'The Zone of Interest' star Christian Friedel reveals he had a panic attack shooting Jonathan Glazer's film

Stepping into the role of Rudolf Höss, a commandant of Auschwitz, in Jonathan Glazer's The Zone of Interest, came with its own set of challenges for actor Christian Friedel.

Where to watch The Zone of Interest: Now playing in select theatres
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Cast: Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller
Runtime: 105 minutes

"It felt embarrassing to have this [Nazi hair cut] in Auschwitz, in this little town ... I had a hat because it felt embarrassing," Friedel told Yahoo Canada back in September, during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

"But for me, I felt the whole time the responsibility towards the victims and I felt the darkness inside of him."

Friedel also revealed that filming The Zone of Interest led to his first-ever panic attack.

"There's one scene at the end of the movie, he had this struggle, he's puking, I describe it as a fight of his body against his mind, and I was really afraid of the scene," Friedel explained. "After the shooting process, I had for the first time in my life a panic attack, a little panic, I'm fine now."

"But this, for me, there's something in my subconscious. I realized, OK this was really intense and difficult work, and I don't realize it in the shooting process, I realize it now. When I saw the movie for the first time, it was uncomfortable for me to watch, because I realized the dimension, the historical context, this person. ... To talk about this now and to talk about the movie, and to present the movie in the world, it's a pleasure. It's important. It's great. But I think if I think about all these processes and all this time on this character, there's a lot of things I have to deal with."

'I was not allowed to show the whole truth'

Inspired by Martin Amis' 2014 novel, Glazer's German-language film, The Zone of Interest, focuses on the Höss family, Rudolf, his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) and their children. But the horror of the story comes with the realization that just on the other side of a wall outside this home, with a luscious garden and a greenhouse, is Auschwitz.

Just steps away from these scenes of domesticity are killings and absolute terror, which makes the film absolutely horrifying, even when these atrocities happening next to the Höss family home are intentionally not shown, but with scenes that include sounds of human screams, gunfire and dogs barking.

When Friedel first met Glazer and his producer James Wilson in person at a pub in London, Glazer shared the script, his thoughts on the films, photos and stories about the Höss family, and the potential role for Friedel.

"I felt from the beginning, there's a connection between us, and I want to be a part of this, because I grew up with his work, without knowing that he is the director, I saw a lot of music videos of Radiohead, Massive Attack, ... and I wanted to work with him," Friedel said. "I thought, this is a very important project and I want to be in."

Once he was a part of the film, along with Sandra Hüller, it was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but that allowed for a lot of time for preparation and "investigation," as Friedel described.

"We talked a lot about the characters, the script, I had some horseback riding lessons, ... I had physical training, because I lose weight for the summer shoot, and I had to gain weight for the winter shoot," Friedel said. "But for me, the most important thing was the conversations with Jon and with Sandra about this character's family, and the script."

"Then we started shooting in 2021, in Auschwitz, very close to the original camp. ... For me, it's an important movie. ... We observe these characters, we observe the family, we're looking through a window, and to create a character, to dive into the darkness of him, or to find normality, banality of his life, that was really a great challenge and experience for me."

In terms of finding that "normality" and "banality" in Rudolf's life, Friedel shared that he had to make connections with his personal life.

"To find the normality was really important for me, but I was not allowed to show the whole truth," Friedel explained. "Jon said to me, 'If you speak the truth, then lie with your eyes, and if your eyes tell the truth, then lie with your mouth.'"

"This was a key for me to create this character, because if you watch the movie and you see the perpetrator, or you see him act like a perpetrator, or you have the feeling ... that he's thinking dark things, then we don't want to see him. We have to realize he's a normal, ordinary, sometimes boring person, and he's a father of a family, he lives a beautiful life. He's interested in nature, in horse riding. ... This is the important thing, because in this movie, if you close your eyes, then you see another movie."

In terms of shooting The Zone of Interest, Glazer used a multi-camera system, where there were sometimes 10 cameras rolling simultaneously, feeling like you're very much a fly on the wall watching this movie unfold.

"For me, it was a luxury situation, because I hated, in a normal shooting process, these technical interruptions," Friedel said. "Here, sometimes we had 10 cameras, sometimes with six, outside and inside ... that was really amazing."

"All the things were prepared and we came into the set, and we had all the time we needed. We were alone in this house, that was crazy, because the focus pullers were in the basement, and Jon and the other team were in a different house, next to the set. There were 10 monitors and in one ear [he hears] the translator, in the other ear he hears the original sound. I think it's incredible."