The film is based on the highly successful play by the German-Icelandic author Kristof Magnusson, which premiered in Bonn in 2003. In November 2005, the play, starring Michael Kessler, Bastian Pastewka, Jürgen Tonkel, and Christoph Maria Herbst, was first performed at the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin. After a nationwide tour of the ensemble (with over 200 performances), the movie was eventually adapted into a screenplay.