SIXTY SECONDS
THE ACTOR, 42, ON RETURNING TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE, HOW A COAT WAS KEY TO INFORMING HIS CHARACTER AND MISSING TAPAS BARS
It’s odd watching you in your new Marvel series, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier. The ease with which everyone travels around the world seems as bonkers and fantastical as the storline...
I know, it makes you feel very nostalgic. If it wasn’t so unpleasant what the characters have to deal with and if it wasn’t for the dodgy places they go to, such as the fictional Madripoor, you would think, ‘Great! These guys really get to see the world!’ Things are still critical and weird here in Germany but I hope that by the end of summer things will have changed, at least a little bit.
You play Zemo. When you played him in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, did you
have any indication that you would be coming back?
It’s always a good sign if they don’t kill you. I was very happy when I read the end of the Civil War script and was put in a miserable German prison cell because I thought, well, there’ll be a way of him getting out of there. But there was no indication of any plan. I was in Budapest working on the series The Alienist and a call came out of the blue and I said yes immediately. It’s nice to revisit a character but do something different rather than repeat yourself and become redundant.
Zemo is one of the more complex villains. Is he even a villain in your eyes?
It always depends on your perspective. He’s certainly not a hero. To me he’s an antagonist but he’s not really a villain. His methods are extreme and I don’t agree with them but I had an instant empathy for the character. Everything he does is born out of terrible trauma and loss. His whole family died. He sees these beings who have the ability to play God and he knows exactly what danger that can cause, so his motives to eliminate them are completely comprehensible to me. Marvel is smart enough to not have one-dimensional evil characters who just do what they do for no reason. Their characters are multi-layered, so I didn’t fear getting bored.
He’s more flamboyant this time round...
When you think of the millions of fans the Marvel universe has – the truly dedicated fans – you can get a bit nervous. Sometimes people have seen you do something that you established, and maybe, you know, they just want to
He’s certainly not a hero. To me he’s an antagonist but he’s not really a villain
want you to continue on that path. So, I was very curious if people would accept me revisiting it in a different way – whether they would be happy and embrace it in this new way, me in my coat on the dance floor.
It’s a hell of a coat.
I loved that coat. Anthony Mackie [his co-star] wanted it. As childish as it sounds, that’s when we actors become teenagers again. Give actors something cool to wear and they will really enjoy it. Putting the coat on with its big fur collar made me understand that this guy is royalty. He comes from an aristocratic background and made me think maybe I should give him some very suave, posh notions, a certain attitude.
How was it acting in Baron Zemo’s trademark purple full-face balaclava?
I remember when I was in my hotel in Budapest when director Kari Skogland came for the first time with the mask. She had it in a special suitcase that she had to bring through security. She had to open it up and show people this purple mask she was travelling with. But it was a wonderful, thrilling moment putting it on and becoming a different character. It’s an iconic look that the fans know from the comic books, so it was great to be given the opportunity to show it for once.
You’ve been busy during the pandemic – having a child and directing a film!
Yeah, two children were born. The real one, my second son, and the movie, Next Door. The pandemic arrived the very same week we started filming and back then nobody knew anything, so we had to cope with that situation. We managed to manoeuvre through it. In contrast to a Marvel show, it’s a very contained two-hander in a Berlin bar – a Kammerspiel – with
two actors mainly.
Don’t you own a bar?
Yeah, a Spanish tapas bar here in Berlin.
What are you most excited about when life returns to normal?
Oh my god, so many things. I think I will cry when I have my first drink in a bar. Spanish beer, red wine or gin and tonic, I don’t know. And I’m excited just to see people gathering, eating tapas in our place, out on the terraces or inside, watching a Barça match. All these little things that make life so precious will be so wonderful. So yeah, I can’t wait.
The Falcon And The Winter Soldier is on Disney+ now