Promo Teaser for 1970s Austrian Ski Racer Biopic ‘Chasing the Line’
by Alex Billington
June 22, 2021
Source: Vimeo
“All I’ve ever wanted was skiing.” Picture Tree Intl. has revealed the first promo teaser trailer for a sports history film called Chasing the Line, a biopic about the famed Austrian skier named Franz Klammer. The film’s original Austrian title is simply Klammer, but it’s being released internationally as Chasing the Line instead. It focuses specifically on the time around the Olympic Games in Innsbruck in 1976, during which Klammer surprisingly won the Gold Medal in the Downhill race. He was only 22 years old at the time and entered with immense pressure. Starring Julian Waldner as Franz Klammer, with Valerie Huber, Wolfgang Oliver, Harry Lampl, Noah Perktold, and Benedikt Kalcher. The director explains: “It’s not just about the athlete, but about this young person, or to be more precise, about two young people, the public but didn’t know yet…. It’s about love, intrigue, sports, power, public pressure. This is the stuff of big movies.” This first look has some slick footage but doesn’t seem as polished as it should. I’m still interested.
Here’s the promo teaser (+ poster) for Andreas Schmied’s Chasing the Line, from Vimeo (via Variety):
Barely 22, Franz Klammer finds himself at the “eye of the storm” when he shows up for the men’s downhill competition at the 1976 Winter Olympic Games. Since the previous season the charismatic newcomer has won virtually every race.The pressure from the media and the public and the hopes of an entire nation are off the scales. His sponsor is pushing him to switch equipment right before the competition, the weather is getting steadily worse, and his toughest rivals know that Franz has to do better than a flawless run. Franz senses he has to find his own path and only the love of his life can give him the strength to do that. This is the most important race of his life in which he skis a line that nobody even thought was possible and which will make him to this day a legend in the sport of downhill skiing. Chasing the Line is directed by the Austrian filmmaker Andreas Schmied, director of the films Taking It Back, Harri Pinter Drecksau, and Love Machine previously. The screenplay is written by Andreas Schmied and Elisabeth Schmied. Constantin Film Austria will release the film in Austria starting in fall 2021. No other release dates are set – stay tuned.
