Frank Christian Marx is the sexy star and co-executive producer of the new German comedy Men to Kiss (Männer zum Knutschen) which screens at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, June 24, at the Tivoli Cinemas for the Kansas City Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. This fun, over-the-top story centers on the relationship between Ernst (Marx) and Tobias. Ernst's old school friend, Uta, returns to Berlin from the United States and hatches a plan to break up the couple. Hilarity ensues. The movie is full of beautiful actors, zany schemes and scenic Berlin and is sure to put you in a good mood. I posed a few questions to Marx about the film, and here is what he said.
You were both producer and lead actor in Men to Kiss. What was it like juggling those roles?
It's a big challenge, with lots of 24-hour days. It got more difficult every day to jump between acting and producing, back and forth. As an actor, you only have to worry about being believable in front of the camera; as a producer, you have to worry about absolutely everything. In that process, I did a lot of rookie mistakes. But I was incredibly lucky that I had a team that helped me wherever they could. We all were like a family. And we're still like that.
Your character's boyfriend is played by Udo Lutz, your co-executive producer for Men to Kiss. What was it like sharing the screen with Udo?
Every day was like a blast. I mean this guy has comedic timing and talent, and I enjoyed working with him to the fullest. The most important for me was that during this really hard time, I could completely trust him. And the result of that was that we both founded Ente Kross Film [a Berlin production company>.
The costuming - from the balloon outfits to Uta'