 years unsuccessfully trying to get Wenders to change the Wrong Move. Photograph: Ahn Young-joon/APWim Wenders withdraws 1975 film featuring 13-year-old Nastassja Kinski toplessGerman director says he recognises actor should have been better protected during filming of Wrong Move
German director Wim Wenders has withdrawn from circulation his 1975 film Wrong Move, because of a scene featuring a child actor topless who was 13 at the time of filming.
The director said in a statement released on Wednesday: “Streaming, TV and distribution partners have been instructed to no longer make the film publicly accessible.”
The decision comes after actor Nastassja Kinski, now 65, told Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper last month that she has spent 15 years unsuccessfully trying to get Wenders to change the film.
Wim Wenders apologised ‘unreservedly’ to Nastassja Kinski. Photograph: Scott A Garfitt/APSpeaking at the German film awards ceremony last Friday, Wenders had said that while he would not shoot a scene in the same way today, Wrong Move was also a product of its age, and editing it retrospectively would require a broader discussion within the film industry.
His comments sparked criticism across German media, with fellow filmmaker and Babylon Berlin actor Julius Feldmeier writing in an open letter to Wenders that “it’s your responsibility alone to set things right”.
Berlin film festival defends Wim Wenders after Arundhati Roy attacked ‘jaw-dropping’ commentsRead moreIn a statement on his foundation’s website, Wenders apologised to Kinski and said the non-profit Wim Wenders Foundation, which owns the film, would withdraw it from all current channels of distribution.
“As the only person responsible at the time for Wrong Move who is still here, I recognise that Nastassja Kinski should have been better protected back then,” Wenders said in the statement.
“For that, I apologise to you, Nastassja, unreservedly, no ifs or buts,” he added.
Nastassja Kinski, left, and Wim Wenders after the screening of Paris, Texas at the Cannes film festival in 1984. Photograph: Michel Lipchitz/APWenders, 80, is one of the most influential German directors of the postwar period, whose award-winning films include Wings of Desire, Paris, Texas, Buena Vista Social Club and Perfect Days.
Kinski, daughter of the late Fitzcarraldo actor Klaus Kinski, made her acting debut in Wrong Move, playing a mute teenage acrobat. She went on to work with Wenders again in 1984’s Paris, Texas, and starred in more than 60 films in Europe and the US.
In her interview with Süddeutsche, Kinski said about Wrong Move: “That was my first film, he was my first director and he didn’t protect me. Even though I didn’t know much aged 13, I knew that that was not ok.”
Kinski has previously successfully campaigned against a TV film by Das Boot director Wolfgang Petersen, in which she was shown naked aged 15. Her lawyer told news magazine Der Spiegel that they had come to an agreement over the film’s distribution with broadcaster NDR.
Explore more on these topicsShareReuse this content
