"Everyman" Star Philipp Hochmair Starts Third Biography Attempt with a Personal Touch

A few days before the "Jedermann" premiere at the Salzburg Festival, Philipp Hochmair presents a richly illustrated biography titled "Hochmair, wo bist du?" published by Brandstätter Verlag. For this, the German author and journalist Katharina von der Leyen spoke with numerous companions. In an interview with APA, Hochmair explains why the book is already the third attempt at a biography, how he learns his texts as a dyslexic, and how he wants to die one day.

About Career, Childhood, and Art: Philipp Hochmair Presents Third Biography

APA: You are now presenting a biography at the age of 51. Why now?

Philipp Hochmair: This is already the third attempt, and this attempt was just right. I learned from the other two attempts and have now really found the best counterpart in Katharina von der Leyen because she has a lot of experience with eccentric people. One of the book titles we discarded was: "I'm writing it down now because in 20 years I won't remember it anymore." That's a motivation because now it's still fresh, everyone is still here, my parents are still reasonably fit, everyone is there to be questioned. You can still tap into the sources, and that's important.

What caused the failure of the previous two attempts?

The first biography was put together too quickly. I was still very young, and in the end, I found that there was too little substance. The second attempt was similar. Now it was exactly the right mix of depth, retelling facts, and also confronting my contemporaries. For example, Katharina brought me back together with Nicolas Stemann. Not that we were apart, but our lives simply developed in different worlds. It was a great achievement of this book to seek out the comrades from the early days and reconnect with them.

The book is called "Hochmair, wo bist du?" Does this refer to you playing in seven locations within two weeks? Or more: "Where are you now in your life?"

Both. Today is very exemplary: I came from Altaussee very early in the morning, then I was at the dentist, now I have this interview, afterwards a TV appearance, and later I perform in Bad Vöslau. At night, I drive to my next performance in Graz. So the question "Hochmair, wo bist du?" is very fitting today. I will frequent so many places that it makes me dizzy. But I enjoy it: I'm sitting on a witch's broom, and it zooms through the world.

You are quite busy around the "Jedermann" premiere as well.

I love the ebb and flow system: I prefer to jump right into the flood, where you lose your bearings in the foaming sea, and then take breaks. I can't do theater in a trickling, homeopathic way.

Your parents were against you becoming an actor. Why?

For my father, artists were poor, penniless people. During the war, he witnessed great pianists playing for a meal at his school. For my father, art is an incomprehensible struggle for survival.

The book describes a scene where you recite Goethe's "Totentanz" at school and experience the moment as an awakening. How exactly was that?

Looking back, it was a similar mechanism to stepping in at Salzburg in 2018. I knew I could do the text of "Jedermann," and I knew it was a stage and it would somehow work. It was the same at school. I decided in a split second: I'm going to jump on the table and perform it. Back then, I experienced for the first time that I could ignite from "0 to 100."

You are dyslexic. How do you manage the text volumes?

I'm an auditory type and usually have someone opposite me who reads the text to me, and I repeat it. This creates a dialogue. The text becomes music, a song. That's how I remember it.

With solo projects like "Werther," you have been on the road for almost 30 years. What attracts you to this format?

This is hard-won territory, and you don't give it up so easily. So I have plowed, cultivated, and planted this land that I found, and now I am harvesting great fruits that I can share everywhere.

Inside the book's cover, there is a list of discarded title ideas. One of them is: "I Always Say Yes". In retrospect, what should you have said no to in your career?

If I had dared, I would have liked to drop out of school. This statement is, of course, not exemplary, so let's phrase it as a fantasy: I would have liked to engage with art earlier, without staying in the school treadmill for so long. Or I would have liked to go on a world trip, as suggested to the young Victor by his uncle in Stifter's "Hagestolz".

The book states that thanks to your role in "Vorstadtweibern", you were suddenly recognized on the street. Has this been amplified with "Jedermann"?

"Jedermann" is not television, "Jedermann" is high culture. "Jedermann" is something great for the audience, hardly understandable, something you've heard of, it's in Salzburg, you can't get tickets there. You become known through television, you are ennobled through "Jedermann". The "recognition" in Salzburg takes place on a different level.

Your contract as "Jedermann" runs until 2026. How long do you want to play this role?

All my life. I want to die on stage like Molière - like Molière as the hypochondriac: I as Jedermann imaginaire.

(The conversation was conducted by Sonja Harter/APA)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.