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The actress talked about "Army of Thieves," her first protagonist, and the time she almost quit her daily job.

Slight spoilers for the army of thieves ahead.

Nathalie Emmanuel knows very little about cracking safes ("Like, I don't know at all," she admits), but this is the core skill of her new movie "Army of Thieves", which is now playing on Netflix.

As a prequel to Zach Schneider’s army of undead, this heist movie tells the story of Ludwig Dieter (Matthias Schweighöfer) being recruited by a group of crooks before encountering zombies to unlock a set of legends created by fictional designer Hans And the almost impossible safe Wagner, of course, stole the money in them. Their plan takes them from Paris to Prague and then to St. Moritz, while avoiding the control of Interpol.

Although this premise is a "new thing" for Emmanuel, Emmanuel plays the jewelry thief Gwendoline, who has a lover to Ludwig (then known as Sebastian), but she is attracted by the script and the myth behind the legendary lock. Their extremely detailed clues can be found in Richard Wagner's operas and Nordic epics. "These stories are timeless, and their epic is so amazing and alluring," Emanuel gushed.

The actress likes epic stories. She starred in Game of Thrones and the Fast and Furious franchise, as well as four romantic weddings and funeral restarts. With "Army of Thieves", she entered Zach Schneider's movie world and participated in another large project with a major fan base. She will also star in the modern adaptation of Dracula, called "The Bride", which she is currently filming in Budapest. Will the next superhero movie be? "I'm very happy to do it only once," she said.

The interesting thing about making "Army of Thieves" is that it was shot a few months before "Army of the Dead" was released. Emanuel did not see its context. However, Schweife, who is both the starring role and the director, provided her with a bright spot during the production process. They also shot during the COVID surge last fall, when the vaccine had not been widely distributed, and people still avoided attending large public gatherings. Actors are encouraged to avoid crowds and have strict mask requirements on the set, but this also means that actors cannot really establish contact outside of shooting.

"We will go back to our residence, we are really not allowed to socialize outside the set," Emmanuel said. "This is how we do it. So we have to find new ways to connect with each other, but the dynamics are very good. Everyone is very enthusiastic, enthusiastic, generous, and supportive of each other."

Here, Emmanuel delves into "Army of Thieves" and how her family supported her in her toughest moments.

All I know is that this is a Zack Snyder movie, an extension of the upcoming "Dead Army" movie, which is basically the origin story. This is all I was told. I didn't expect a heist movie; I was looking forward to another zombie movie. But in fact, it's not. I thought, oh wow, this is a very interesting thing. My manager also represents Matthias, so he said, oh, you should read this script. It's really cool. I thought Gwen was really a badass. It's kind of funny, but it's also very sincere and [has] action. This is a [hybrid].

But reading a movie that hasn't been released yet... it's really cool just to be part of any kind of Zach Schneider universe, and he is very good at creating the world. It is exciting to be part of expanding the new things he is doing. I think it's equally exciting that we let our male lead be the director, and I haven't really worked in that environment before. It shows that he is so talented.

I think we cooperate very well. I think he is both a director and a leading actor, which means that he has too much understanding when he is directing. Because he is an actor, he knows very well what we experience as actors on set every day. The kind of dialogue between the director and the actor...I think it is much easier because he understands some of your shorthand. He is an energetic person, so enthusiastic, so excited, and very contagious-you can't help but get excited and excited about it.

He is really generous, his energy, his time, and space for us to come up with ideas and try and play. It’s funny because obviously he’s mentoring all of us and he even said, “Oh, I hope you have as many opportunities as possible to do things well and be the best.” I thought, “Yes, but Marty Yass, so are you, because you are also acting with me." [Laughs] He is so good. This is just to show his preparation, because he really only did it in both roles. I really have to pay tribute to him because I am in awe.

She grew up on money. Money is not something she values, because she owns it; it is part of her privilege. She was like, “For me, it’s not about money; it’s about mission.” It’s about doing impossible things or things that feel impossible, and then saying, “Done.” But for it For some organizations, this is a bit like "F you" because we heard her say that her father was a person who actively thieved and benefited from the housing crisis, and she was so disillusioned, like, "Fuck you! "She just wanted to cause destruction wherever she went, and just because she could steal things from people. My opinion of Gwen is that [to] the rich who think they can have everything, she said, actually this is not always true, because I might take it from you.

OMG. My situation may be the opposite. In a sense, I always feel so closely connected, but I am empowered, appreciated and nurtured by my family. In fact, I struggled a lot with my friends. I was just being bullied so much when I was growing up that for a long time, I was trying to make friends or believing people to become friends with them. So now, as an adult, I must have my tribe, but they are the individuals I met on the journey, and I am like, you, the specific humans in your place. In this regard, I can really resonate with Gwen because she has found very specific people who are connected to her but also need. If you have no contact with them, you cannot survive what they did.

As an outsider, I can understand. As a mixed black woman who grew up in a predominantly white area, I often feel like an outsider. Fortunately, [I have] an amazing family. In addition to what I heard outside of the family, he often gave me true narratives. I can have a certain degree of confidence and self-worth and so on.

Okay, I'm a little jealous that I didn't go to that speedboat and I won't lie. Obviously, because of the lovely Jonathan Cohen (playing Delacroix and catching their Interpol agent), it feels weird to say this, but if she succeeds in a gunfight, it hurts him instead of killing him. , That would be cool and then they [Gwen and Sebastian] rode into the sunset together. In the beautiful fjord. That would be fun.

I really can't talk too much about the movie itself. This is a modern Dracula story, so we kind of use that background. We have a lot of very modern themes, and we ask them through this type, which is really cool. Our director Jessica Thompson (Jessica Thompson) is amazing and talented, and we will definitely highlight some old-fashioned ideas through the guise of this story. This is really interesting.

But as far as the meaning of this part is concerned, as I said in my post, take a moment to acknowledge this journey and everything you have done recently, I don’t know, just like 20 years in my case, this It’s really important-develop and nurture your talents, work hard to develop yourself, make mistakes, get knocked down and regroup, which leads to someone saying, “We want you to lead our film.”

"Sometimes you just forget to look around and see what you have achieved."

It's so deep, you can't help but think of all the people, all the people who hold your hands, wipe away your tears, cheer for you, and open the door for you. It was really big for me and it was a bit overwhelming. The day before the shoot, I spent the whole day like tears streaming down my face. It's not because I'm sad. I just feel great. I'm really excited, happy, scared, like, can I do this? Everything that happens when you move forward in your life and face the next challenge. This means a lot to me, and I am proud of what we have done so far.

We are still in [production], we are now about halfway through... I don’t know other people, but I spent so many years just bowing my head, just grafting, just busy for the next thing, picking up Things that come down, things that come next. Sometimes you just forget to look up and see what you have achieved. It is simply too beautiful.

At first, when really great things happen, I always think of those when I almost gave up, and I thought, "Oh my God, thank goodness, I didn't," because at that moment I really just didn't believe in myself, you believed in yours The lies your brain tells you, we won't do things that make us so ecstatic and so excited.

I really really thank my family for really going, "No, no, this is what you should do." My mother is especially important in this regard, because I have no money and no job. I have a bill to pay. I can hardly do it. I am going back to school, I am doing all this. My mother was like, "No, you will take the money. You will go to Los Angeles. You will go to meet people and try it. We will figure it out. No matter what happens, we will figure it out. Then you can go. Give it a try." I mean, this is the best advice ever, because it changed my life. As usual, Mother Debs knew better.

Yes, absolutely! I am very happy to do it only once. When you see what we can do on the screen now, the stunt team is great-I think all these things are very interesting. I think fighting choreography is really fun, wire [work] stunts. This is just exciting. The idea of ​​playing a superhero makes me very happy. I don't know what my power will be, or what a superhero will be.

There are so many. They have epic costumes; I like the idea that superheroes wear only this outfit all the time, or they just live in sweat, and then they are like, "Oh, no, it's time to be a superhero-let I put on my clothes." I want to do this because I like action space, but the way to make someone a superhero behind the camera is also amazing.

For clarity, this interview has been slightly edited and condensed.