Juergen Maurer Talks Vienna Blood Season Four

Confronted With Hard Choices

Vienna Blood returns for a fourth season on the BBC and here’s Juergen Maurer who plays Oskar Rheinhardt talking about it…

Where do we find Oskar at the start of series four?

We find Oskar in his regular job confronted with a very hard task. He is not with Therese because she dumped him at the end of series 3. Oskar is still the lone wolf he used to be. 

How do you feel about rooftop scenes and stunts? 

I love to do my own stuff. But am very seldom allowed to. So, whenever you see Oskar run over roofs or jump through windows…. the fighting is pretty much me – fist fights or physical action – but not the things that have risk from the surroundings for insurance reasons. And I would love to do them!

Does it make a difference to the atmosphere of the show to shoot in authentic locations?

Of course.  It makes a huge difference to play in actual historic surroundings. All the possibilities of CGI and animated backgrounds, which are nice and very interesting, give filmmakers endless opportunities to create worlds. But filming in the actual historic ambient surroundings is just breathtaking for me. And it brings back Vienna to my eyes. When you live in the city and you see those things every day, they tend to become normal. Then you come to set, to a place that you pass maybe three or four times a year but now set as a historic picture, you see it again. You think, ‘Oh yes. Yes, that is where I live, that is Vienna.’ The potential is there but you lose sight of it if you live here. It’s incredibly beautiful.

What is your favourite Vienna Blood location?

We have so many precious places. And you will always shine with a castle, St Stephen’s Cathedral or with the big things. Personally, my favourite, because it didn’t change over the episodes and we always return, is Oskar’s apartment. It’s a small, very modest backyard of an old Viennese house. And the apartment is tiny, stuffed with old things and has an incredible atmosphere to it.

The image of that modest backyard apartment that is on the ground floor with one room and a kitchen immediately brings me to the character. When I go there I feel Oskar and that is, I think, one of the most beautiful things that the location can do to an actor.

Oskar takes a huge risk in series four. Who takes bigger risks Juergen Maurer or Oskar Rheinhardt?

Oskar is prepared to take higher risks. I’m not a risky kind of guy. I like to have security and order in my private life. I’m a motorcycle rider but that’s about as risky as it gets. I like to go quick but try to contain myself.

What can you tell us about Oskar and Max’s relationship?

The relationship between Oskar and Max has evolved over the episodes and so did our relationship as actors because we got to know each other better and we got closer. I hope I’m not exaggerating when I say we like each other very much and are good friends! We also enjoy the work. It has a certain touch of being complete together and the shoot brings that too. We start shooting and we put on our costumes and stand next to each other and click clack, there we are.

As actors we are quite near to where the characters are with each other. We have one scene at the end of an episode, Max and Oskar are talking about friendship and one asks the other ‘Are we friends?’ and the other one says ‘You really don’t know by now?’ That was a nice moment because it was very real.

Like yes, of course we are friends!