Leonie Benesch’s role in the docudrama thriller “September 5” is invented, but the story revolves around a grim reality: how American sports broadcasters learned how to handle hard news the fast way when terrorists took Israeli athletes hostage at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. And yet Benesch’s character, a German interpreter named Marianne, is more than a practical employee problem-solving in the control room — she represents a country whose dream of international reemergence after World War II has been shattered. “She’s someone who wants to acknowledge what her people did but still move past it,” Benesch says.
“I’m sure part of the reason she’s staying in that control room is because she’s hoping for good news.” Fresh off her starring turn in the Oscar-nominated “The Teachers’ Lounge,” Benesch is again getting notice for her performance in a tense situation, her character’s translating skills help to process an unfolding nightmare. “She was perfect for my approach of having it be as real as possible,” says director Tim Fehlbaum.
“When she listens to something coming in, she’s 100% that character, in that moment.” Fehlbaum intentionally kept Benesch away from preproduction meetups or table reads as a helpful isolation from the rest of the cast. “We liked the idea of me being a little on my own, thrown into it,” she says.
“Because Marianne is not one of the sports guys. She was sent to translate, so she’s got her own corn.