Interview with "Florian Wild"
Enjoy a new interview with Michael N. Kuehl, the "new gay brother" (o rly?) in this month's issue of DU&ICH. (Note: Includes spoilers. Also, CUTE!)
"Alles was zählt": Episode 1000 airing on Monday
Michael N. Kuehl, the new "gay brother," causes a stir on the RTL show.
The 22-year-old Hanoveranian, who plays Roman Wild’s younger brother, is in the landmark episode as well, of course – and has his own storyline coming up: Florian Wild suddenly thinks he may be a gay brother himself. He meets a boy named Frank and discovers he feels more than friendship for him. His emotions are in a massive turmoil for a while, until he eventually finds out that Frank’s name is actually Franziska (played by Julia Engelmann).
Michael, did you ever think about what it would be like if you weren't straight yourself? Of course I’ve thought about it, now that my character is going through that. As the storyline approached, I started to think about how I would deal with it. I’m sure it’s a feeling one would struggle with initially. It’s not like you can control falling in love. At first I’m sure there’d be some denial, and then you might start struggling against yourself. Eventually we get to a point where Florian just kisses him/her because he can’t take it anymore. And then the story is resolved pretty quickly and things relax a bit. But before then, it’s a struggle against himself. It’s a feeling he doesn’t want to accept, even though he’s familiar with it from his brother and it was never an issue for him. But he thought he himself was straight until he suddenly thinks he might be gay like his brother, which confuses him enormously.
What if you were gay yourself? Would you live differently than you do now? I’m sure I would! Some things would definitely be different. It depends on when I would’ve come out, but I suspect my life would’ve gone differently. And I probably would have some different friends, too. It wouldn’t cause me any trouble in my job, since our industry deals very openly with gay people, unlike footballers who make such a fuss about it.
How do you enjoy being part of AWZ? I like it a lot. I have a lot of fun with my colleagues, and I think the various directors are very cool. And there’s lots to see. We have regular hockey training sessions in the ice rink and also shoot a lot of scenes at a lake, in addition to the studio. Recently, Julia and I were coached in canoeing on the lake. Yesterday we shot at the lake for 12 hours; long days like that can get strenuous.
What was the hardest thing so far? The shoot at the lake yesterday. Getting up at 6, make-up at 7, be at the lake at 8. We only shot 5 or 6 scenes, but we spent the entire time in cold water, with lots of swimming, lots of dialogue, and lots of action in the scenes. When I got home at 8 pm, I just took a shower, lay down and slept until 9 am today.
Do you have proper hockey training? We do various puck manoeuvring exercises and have skating practice with our coach in the ice rink, and Julia and I always play each other. After 1-2 hours in the rink, we’re usually exhausted, but it’s lots of fun, too.
What’s the best thing that ever happened to you? My family moving from Germany to Columbia, where we lived for 8 years. Life and the people there have influenced me greatly because I got to know a completely different mentality and standard of life. There are many people there that I miss a lot. Joining AWZ was a big step towards growing up for me. It changed my life significantly, and I hope it’ll keep changing me for the better. These are the two best things that have happened to me so far.