We’re catching up with German-born actress Lisa Vicari so she can plug her new Sky / CANAL+ drama, Django, a TV adaptation of the 1966 cult classic spaghetti Western fable, in which the rising young star really comes into her own. The actress plays the character of Sarah, estranged daughter of the gung-ho gunslinger Django, who she blames for the death of their family years before. She’s magnetic in her role among all the wild west action, portraying a woman for whom her frontier toughness is built on inner strength, but is also inseparable from her softness and grace. This is, in part, what drew Vicari to the role.

Having already made a name for herself in twisty thrillers such as Netflix’s gripping sci fi series, Dark in which she played Martha Nielsen, and in the sci-fi horror film Hell and the revenge thriller Luna, (which earned her a nomination for the Young German Cinema Award at the Munich Film Festival), Vicari has amassed over 1million IG followers and is surely now on Hollywood’s “Most Wanted” list.

Dress **Saint Laurent by** **Anthony Vaccarello** & boots **Raf Simons**

Tell me about Django...

There have been a lot of remakes since the original 1966 Django with Franco Nero by Sergio Corbucci, but our adaptation is a modern take on the original with a really strong inclusive cast, female leads, and complex characters.

Bodysuit **Wolford**, black feathers skirt **N21**, boots **Raf Simons**

Speaking of female leads, you play the role of Sarah, and it’s a part with depth. She’s compelling in her beauty, vulnerability, and emotive strength. What drew you to the character?

I was drawn to Sarah for a lot of reasons, the strongest being her inner strength and how she turns her pain from the past into something so hopeful and beautiful, like building the town of New Babylon. She truly believes in a better world and fights for it with all her power. I found that really inspiring.

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Right Jumper, skirt, shirt **Prada**, belt **Altuzarra**, earrings **Cartier**

She’s brave. Are you a naturally brave person? Can you compare your bravery in any way to hers for instance?

It’s true, Sarah is very brave. She lives in a world where women have no voice. She had to grow up abruptly as a little girl due to a terrible stroke of fate, and since then she’s been fighting against all odds for herself and her newly founded city, New Babylon. I don't want to presume to compare her bravery to mine, since Sarah's circumstances are so immensely different. But I think I carry a different kind of bravery and courage that’s necessary for my job. The courage to get emotionally involved with a character and their pain, and to open up to it and share their emotions.

Left Bodysuit **Wolford**, black feathers skirt **N21**, boots **Raf Simons**, necklace **Cartier**
Right Jacket **Chanel**, bodysuit **Wolford**, tights **Wolford X Mugler**, earrings **Cartier**

“I was drawn to [my character] Sarah for a lot of reasons, the strongest being her inner strength and how she turns her pain from the past into something so hopeful and beautiful.”

Where did you turn for inspiration for the role and references to representations of strong women from that period?

I looked at lots of different sources for inspiration and created mood boards out of photographs and paintings of strong women from the wild west. I also researched extraordinary women from that time and read their stories. The script itself also offered a layered character with an insight to Sarah’s past, which was extremely helpful for the process in finding the character for me.

The series maintains all the classic vibes of the Western genre all tied into these complex character dynamics. How was it building the chemistry with your co-stars?

We had two weeks of rehearsal in Romania before we started shooting, so we as a cast, were able to get to know each other and work on the scenes. Sarah’s relationship to Django and to John are both very complex and full of strong emotions, so it was a beautiful and creative process to explore these relationships together with Matthias (Schoenaerts) and Nicholas (Pinnock).

Left Suit **Coperni**, shirt **Holzweiler**, necklace **Cartie**r, shoes **Dries Van Noten**

Did you have to learn any new skills for the role, like horse-riding or perfecting the Texan accent?

I didn’t know how to ride a horse before this project, so I had a lot of training before, and I absolutely loved it! It’s so beautiful to work with horses, they’re such sensitive creatures. I also had an amazing accent coach called Sam Lilja, who worked with me and some other actors on set, and it was a new and exciting experience to find a character not only in an emotional way, but also in how she talks.

Bodysuit **Wolford**, black feathers skirt **N21**, boots **Raf Simons**, necklace **Cartier**

What about your relationship with fashion in this new series, how does it inform Sarah’s character?

We had an amazing costume designer for the show, called Alessandro Lai. As Sarah represents lightness and hope, we wanted that to be reflected in the costumes too. Especially in comparison to Noomi Rapace’s character, who is an antagonist and wears a lot of black, dark colours and sharp silhouettes. Sarah’s costume is a lot softer, without heavy corsets and brighter colours.

Jacket **MM6 Maison Margiela**, boots **Raf Simons**

What about if you could inherit an actress’ wardrobe from any movie, whose would it be?

Probably any costume worn by Audrey Hepburn, especially in Roman Holiday – they’re so timeless.

So, when did you know that you wanted to pursue acting as a career, and how did you get discovered, so to speak?

When I was 10 years old a friend of mine took me along to a weekend long-acting improvisation course for kids – that’s where I probably fell in love with acting, because after that, I couldn’t think about anything else anymore, haha! I was so determined to act in movies even though I had no idea where to start. After talking my parents’ ears off about it for two years, I heard about a young man who wanted to apply for a film school in Munich. So, I wrote him a letter telling him that I wanted to act, and then I got a part in his application short film. From then on, I took baby steps, doing more short films and eventually did my first feature film called Hell in 2011, by Tim Fehlbaum.

Now you’ve done dark twisty thrillers, sci fi and a Western, what kind of part would you ideally gravitate towards next? I read that your dream is to act in a period drama...?

The beautiful thing about my job is that there are almost endless opportunities to what the next character could be… you just never know! I wasn’t expecting to play any of the characters that I’ve done, before I got the scripts, and I fell in love with them. I just know that I want to work with great filmmakers who have a strong story to tell – maybe a love story is next or an action film. Who knows! Haha!

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Interview by Kate Lawson

Photography by Yves Borgwardt

Fashion by Camille Naomi Franke

Casting Imagemachine cs

Hair by Tina Pachta

Make-Up by NAOMZZ

Nail by Camilla Inge Volbert

Set design by Stefanie Grau

Photographer’s assistant Marcus Rex

Stylist’s assistant Antonio Chiocca