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Actor Matthias Schweighöfer presents his new film “The Swimmers” at the Zurich Film Festival.
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No, Matthias Schweighöfer (41) is not what you would expect in a Netflix refugee drama. Most people know the award-winning Bambi from typical German comedies. His comedy about the situation also made the actor a welcome addition to the comedy duo Joko & Klaas. His captivating and infectious laugh has long since become his trademark.
Surprising: In recent years Schweighöfer has almost exclusively accepted serious roles, especially in war films. “I Nuotatori” also deals with warfare, but here the German does not appear as a soldier, but as a swimming instructor Sven. By the way, during the interview with Blick there is also the real Sven (41) – his surname is Spangekrebs, lives in Berlin-Spandau and sensationally took Yusra Mardini (24), who fled Syria in 2015, to the Olympic Games in Rio de coached Janeiro
“A story like this is always necessary”
Schweighöfer comes to the interview in a salmon-colored dress, cleverly breaks up the chic look with casual trainers – in “The Swimmers” he mainly wears a training jacket and jogging pants. The “Bullyparade” star talks enthusiastically about her first meeting with the “real” Sven. Although he and Spannekrebs didn’t drink coffee together, they took a close look at the sports facility where he prepared Yusra Mardini for the Olympics. “A lot of history has happened in these rooms”, explains Schweighöfer, referring above all to the room where Mardini and her sister Sarah lived after being initially hosted in the refugee center. It becomes clear that the meticulous preparation for the role was important to him, the story is important to him personally.
Then Schweighöfer talks impressively about the scene in the film that still gives him goosebumps. It is the moment when the Mardini sisters arrive on Lesbos after their perilous escape from Turkey across the Aegean Sea – as the camera slowly pulls away you can see a sea of life jackets and life jackets that the fugitives left behind after the their passage. At first you think it’s a 19th century movie, scenes from the past, explains Schweighöfer right now. “Then sometimes I have to pinch myself and say, ‘This is now! This is no joke, it’s happening next door.’” He alludes to the thousands who continue to travel the dangerous Mediterranean route every day in search of a better future. “A film like this is always necessary,” asks the movie star Obviously he is not interested in the number of spectators, but in the subject, to which he attaches great importance.
“I always had to be so kind!”
“The Swimmers” is by no means a comedy à la “Schlussmacher”, in which Schweighöfer played the head of a separation agency in 2018 – yet the German injects a healthy dose of levity into the film as swimming teacher Sven . When asked about the biggest challenges during filming, Schweighöfer replies like a shot: “I always had to be so kind.” He wanted to play “more serious tones” from time to time, but then he realized why he had to play “good Sven” throughout the band: “It was incredibly difficult, Sven told me that every now and then there was a bang he – but in the end it also needs this light, after all it is a difficult subject “.
Although Schweighöfer alias Sven is a jovial boy, it is important that the 41-year-old makes another appeal to the public to try to reduce the misery of refugees at least a little: “You can start your own way, look left or right.” He is also aware that such happy stories are not on the agenda: this point of view fits the new acting image of Matthias Schweighöfer, who would like to see more serious roles in the future.
“The Swimmers” is currently running as part of the Zurich Film Festival, starting November 23 probably on Netflix.
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