Nathalie Emmanuel shares how ‘Army of Thieves’ has message of unity, expands Zack Snyder’s zombie universe

Nathalie Emmanuel believes her new movie about safe-cracking thieves unlocks the right combination of complex characters and a wide-reaching story.

The British actress stars in “Army of Thieves” as one of the likable bandits who come together to break into three intricate vaults mythologized for being practically impenetrable.

The film is a prequel to Zack Snyder’s recent zombie flick, “Army of the Dead,” released in May. Emmanuel appreciates how the new movie again features an international cast of characters.

“There’s people from all over the world, from all different places and different backgrounds, and I think that it’s so easy to connect into that,” Emmanuel told the Daily News.

“The apocalyptic, zombie thing, and there’s all these different people trying to negotiate it, and they just have to work together to survive. ... I think that’s also true in our little movie,” she explained. “Even though it’s a completely different genre, we all have to work together.”

The new movie, out Friday on Netflix, is set at the very beginning of a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, offering a distraction as the thieves begin their high-stakes mission in Europe.

Emmanuel, 32, portrays the sleek, pick-pocketing jewelry thief Gwendoline, who recruits Ludwig Dieter to be her team’s expert safe cracker.

“I really am drawn to women who are exceptional in my characters,” said Emmanuel, who also played handmaiden and interpreter Missandei on HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”

“I always love women who have a mad skill or are really smart or have something really impressive about them. What was also great about (Gwendoline), though, is that she was very layered and had a lot of vulnerability, and much more to her than maybe is immediately sort of evident.”

The character of Dieter, who was previously featured in “Army of the Dead,” is again portrayed by Matthias Schweighofer, who also directed “Army of Thieves.” Snyder is a producer on the new film, and co-created the story with screenwriter Shay Hatten.

Emmanuel saw similarities between her new film and the “Fast & Furious” movies, in which she portrays the hacker Ramsey.

“I’m also a part of another franchise that has this whole team dynamic, and we have our leader who we sort of all really look up to and respect, and we have this sort of family setting in a way,” Emmanuel said. “But this family was a little more dysfunctional, a little bit less connected in the way that the ‘Fast’ movies tend to be.”

Production for “Army of Thieves” took the cast from Prague to Austria.

Emmanuel was impressed by the sprawling action sequences envisioned by Snyder, who previously directed DC Comics superhero movies such as “Man of Steel” and “Justice League.”

“The one where I was like, ‘Ah, this is so cool,’ is when we robbed the Prague bank, and the whole sequence (with) buildings (that were) so epic and beautiful and ornate,” Emmanuel recalled. “And I’m downstairs kicking these two really big dude’s butts. ... Everyone’s running and it’s chaos, and they really didn’t hold back. That’s something I think Zack does so well.”

The film delves into Gwendoline’s backstory, which Emmanuel believes makes her character easy to root for on her bank-robbing journey.

“There’s something about going for those big establishments, those big systems of power, like banks,” Emmanuel said. “It was a bit of a middle finger to that life and to that corruption and to that pain that they cause people.”

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