Follow your dream, walk the path of your heart. Famed poet Paul Celan’s advice is as tempting as it is risky. Max Gruber’s dream was to be a poet, playwright, novelist, performer, screenwriter, film director, and producer.  However, he first studied to earn a Doctorate in Law, a master’s degree in economics, and an MBA from Insead. His degrees didn’t exactly propel him into an artistic career… Instead, he left his jobs as an amateur filmmaker, writer for student magazines, ski instructor, and university assistant, and embarked on an international career as a banker and consultant in Europe and Asia.

Gruber continued writing articles and speeches, but that was not what he had dreamed of. It was somewhat comforting that Fred Zinnemann and Otto Preminger had both studied law at his university, and Gruber had come to accept that he was far more fascinated by William Goldman than by Goldman Sachs. Friends and family thought he had gone mad when he took the leap and left banking for Los Angeles, where he studied writing, directing, and acting at USC.

After two years, Gruber left film school and got his break with documentaries covering a wide range of themes, even working with personalities like Frank Gehry, Isabel Allende, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Nicholas Negroponte, and Robert Gallo. He also directed commercials for national and international brands, filming, among others, with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wim Wenders, and George Clooney.

In parallel, Gruber wrote poetry and started his band, “Des Ano.” Gruber became a singer-songwriter and a “performing poet” who produced four albums and played countless concerts in Austria and Germany. His lyrics earned him the title of Vienna’s new dark poet. 

His first feature film, “The Gate to Hell”, a neo-noir thriller, earned him rave reviews and international awards and opened the doors to working for television in Austria and Germany. Gruber has worked as the head writer for a major TV series and written many films for television, which have reached an audience of more than 150 million. Parallel to writing for the screen, Gruber has also worked as a playwright, mostly authoring comedies that were successful with critics and audiences alike.

“He Flew Ahead”, Max Gruber’s latest film, is a documentary about the visionary Austrian architect Karl Schwanzer, with actor Nicholas Ofczarek in the role of the architect. The film was released nationwide in Germany and Austria, was internationally screened at many festivals, and was a success with critics and audiences in Austria, Germany, and Brazil.

Gruber has also written and published numerous short stories and is currently working on a new feature film and a novel. Its first chapter landed him on the shortlist of a literary competition in the United States.

And as for madness, it would have been madness not to follow the dream…