German film director Wim Wenders has withdrawn his 1975 film โWrong Moveโ from circulation and issued an โunreservedโ apology to actress Nastassja Kinski over a scene showing her topless at age 13.
The road movie marked the film debut of the daughter of actor Klaus Kinski. It also stars Rudiger Vogler as an aspiring writer wandering through Germany. His encounters include an apparently mute teen acrobat played by Kinski.
In a brief scene, Vogler, then over 30, visits the 13-year-old in her bedroom, where she is lying on a bed in only her panties. He strips to his underwear and lies on top of her, slapping her before stroking her face.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Wenders, 80, apologized to Kinski and said the non-profit Wim Wenders Foundation, which owns the film, would withdraw it from distribution. He also instructed streaming platforms, television broadcasters and distributors to stop making the film publicly available.
โAs the only person responsible at the time for โWrong Moveโ who is still here, I recognize that Nastassja Kinski should have been better protected back then,โ said Wenders, who is one of Germanyโs most influential postwar filmmakers and later also worked with Kinski as the star of his acclaimed films โParis, Texasโ (1984) and โFaraway, So Close!โ (1993).
โFor that, I apologize to you, Nastassja, unreservedly, no ifs or buts,โ he added.
The film will remain unavailable, Wenders said, until a mutually agreeable solution is found.
The decision comes after Kinski, now 65, told Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper last month that she has spent 15 years unsuccessfully trying to get Wenders to remove the scene from the movie.
โAlthough I didnโt know much at the age of 13, I could already tell that it wasnโt right,โ she told the outlet, adding: โThat was my first film, he was my first director and he didnโt protect me.โ
Wenders first responded publicly to Kinskiโs demands in 2024, saying that he understood her โcurrent perceptions and feelingsโ and adding that he would not film the scene that way today.
Kinski has previously campaigned successfully against a TV film by Das Boot director Wolfgang Petersen, in which she was shown naked at age 15. Her lawyer told Spiegel that they had reached an agreement with broadcaster NDR over the filmโs distribution.
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