Acclaimed filmmaker Wim Wenders announced Wednesday that he is removing his 1975 film “The Wrong Move” from circulation due to nude scenes involving actress Nastassja Kinski, who was just 13 years old during production.
The actress, now 65, has requested that Wenders reedit the movie. In an interview last month with German publication Sueddeutsche Zeitung, she stated: “That was my first film, he was my first director and he didn’t protect me.”
The celebrated director, known for creating “Paris, Texas” and “Wings of Desire,” released a public apology directed at Kinski.
“I recognize that Nastassja Kinski should have been better protected back then,” Wenders stated. “For that, I apologize to you, Nastassja, unreservedly, no ifs and buts.”
“The Wrong Move” served as Kinski’s acting debut. The daughter of actor Klaus Kinski, she portrayed a seemingly silent teenage acrobat in the film, which follows Rüdiger Vogler’s character, an aspiring writer traveling across Germany. During one scene, Kinski appears topless.
According to Wenders, he is “withdrawing it from all current forms of distribution and exhibition,” which encompasses streaming platforms and television broadcasts. The Wim Wenders Foundation, his nonprofit organization, holds ownership rights to the film.
The movie will stay unavailable until both parties reach a mutual agreement, Wenders explained. He plans to initiate “a broad dialogue” involving Kinski, the German Film Academy, and additional cinema organizations.
“It is necessary for our society to find appropriate ways of dealing with controversial film works from the 20th Century and to face new learning processes and inclusive perspectives regarding cinema,” Wenders commented.
When contacted by The Associated Press on Wednesday, representatives for Kinski did not provide an immediate response.
During last week’s German Film Awards ceremony, Wenders discussed his dilemma regarding the movie. Addressing the audience at Germany’s version of the Academy Awards, Wenders expressed concern that retroactively modifying the film “sets a precedent that affects you all, and then it becomes possible with all your films later on.”
Kinski later collaborated with Wenders again in his 1984 production “Paris, Texas,” though she has consistently expressed concerns about her early experiences in filmmaking. She also appeared without clothing in “To the Devil a Daughter” and “Stay As You Are” when she was 14 and 17 years old, respectively.
In a 1997 interview with W Magazine, Kinski reflected: “If I had had somebody to protect me or if I had felt more secure about myself, I would not have accepted certain things. Nudity things. And inside it was just tearing me apart.”
