Were you particularly attracted to the Bergman-esque pondering on love in Waz?
Yes – I’m very much Scandinavian in the sense that I like those questions. Are you generally attracted to these dark themes? I’m a very light-hearted man in many ways, but I am attracted to them because I think they’re important. I just finished a film for the BBC called God On Trial, which is why my hair is so short, because I play a Jew in Auschwitz, and I’ve been going back to the Nazi period over and over again, not only for the projects that I’ve done, taking different sides and different characters, but also to fathom how we human beings work. Not just to understand the mechanisms of our brains, but to be aware. To make sure that we don’t get into those situations again. The first time I saw István Szabó’s Mephisto, I came out and I was in shock. I was shaking. It was about this actor Gründgens, who stayed in Germany and worked and was the pet of the Nazis. I couldn’t swear what I would have done. And then the friend that I saw the film with said ‘Oh, that traitor Gründgens – col
