become known with Bye Lenin! (Wolfgang Becker, 2003) That hilarious comedy in which a young man does the impossible to prevent his mother, a disguised communist, after awakening from a coma, from learning that the Berlin Wall has fallen and that capitalism is invading the East. His acting career was further enhanced under the leadership of Quentin Tarantino and his cohorts damn bastards (2009) and supported by many other titles such as Salvador (Boys Antiques) (Manuel Huerga, 2006) or his portrayal of Helmut Zymo in the Marvel series captain America.
Daniel Bruhl is now launching himself into a leadership position with next door A black comedy set in a Berlin bar, Bruhl, also the protagonist, faces his neighbor Peter Kurt in a moral and interpretive duel. Brühl plays a successful actor on his way to London to participate in the casting. Stop at the corner bar and start a conversation with a neighbor you haven’t noticed before. Intense talk that will change your life.
Picture “Next door”
Why did you jump into driving?
I’ve been dreaming of making something out for a long time. Many actors are tempted by perception, because it motivates us to tell stories and feel immersed in the entire cinematic process. I wanted to get out of a world I know so well.
How did the plot happen?
The story was born here, in Barcelona, in the Gràcia district, in a restaurant recommended to me by Luis Homar. I was eating a piece of rice when another customer came up to me and noticed that he hated me for my attitude of wanting to impress and make people happy. It was 2010, I had an apartment to myself for the first time and suddenly I imagined a guy watching over my house.
The movie is a duel between his character and Kurt’s character…
Yes, it’s a western idea, two very different men facing off in a bar. Although I am also talking about optimization, which affected me a lot. It was all in my head already ten years ago, but I couldn’t capture the movie at that time due to a lack of structure. So I forgot about it and was able to focus on acting.
And now he’s taking it up again, taking out and playing a character with an autobiographical tint…
Yes, years later I moved to Berlin and there the idea came back. I knew it was dangerous to direct and act in my first movie, but I could. I wanted to compose a character that would represent a certain success, you might be a politician, or an architect, I don’t know, but it made sense for him to be an actor. So I came up with a character who makes fun of myself a little bit and tells me things that happened to me like some humiliation, but in a comedic tone to show that the character isn’t me.
Who did you assign the script to?
Daniel Kellmann is Austrian and our best German, his sense of humor is so interesting, it hurts. On these foundations, he built a character with whom I have something in common, but which is arrogant and intolerable, although little by little he is becoming a human being.
How did you deal with the character of Kurth?
He is a failed man from the East who feels cheated. The culture shock in Berlin is still huge and even more so outside the capital. The West conquered the East and its promises turned out to be false.
Daniel Bruhl during an interview with La Vanguardia.
Who were the directors who influenced your first experience behind the camera?
rear window Alfred Hitchcock was one of the inspirations. So are Roman Polanski and Michael Haneke. Specifically, Haneke knows my script writer who sent him the script very well. “Okay,” he said when he read it, which can be taken as a great compliment coming from him.
I still have a weak spot in Putxet Park
I wrote a book in German recommending places in Barcelona. These days back in town, what places would you recommend?
Now I must discover many new places in the city, but I still have a weak point in Potxit Park, which I know very well because it is close to my mother’s house, an enclave from which you have the whole city to yourself.
You’ve combined author cinema with great productions like Captain America, what’s your favorite thing?
The more variety the better. Those from Marvel treat me well and if you like the comics, it’s a sign that they are made with high quality.
“Travel junkie. Coffee lover. Incurable social media evangelist. Zombie maven.”