“No, this character is not me, I promise!” »Swears Daniel Brühl as he confides in 20 minutes about Next Door, his first film as a director. The spectator could however easily give in to the urge to compare the real life of the actor, German star spotted in Good-Bye Lenin! then seen in Inglorious Basterds, Rush and Captain American: Civil War, to that of the hero he embodies in this comedy.
In collaboration with his co-writer Daniel Kehlmann, Daniel Brülh organizes the meeting between a famous actor and Bruno, his neighbor played by Peter Kurth, who follows him to the bar near his home to hold him to account. “I don’t have much to do with the actor I play, insists Daniel Brühl, except that we do the same job. I hope I don’t have his arrogant side and never provoke such hateful feelings in anyone around me. “
Celebrity and gentrification
However, Daniel Brühl readily admits having used details of his own life to spice up the scenario. “I actually believed that a couple who approached me on the street wanted a selfie with me when the two just wanted me to take a picture of them together,” he recalls. I was so mortified that I decided to use this anecdote in Next Door. “Although he plays the main role of his film, Daniel Brühl does not give himself the beautiful role, far from it. He also makes fun of his career and especially the superhero films in which he participated. “I hope the Marvel production doesn’t take it badly and that it will make her laugh instead,” he said. The actor-director delivers a funny study on the vagaries of celebrity but also a reflection on the gentrification of Berlin.
The situation of former East Germans who were impoverished by the fall of the Wall in 1989 is a fascinating theme in his story. “Bruno is angry with the actor who lives near his home because he represents everything he hates and he therefore takes the opportunity given to him to ruin the life of this unbearable guy. Their fierce oratorical jousting always remains very funny without falling into the pitfall of filmed theater. “Originally from Cologne, I still don’t quite feel at home in Berlin,” he admits. This discomfort is reflected in this film tinged with a good dose of black humor proving that you can be a star and not take yourself seriously.
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