On September 18, a Interview with Xatar published, which included the upcoming film “Rheingold”. The biography “Alles oder Nix”, which served as a template for the film, was published in 2015. Although the film had been filmed since 2021, Xatar saw it for the first time just under a month ago. Now he’s “hyped to death” and has nothing but praise for Emilio Sakraya and his portrayal of Xatar. But also for the director: “Fatith Akin is the boss,” says the rapper.
The rapper was joined by Emilio for six months during filming. “Day and night, 24 hours. He was with me in every situation in life.” In doing so, Emilio learned all about Xatar and managed to acquire behaviors and personality traits that even Xatar himself hadn’t noticed.
“I didn’t even check that I have so many quirks when I talk and stuff. Now I check why I’m such a running meme. I’ve seen him imitate me. (…) Depending on who is around him, what kind of situation he is in, he walks differently than Xatar. He says he’s observed that when I’m under Kanaks, I walk very differently. When I’m under Almans, I walk differently. When I’m in the Tower at work, I walk differently.”
But not only the authentic embodiment is decisive for the film. Clothing and languages should also correspond to the time in which the film is set. In the 1990s in Cologne they didn’t say “diggie“. Equally important is “that the Kanak in NRW with ‘ner Replay jacket and Shox walked around”so as not to look French or London in any way.
What can you expect from “Rheingold”?
The template “Everything or Nothing” became a “Spiegel” bestseller. Xatar says he had tears in his eyes from start to finish watching the film and he “the film hit me hard because it’s nothing,” what he expected, even though he was there during the shoot: “People who know me will expect something like that… it’s definitely not going to happen.”
Plot
Giwar Hajabi, the real name of the Iranian-born rapper and music producer, looks back on his life. His parents are Kurds and fled to Germany via Iraq in the 1980s. He grew up in poor conditions in a social housing estate in Bonn. In order to get money, he drifts into petty crime and later rises to become a big dealer. One day he loses a shipment of liquid cocaine and in order not to be indebted to the drug cartel, he plans a gold heist. But the robbery has fatal consequences for him and he ends up in an Iraqi detention center via detours.