08/03/2006

After five weeks in New York and Toronto, Til Schweiger returns to North Rhine-Westphalia to continue shooting Blaze, by Swiss director Reto Salimbeni, an English-language thriller that Schweiger is also producing through his company Barefoot Films.

The 42 year-old actor/director/producer this time plays Eddie Schneider, a publicist on the verge of marrying his boss' daughter but whose infidelities are compromising his plans. To make up for his errors, Eddie accepts to provide a false alibi for his future brother-in-law, accused of rape, but, far from helping matters, this lie will expose him to the victim's vengeance. The screenplay was written by Salimbeni and stars Lauren Lee Smith (Get Carter), Stephanie von Pfetten, Sebastien Roberts, Ned Bellamy (Being John Malkovich) and Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile).

With the support of North Rhine-Westphalia Filmstiftung, the film's other producers were Universal Pictures Germany, Indigo Motion Pictures, Erfttal Film Productions and Rheingold Films.

Blaze will be released in Germany in the spring of 2007 (distr. UIP).

(Translated from French)