Uli Edel

Edel was born in Neuenburg am Rhein, South Baden, Germany. After studying theatre science in Munich, he was accepted into Munich Film School alongside Bernd Eichinger. Uli befriended him and they started working together on their exercise movies, sharing a love for the nouvelle vague and Italian neorealism as well as popular U.S. mainstream cinema.

While still enrolled in film school, Edel started taking acting lessons. He wanted to know about the Stanislavski and Strasberg theories. After finishing the studies Uli worked as assistant director with Douglas Sirk and directed two TV productions.

In 1980 he joined Bernd Eichinger (production) and Herman Weigel (screenplay) for the authentic story of adolescent drug addict Christiane F., Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo. It turned out to be a big domestic and international success when it was released a year later. Six years later the three reactivated their partnership once more for another film — Last Exit to Brooklyn, based on Hubert Selby’s dark, controversial 1964 novel about life on the breadline in 1952 Brooklyn. It starred Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stephen Lang, Jerry Orbach, Burt Young, Ricki Lake, Alexis Arquette and Sam Rockwell. The musical score was provided by Mark Knopfler of rock band Dire Straits. The film won Best Supporting Actress awards from the New York Film Critics Circle and Boston Society of Film Critics for Leigh's performance as the tough, hard-drinking neighborhood prostitute Tralala, who is gang-raped in the story's tragic climax. However, the film remained a fringe success, probably because its theme was far too downbeat for mainstream consumption.

Further works include Body of Evidence, which was nominated for six Razzie Awards; Tyson; Rasputin, which won the Golden Globe for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV; The Little Vampire; Purgatory, starring Sam Shepard and Eric Roberts; the 2001 mini series The Mists of Avalon; and the 2002 mini series Julius Caesar starring Jeremy Sisto, Christopher Walken and the late Richard Harris in his penultimate role.

In 2004 he directed a feature film/TV two-parter Sword Of Xanten (aka Ring of the Nibelungs and aka Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King), based on the Volsunga saga and the Nibelungenlied.

In 2008 his film Der Baader Meinhof Komplex was released in Germany. The critically acclaimed drama was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

• Der kleine Soldat (short) (1971)
• Tommy kehrt zurück (1973)
• Der harte Handel (TV) (1978)
• Das Ding (de) (2-part TV miniseries) (1978)
• Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (1981)
• Eine Art von Zorn (TV) (1984)
• Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989)
• Twin Peaks (One episode - Season 2, Episode 14) (TV) (1991)
• Body of Evidence (1993)
• Confessions of a Sorority Girl (TV) (1994)
• Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny (TV) (1995)
• Tyson (TV) (1995)
• Purgatory (TV) (1999)
• The Little Vampire (2000)
• The Mists of Avalon (TV) (2001)
• King of Texas (TV) (2002)
• Julius Caesar (2-part TV miniseries) (2002)
• Evil Never Dies (TV) (2003)
• Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King (TV) (2004)
• Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008)
• Zeiten ändern dich (2010)
• Das Adlon. Eine Familiensaga (de) (3-part TV miniseries) (2013)
• Houdini (TV miniseries) (2014)
• Pay the Ghost (2015)

• 1989 Bavarian Film Awards, Best Director [1]
• 1997 Golden Globes, Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV