Matthias Schweighöfer reprises his fan-favorite role of Dieter in Netflix’s Army of Thieves, which is now streaming. Schweighöfer, who also directed the film, is joined by a cast that includes Nathalie Emmanuel, Ruby O. Fee, Stuart Martin, and Guz Khan.
“In this prequel to Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead, small-town bank teller Dieter gets drawn into the adventure of a lifetime when a mysterious woman recruits him to join a crew of Interpol’s most wanted criminals, attempting to heist a sequence of legendary, impossible-to-crack safes across Europe,” explains the official synopsis.
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ComingSoon’s Jeff Ames spoke with Army of Thieves stars Stuart Martin and Guz Khan about their roles, if Brad Cage is really that bad of a guy, and much more.
Jeff Ames: Stuart, I’ll start with you. I thought the Brad Cage character was a really fascinating character since he’s really just a confused young man playing a superhero role based on characters he saw on TV. Would you consider him a bad guy or just someone in dire need of a hug?
Stuart Martin: Exactly, he’s just misunderstood. Isn’t that right, Guz? That’s what we’ve been saying. He’s misunderstood this guy.
Guz Khan: We’ve been saying that the whole time and listen, we have to start a Twitter movement, Jeff. If people come out and say, “Yo, Brad Cage is a straight-up asshole.” We need to unite and say that this is a young man who is clearly scarred.
Martin: Get behind me because there’s going to be a lot of hate. Yeah, he’s misunderstood. The poor guy, he’s bullied at school and he’s created this image of himself when he’s going, “I’m never going to be beaten up again.” And that’s what he does. And then he does, he gets beaten up by… Yeah.
So Guz, Rolph seems to be the one character who can’t quite pick a side he wants to be on. What do you think ultimately leads to his indecision? Because he has a certain amount of loyalty to both parties, right?
Khan: Yeah. I think you know that person in the office, right? Who knows that they probably don’t pull their weight. And so as a result of not pulling your weight, you have to make sure that you keep it sweet with everybody. In this circumstance in particular, I think you find that the pendulum is swinging left and right. Without giving away too many spoilers, at one point in the movie, it kind of goes well for everybody and then goes absolutely terribly for everybody. So he’s a guy that’s trying to survive, man. Again, another scarred young man who has to deal with the throws of being a young man in 2021 and Stu, Jeff, it’s hard shit. It’s hard shit.
I agree with you there. Stuart, Brad is actually quite effective in a fight despite his character flaws. Is he still the type of guy that you would want on a team in the event you are robbing banks or fighting zombies in this case?
Martin: I mean, he’s a liability, but depending on what the heist is, I think as long as long as you make Brad feel like he’s the alpha, feel like he’s loved and important then you’ll be absolutely fine. The minute you undermine him, oh, you don’t know what you’re going to get.
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Guz, you guys are filming on location all over Germany and the Czech Republic. How does the location of a scene impact your performance?
Khan: To be honest with you, most of my scenes took place in front of a Mercedes sprinter van. So for me, not a massive impact. However, what is brilliant is watching the movie back. And again, obviously, a lot of us get to see the movie around the same time as you guys. It is visually a stunning movie and you don’t necessarily realize that when you’re in a scene. That’s not just in this project. That’s across a host of projects that we work on and you really get to see that. Wow, man. Bernie, who was our DOP, they are really putting in the work to capture some incredible scenes. Also the use of CGI. Like Stu, without giving away too much, the final scene that we shot actually ended up looking nothing like [we saw]. Bro, that was nothing.
In terms of what’s capable and what people can do in post, as well as physically, filming is pretty incredible stuff, man. I’m going to say, I’m just a geek for when people take something physically in those scenes, and then when you see on a big screen, on Netflix in, in HD, it’s crazy what they’re doing.
Yeah. It tricked me. I thought you were actually, you guys were actually there the whole time. So that’s great. Stuart, when we first see them, Brad and Gwendoline’s relationship is already showing cracks and then Dieter comes in and adds another wrinkle to their issues. Ultimately, what do you think is the main cause for Brad and Gwendoline’s fractured relationship?
Martin: I think they’re just, it’s one of those relationships that they’ve both just hung in a bit longer than they should. They’ve been together for a long time and it’s comfortable. She doesn’t want to harm, but realistically they’ve grown apart. They’re different people. They don’t have the same wants, or she just doesn’t love him. I think it was fair enough, but I think when Dieter comes in those cracks really grow. That’s what sets them off. That’s what sets them in motion.
