Behind the scenes of Downfall

The Behind the Scenes of Downfall is the bonus footage that is available in the DVD or BluRay versions of Der Untergang (Downfall). Special DVD versions, like the the Premium Edition also have footage not seen in other released format. Most of the Behind the Scenes footage remained unknown to the Untergangers (and other people), until Streptokokkeninfekti shared them.

Overview
The footage consists of several important parts, as following:

Downfall - Behind the Scenes (Der Untergang - Hinter den Kulissen)
The footage shows several key scenes from the film (such as the scenes with Schenck in the makeshift hospital, the scene with Traudl and Gerda preparing to leave, the breakthrough scenes, the meeting of Krebs with Chuikov, Hitler in the Chancellary shaking hands and talking about his Berlin model, the party scene, the Hitler Youth awarding scene, the cremation scene, the planning scene, the Goebbels children singing scene, etc.) from a behind the scenes POV.

Most of the footage consists of takes. Oliver Hirschbiegel is seen giving indications to the actors and the film crew and Bernd Eichinger is seen talking to Juliane Köhler.

Filming in St Petersburg (Dreharbeiten St Petersburg)
It shows the filming in St Petersburg, voiced over by Christine Rothe, the executive producer of the film and Bernd Lepel, the production designer. The footage shows the battle scenes, as well as scenes with the Hitler Youth, more scenes between Inge Dombrowski and other Youth soldiers as well as many armored vehicles. Much of the video is about the way the St. Petersburg set was build. Oliver Hirschbiegel and Rainer Klausmann also appear.

Hitler's Final Days (Hitlers Letze Tage)
This footage is actually a documentary about the last days of Hitler, as told by Joachim Fest, Bernd Eichinger as well as Oliver Hirschbiegel and several actors. Several mini scenes not seen in either version of the film, such as a short footage of Göring arriving, Goebbels bringing Hitler some document, Fegelein's trial, Burgdorf ranting at Bormann and Traudl hearing the rant, the missing scene in the Hitler planning scene. Other people interviewed are the historian Lew Jakovlevitsh Lurje, production designer Bernd Lepel and Rainer Klausmann. The first part is about the filming in St Petersburg and the Bunker set. The second part shows Bruno and the producers talking about Hitler and his famous rant scene. The third part begins with Alexandra Maria Lara talking about her role as Traudl Junge, showing the interview scene, then the will scene. Ulrich Matthes talks about his role, the footage also shows a blooper where Bruno Ganz mocks Goebbels's speech and a scene with Goebbels giving Hitler a document. Heino Ferch also talks about his role, showing the scene where he talks to Hitler. Justus von Dohnanyi is next, a footage of him ranting at Bormann is seen. The other actors interviewed are André Hennicke, Christian Berkel, Ulrich Noethen, Götz Otto, Michael Mendl, Thomas Thieme, Rolf Kanies, Thomas Kretschmann and Juliane Köhler. Joachim Fest and Bernd Eichinger then talk abouth the Youth Soldiers and their role in the film. Corinna Harfouch ends the interviews, talking about the Goebbels children. Joachim Fest and Bernd Eichinger end the film.

Interviews
There are 16 people interviewed, 15 actors and the director.


 * Justus von Dohnányi: describes his character as very temperamental, gets angry very easy, drinks too much.
 * Rolf Kanies: describes the Nazis as fanatics. Calls Krebs the perfect servant for Hitler's program, as Keitel and Jodl were unpolitical. He talks about how Krebs negociated with the Russians, as he was an attache in Moscow for 5 years so he spoke Russian.
 * Thomas Kretschmann: describes Fegelein as a bastard, a man who only looked for himself, a ladies man, a golden boy (his actual nickname). He then says that while this film will not change the world, it is necessary to be told by the Germans.
 * Bruno Ganz: Talks about the challanges of his role.
 * Ulrich Matthes: Explains his role as Goebbels.
 * Mathias Gnädinger: Talks about his role as Göring
 * Gerald Alexander Held: Speaks about Hewel.
 * Donevan Gunia: Talks about his role as Peter, considers it to be fun, even though it was not easy to play it.
 * Thomas Limpinsel: Speaks about Linge.
 * André Hennicke: Talks about his role in the film.
 * Ulrich Noethen: Speaks about Himmler's role in Downfall.
 * Götz Otto: About his role as Günsche.
 * Christian Berkel: Explains his role as Schenck.
 * Heino Ferch: Speaks about his role.
 * Michael Mendl: Talks about his role as Weidling.
 * Oliver Hirschbiegel: He tells that the monstrous thing about the Third Reich is that they are humans and not demons from Hell with claws and pitchforks. He considers that is correct to show them as human beings. He also praises Bruno's portrayal as Hitler.

In Parodies
The Behind the Scenes footage has rarely been used in parodies so far, mainly because it was unknown to the majority of the Untergangers and until recently it was inaccessible.

The interviews have been used by Hitler Rants Parodies in the "Hitler interviews" series.

Other minor parodies such as Poor Little Peter Finale use interview footage.

Rotoscoped footage of Gnädinger/Göring is used in Hitler goes to Silent Hill: Episode 4.