Joel, we’re here at the cinema where your film “The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch” was shown longest in Switzerland – one whole year. 
It was a huge success that earned you a Swiss Film Award and was even selected as the Swiss candidate for Best International Feature Film in the 2020 Academy Awards. I know! And I have a funny story about this place, too. My four-year-old nephew lives just around the corner, and one day he walked past here with my dad and saw my face on the poster outside. That puzzled him. So he just walked straight in and asked the staff what Uncle Joel was doing here! My dad had to explain things and managed to get the poster for him, too, which is now on his bedroom wall.

The film was shot in Zurich, which is your home town. How did that feel?
It’s definitely harder to keep your worlds separate when you’re filming on your doorstep. Or to say “no” to a birthday party invitation after a really long shooting day. But it had its good sides, too. My parents could come and see me on the set. And I was even able to wave at a few of my friends who didn’t recognised me, though, as I was in my costume.

You’ve made films all over the world. Do you have a favourite location?
That’s a tough one: I can think of so many. Wherever you are, the shoots always give you this totally different access to the place. You get to know it really quickly because you’re working so closely with the locals: the drivers, the guides, or the people who block off the streets for you. I really wasn’t too keen on going to Ibiza, for instance, but then I discovered what a wonderful island it is. There are other places, though, that you’re glad to get away from.

You also spent three years living in Berlin, which is almost ten times bigger than Zurich…
Yes. Zurich and Berlin are pretty similar in cultural terms, but they have very different mentalities. When you arrive in Berlin, you feel like you’ve got the whole world in front of you. It’s hectic and loud and ugly and dirty. But it’s honest and straightforward, too. I like the provincialism of Zurich, though, and of Switzerland as a whole. There’s something very attractive about the smaller size and the slower pace. Both cities have their appeal, which is why I’ve always looked forward to spending time in either.

You’re no longer commuting between Switzerland and Germany, but you still travel a lot for your job. What’s important to you when you do so?
I’ve started to develop routines. I know now where to get my coffee and sandwich at Zurich Airport, and I really appreciate its compactness and its short waiting times. On board I always try to sit right at the back or right at the front, as this makes it so much smoother getting on and off. And when I’m tired I try to get a window seat, so I won’t fall asleep on my neighbour’s shoulder.

You’ve worked with some major Hollywood names already, like Rami Malek. What’s that like?
It can be pretty weird! A lot of the people I only know from TV. But I’d never seen Rami’s “Mr. Robot” or Charlie Hunnam’s “Sons of Anarchy”, for instance, so I had no idea what superstars they were when I worked on “Papillon” with them. I only realised at the Oscars! 

Does it impress you?
Oh, sure: You’re always aware of what movie or series you’ve seen your fellow actors in. When I was filming “The Monuments Men” with George Clooney, for a while I couldn’t get his “Nespresso. What else?” commercials out of my head. But then things settle down and you can talk quite naturally about the script or the scene, just as you’d talk to any other work colleague. 

One last question: What can we look forward to from you next?
A film called “Adventures of a Mathematician”, which is all about the development of the hydrogen bomb in the Los Alamos Laboratory. I play Edward Teller, the physicist who invented the bomb together with the mathematician Stanislaw Ulam. It’s a really complex topic, especially for me: My old maths teacher used to say he’d rather not put any grade at all on my report card! After that I’ll be in a science fiction film called “Haven: Above Sky”, the Swiss-German co-production “Until we are dead or free” and the third part of “Kingsman”. I can’t tell you what role I play in that one, though …