FILM 2174: RUN LOLA RUN (1998)

TRIVIA: Tom Tykwer hated the empty space on a wall in the casino and asked production designer Alexander Manasse to paint a picture of Kim Novak as she was in Vertigo (1958). But Alexander didn't remember what she looked like, so Tom suggested he paint her from behind. Alexander completed the picture within fifteen minutes.

The colors red (Lola's hair, numerous cars, telephone) and yellow (the phone box, supermarket, tram) appear very often in the film. These colors were selected by the director to signify danger. The reds are mainly in Lola's scenes and yellows in Manni's.

There are many spirals in the film (staircases, bar behind phone booth etc). This is because director Tom Tykwer was a fan of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958).

During shooting, Franka Potente could not wash her hair for seven weeks because the red hair color was very sensitive to water and would have gotten lighter with every washing.

As well as writing and directing the film, Tom Tykwer also composed the techno music which features star Franka Potente on vocals.

The English dub of this film is widely regarded as one of the worst in history.

Before he became a famous producer, Jason Blum worked at Miramax, where he had the opportunity to acquire and distribute this film, but he passed on it. He remarked that when Harvey Weinstein learned of the film's international success, he became enraged and threw a burning cigarette in Blum's face.

The film and its visual style could have influenced Crank (2006).

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

I’m making my way through the book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider. See my blog post about my copy of the book here…

You can buy an updated version (which I will get after I’ve made my way through this edition) here…

I really hope you can come on this journey with me – if you do I’d love to know which films you’ve enjoyed the most!

Watch this here…