KP: This was really disappointing for me because I don’t do any extreme sports well, but I would have been able to do all of them.
BP: This is completely normal. There are insurance restrictions when we film on location. This is because we cannot film without actors. Horse riding, skiing—things that can cause injury pretty easily.
What was your favourite shooting location?
AM: Hallstatt is where I was born Austria. We had such a special time there because Christine Baranski—who’s just one of the most perfect, shimmering women of all time—really took it upon herself to be the hostess with the most-est. She was very generous. She invited us to an experience of Champagne and sunset one night. We were staying in a beautiful old hotel which overlooked the alpine lakes of the town. When we arrived, she had beautifully decorated tables, flowers and Champagne. She also had curated an evocative classical music playlist. This was an “What’s my life moment?” It was a “What is my life moment?”
KP: Alpendorf was mine. It was all one road. So you could walk down to a valley and take your dog there. What I can only describe as a babbling creek. In that brook, there was this silvery blue mud. It was very soft. It was so soft. It was glacial sludge. Do you know the meaning of glacial sludge? All the expensive beauty products contain it. I applied it head to foot. I was covered with mud.
AM: She tried to sell it us.
KP: I said “Try the mud.” It’s amazing!”
Udo Kramer
In one episode, a number of characters visit a spa and take a wine-bath. Was it a real spa or a fake?
BP: On stage, we built the bath. The mud bath and hallways were like a spa hotel [Hotel Krallerhof].
KP: They rented the entire spa. The whole spa was rented out. It was crazy. For weeks, I scrubbed it off. It stained.
BP: The actors’ performance in the wine bath is brilliant!
Explored you Munich during your free time?
AM: We spent quite a bit of time at the English Garden, in the beer garden by the river. The King Princess had brought her dog, and we wanted to walk Raz and look at all the Germans. We spent a great deal of time walking around, particularly when spring arrived.
KP: In the States, it’s rare to find a city park with a source of potable water that can also be used as a swimming pool. On a warm day in Munich you can bring a picnic blanket, sit along the riverbank and go swimming. It was great that I could go swimming with my dog. Central Park is not a swimming pool. You’d die.
You may have found some good bars and restaurants.
KP: Bar. We loved Bar. I used to go to a pub that was attached to a hotel that was just down the street from me. I would take my dog for a walk and then sit down and drink a beer all by myself. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before because you are on a bus with your friends and it stinks. There was a great deal of time alone because everyone was in separate parts of the city. It was a great group of people and so family-like that you could call anyone and ask, “What are your plans for today?” We all became friends and were a part of each other’s communities. It was wonderful to be able ring Annie or Murray up and say “Hey, lets hang out.” No one ever let me forget how it isn’t always this way on TV.
