European
Film
Awards 7 December 2013
Diashow
Unknown / Unknown Identity Germany (113 min)


Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Screenwriter: Oliver Butcher, Stephen Cornwell, Karl Gajdusek, Anthony Peckham
Producer: Joel Silver, Leonard Goldberg, Andrew Rona
Director of Photography: Flavio Labiano
Main Cast: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Frank Langella, Bruno Ganz, Karl Markovics, Sebastian Koch, Stipe Erceg
Synopsis

When Dr. Martin Harris (Liam Neeson), who comes out of a coma after a serious car accident, his nightmare has only just begun: his wife Elisabeth (January Jones) no longer recognises him and another man (Aidan Quinn) has taken Harris’ place at her side. Not only as her husband, but also as a budding scientists who is due to give an important lecture at a conference. As if that wasn’t enough, he is also being pursued by a hit-man (Stipe Erceg). What has happened to him? Harris begins to have doubts about his mind. In order to win back his wife and his old life, he traces Gina (Diane Kruger), a taxi-driver who had saved him after the accident. She and the former Stasi agent Ernst Jürgen (Bruno Ganz) are his only allies in the struggle to reclaim his identity against an all-powerful opponent. When Martin finally discovers what’s going on, he realizes that he’s wrapped up in a massive conspiracy that only he can stop. It’s life and death, and the clock is ticking. It’s up to Martin to set things straight and unearth the startling truth…
Director's Statement

The original book was set in Paris but we didn't want to do it in Paris because it is too familiar and too romantic. I mean losing your identity in Paris wouldn't be so bad. I wanted a city that was less familiar and a language that sounded harsher, like German, not so melodic like French. And Berlin is perfectly suited to the story because it's a city that's still looking for its own identity. The city itself resonates with the themes and character and the story. It was very easy to create a visual language for the film. Jaume Collet-Serra in: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
(…)the cold took us by surprise. We asked what the weather was going to be like. And the people in Berlin said oh it might snow little bit and be around zero degrees (32 F). When we got there it started to snow and never stopped. And it was minus 20! It was a logistical nightmare. The traffic and doing chase scenes on the icy roads was a pain. All the canals were frozen. The accident when the car goes into the river had to be delayed for a month. Jaume Collet-Serra in: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER