Mit Tim Wilde auf wilder Fahrt im Corsa-e durch Berlin

First Date

It is summer, the time before the second covid-lockdown. People aren`t wearing masks outside and they can meet again. Tim is extremely punctual. He always is, when I have a shoot with him. A fit guy who is never at a loss for words and moves quickly into the required shots. He understands how to play the camera, he lives his roles – but keeps his own personality. He is someone like you and me, but also someone who is turbocharged.

Today’s mission: Tim Wilde drives an electric car for the first time. Through his beloved Berlin.

Schauspieler Tim Wilde sitzt auf einer Bank
Tim Wilde is good in front of the camera and privately an interesting personality

He is accompanied by auto motor und sport-writer Jörn Thomas. The two men have already cruised and laughed together during several classic car rallies, celebrating old cars. One day Tim mentioned that he had never driven an electric car. Now he stands in the shade of the Berlin Television Tower, the Corsa-e in front of him.

Schauspieler Tim Wilde lehnt in Berlin an einem Opel Corsa-e.
Driving through Berlin with the Opel Corsa-e is a new experience for actor Tim Wilde

Tim Wilde

The actor was born in 1966 in Stralsund, Germany. Since 1987 he has lived in Berlin. He has acted in several German theatres and in many famous movies and TV series like “Tatort”.

Let’s go!

Short instructions from the car technician: “Press start for a while, choose D, done.”

Tim: “Where is the sound? Something must be missing. A real engine is somehow cooler. With a piston, turbocharger and exhaust. One where something is moving, vibrating, roaring, living.”

Editor Jörn Thomas replies: “Just listen. Press the accelerator. Try it!” Then it is silent for a moment. For the first few metres neither of them speaks. Jörn Thomas smiles, Tim Wilde’s eyes sparkle. Finally, both of them start laughing.

Wilde screams through the open window: “Wow, crazy! How this thing accelerates! Hey, I knew it. These electric cars are cool!”

Ein orangefarbener Opel Corsa-e
The Opel Corsa-e already convinced Tim Wilde in the first few metres

“Wow, crazy! How this thing accelerates!

Hey, I knew it.

These electric cars are cool!”

Tim Wilde in einer Kneipe in Berlin
During the time of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Tim Wilde worked in this bar making broomsticks

A stony path

Half a day later we sit in Prenzlauer Berg. Tim Wilde has parked the Corsa-e in a small lot – and has already taken it to his heart.

While drinking coffee he points into a corner of the bar. “This is where my workbench stood before the fall of the Berlin wall. I made broomsticks over there”, he says.

Tim Wilde wasn`t born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he had to struggle to get where he is. In a system he didn’t like. Which he wanted to leave. He wanted to know “… how it is somewhere else.”

When a friend took him to the Schiller Theater he saw Heino Ferch and Sebastian Koch on stage and he thought: “I could do that.” He went to drama school, progressed at full speed.

Opel Corsa-e an einer Kreuzung
The Opel Corsa-e pulls away strongly without making a fuss

Conclusion

“Going full speed – that’s somehow a thing of the past with the Corsa-e”, Wilde jokes during the last shot. His left arm is coolly resting out of the open window, his forehead frowning. As if a closing remark is coming.

And here it is:

“Yes! The Corsa-e is an ideal city car. Obviously, to reach Lake Constance from Berlin the range is not sensational, but apart from that, just super. Easy, emission-free and the way it sprints off at the traffic lights, just press the accelerator – and yeah, we are in front. While breaking we can regain energy and silently buzz around a bit. This is as important for me as for the environment.”

Tim Wilde betrachtet Autos
Tim Wilde betrachtet Autos

Auf dem Roller durch Berlin
Auf dem Roller durch Berlin

Vom Corsa-e überzeugt: Tim Wilde
Vom Corsa-e überzeugt: Tim Wilde


February 2021

Text and photos: Dani Heyne