Why sign up for a mercenary mission when your signature weapons are a fork and a spoon? For Dieter, the happy go lucky safe-cracker played by Matthias Schweighöfer, there are 250 thousand reasons, but for the German actor, it was Zach Snyder’s generosity in letting him spin his own funny ad lib that cinched his agreement to experience the ultimate very bad day at work (to find out why, Army of the Dead is now out on Netflix). But after our interview is interrupted by a personal call, it’s not the zombie apocalypse that Matthias has most to fear: it’s coming home empty handed, or worse, with something uncool.

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Is everything alright?

Everything’s great. That was my daughter. I’m driving back for her birthday and she just asked me for a college jacket. So I asked her what kind. Her answer? “A cool one.” Uh-huh.

That sounds like the premise for another kind of road movie!

(Laughs.) That’s very right. And it’s called “Puberty, Reloaded.”

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You better be careful because shoppers are way more ferocious than zombies, after this last lockdown. So what’s your hunting perimeter?

Well, I’m in London for work. It’s going to be a long journey [back]. Border is like this kind of stasis. It took us four hours, but thankfully, we only have to do 5 days in quarantine because we come for professional reasons.

MatthiasSchweighöfer8.jpg — “Zack and the team asked me if we have experience with weapons in Germany, and I said “yes, I have a fork and a spoon at home.”

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I hope it's a nicer setting than the Las Vegas refugees we meet at the beginning of Army of the Dead.

Yes, thank God!

Dieter gets offered 250 thousand dollars for a day’s work. What’s your going rate these days?

That’s my going rate. I’m known for that. And given I usually have 110 shooting days on a film, life’s great. (Laughs.)

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Definitely enough to get the coolest of cool varsity jackets!

Right. But 250 grand for a day? That’s a lot of money. It’s crazy.

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Depends how bad the day gets, even with that badass bat with metal spikes. Everyone else has guns, so what gives?

I am so proud that I have a bat in that scene. Zack and the team asked me if we have experience with weapons in Germany, and I said “yes, I have a fork and a spoon at home.” That, I can handle. Or something made of wood. So I got pretty lucky to have something that gangster version of a bat.

What happens after the zombie apocalypse?

I’m working on this film called The Swimmers. It’s based on the true story of Yusra and Sara Mardini, two Syrian sisters who swam across the Aegean sea 5 or so years ago, pulling a boat. They saved something like 20 people. After that, as they were both professional swimmers, they came to Berlin to train for the Olympics. Yusra eventually competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, in the Refugee Olympic Athletes Team, at the age of 16. I play Sven Spannenkrebs, her trainer.