Flula Borg is a German techno DJ, actor, and YouTube personality who is better known as DJ Flula or simply Flula.
He stars in the highly anticipated Pitch Perfect 2 out this Friday. Read what he had to say about working on the film.
Speak about working with director and star Elizabeth Banks.
It was so amazing, I think because she comes from a performance history, she really understands what we like to do and what we like to do is play and experiments and so I was really just like a child with Lego’s except there are cameras around and the Lego’s are scenes and dialogue.
What was your favorite memory from filming?
My most favorite was there was a scene called “The Riff Off” which was also in the first movie where all of these different groups are competing and my group Das Sound Machine, I don’t want to tell you what happened but let’s just say we kicked some major musical booties.
Speak about working within DSM, Das Sound Machine, what was it like working with that group?
It was so amazing because we are supposed to be the best a cappella group in the world and we really did need to look and also sound like that, so if you had seen montages in Karate Kid or Rocky or something like that, it felt like this every morning, we are training with push-ups and pull-ups and also singing and also dancing, it was incredibly dope for me. I felt like an action hero a little bit, of course wearing mesh and woman’s clothes but still.
Can you speak a little bit more about your singing preparation, how did you get ready for this?
They are very loose which is great so I felt very relaxed from the moment that we started. I do sing but I also rap and so what’s great is I come from a history of hip hop and techno, so they did a very great job to just make me feel at home, it was like I was wearing a nice turtleneck and a pipe. I felt so comfortable and like a living room with a fire place, it was wonderful.
Can you speak a little bit more about your musical background and influences?
Absolutely, as a child started doing traditional Bavarian dancing and we had a DJ for my groups and he was loving early ‘90’s hip hop and so I grew up listening to things that probably do not fit for a small German skinny dude like Public Enemy or even straight things like Young MC or MC Hammer or things like that.
I was learning and dancing to really dope and old things for a long time, The Fugees, so I started with those things and then started to inject some techno into it so I was a DJ for many years and while I was also making stange hip hop performance art and acting.
You’re a massive YouTube star, could you speak a little about what motivated you to get on YouTube and use that medium?
Yes, I was deported some years ago, I was in America doing some musical things in the performance art space and I was deported. I was very sad so I was in Germany feeling sad about it and then I said, “Hey let’s turn this frown upside round and make a techno song about what I love in Germany,” so I made a negative into a positive like you make with lemons and lemonade juices.
I made this song about poodles and grandfathers and bread, all the things I love about Germany in the techno song and put it on YouTube and then it received years later a lot of views so I thought, “Hey man hello YouTube let me make videos for your face.”
Can you speak a little bit about your favorite performance from the movie?
At the very end of the film, it’s like a word Finale, like the World Cup except it’s a cappella and so our final song … I don’t want to make a spoiler alert but it involved combining … some excellent hip hop and some excellent rock. I feel like they are hugging in a very dope and sassy way and that’s my favorite song. Also we are wearing Lederhosen and some mesh shirts, so watch out nudity.
Can you speak about working with some of the cast members like Anna Kendrick for example?
It was so fun to work with really everyone but Anna Kendrick was super charming and .… just a magnet on the camera, you have to watch her when she’s performing. Also very fun was Rebel Wilson because we were enemies a little bit, so in the moment of the film we are speaking trash and garbage to each other but between the takes we are trying to tell each other how to make even better insults for the other person so it was very fun.
Was there also some improving on set?
A lot and that was what was so great with Elizabeth we improvised many times. We would do a scene normal and then she would just tell us to play and experiment and try different things and I did this a lot with Rebel so it was a lot of fun, it was as I said like building a Lego camp, I loved it.
Can you speak about what it’s like to be in a major motion picture and just join this family?
I loved it and it was an amazing experience because it did feel as you say like a family and also because … they were doing … what I already had tried to do which is to play and improvise and to be German, and so it was so fun for me to play with this as people were also recording cameras in our faces.
You also have been doing a lot of press touring and promo and you came to New York and you’ve been visiting schools and things like that, can you speak about that experience, just interacting with the fans?
It’s so great to see that this film … there are so many passionate fans and what is very sassy is that there is no limits, there are young people, old people, kids, news anchors, there were janitors, so many people are coming to us and are so pumped for this film.
For me it was a very humbling to realize how passionate these people are for this movie and I’m so excited. I think the fans of the first film they are going to pee in their pants in a metaphorical way when they see the sequel.
Also how did you first get involved with the film, did someone know your YouTube, how did it work?
I think they were originally looking for a lady for the part that I played and then as they were looking one of the people in the production said, “Hey have you see this strange man from YouTube? They sent me an email. I thought it was a hoax because I did not believe somebody would email my website about a film like Pitch Perfect.
I didn’t believe it but I went anyway wearing strange pajama pants and holding some excellent equipment that I like to beat box with and I auditioned with a lot of ladies. Then three months later they did offer me the role, again I thought it was a hoax but I did not give anyone my ATM number, I wanted to know it was very safe.
Do you hope to do more acting in the future? What are your future goals?
Absolutely, and performance is something I really love, in a music way and in a dramatic way as well and there are a few more roles for films that I’m doing, coming up some smaller roles. It’s absolutely what I would love to continue to pursue. I feel like I love to spread a fun and positive energy in a strange way and I hope that I can do this with more sassy films in Hollywood so let’s do it.
Ester Dean, Hana Mae Lee and Flula Borg made a visit to the renowned PS 22 Chorus in Staten Island while in New York promoting the film. Check out the video below:
