"They didn't trust a German to be funny"
Daniel Brühl plays 'The Director'
HBO
- Michael Hodges
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How did you prepare for the part of troubled director Eric in The Franchise?
When I heard the name of these kings — Sam Mendes, Armando Iannucci and Jon Brown — I was incredibly curious. They couldn’t trust a German to be funny, so I needed to record some scenes they sent me. I did it with friends in a Berlin coffee shop. It was embarrassing because I laughed so hard that I needed to go home. There’s nothing more terrible in Berlin than an actor some people might recognise, laughing.
Was being in Captain America: Civil War good training?
On the first day of shooting Captain America in Atlanta, it was 40°C plus and the scene was supposed to be minus 40°C in Siberia. My character was trying to die by suicide, I was sweating in a Canada Goose jacket and delivering some dramatic monologue in front of a green screen. Chadwick Boseman, who was a fantastic actor, had to approach me from behind, also in front of a green screen. It all felt so incredibly wrong. I cracked up in one rehearsal, but then I saw that everyone was deadly serious. There were moments where I was thinking, “What am I doing? Why am I talking like this? Why am I pretending that I’m in Siberia when I’m sweating like a pig?” And then you see the scene and, actually, it worked pretty well.
Have you had any disasters on film yourself?
If you go through my list, there are some stinkers there. I won’t name it, but there was one film where every single morning I was standing under the shower wanting to cry because I thought, “This is a gigantic piece of s**t and I have to defend it day after day in front of the camera, delivering the most stupid lines.” That’s why Eric resonated with me: he’s trying so hard to give some dignity to this thing, and he’s just dealing with humiliation and horror.
So would you be keen to do another superhero project?
In the past two or three years, I have said no to a couple of big projects, and said no to some money, just because I thought, “This is not interesting or appealing enough.” Sometimes it hurts a little when you hang up the phone. But money shouldn’t be the motivation, because also you know how much you will suffer. You don’t want to be in a hotel room and open the minibar thinking, “Scheissenhausen! Why did I say yes?” You don’t want to be Eric.
What would a German superhero be like?
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Very calculated, sombre and serious. And with the narrowest mind — that’s the superpower!
Authors
Michael Hodges
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