Marvel star Daniel Brühl says a “total disaster” of a movie inspired him on superhero satire The Franchise – not his time with the MCU

Given that The Franchise is a satire of superhero moviemaking, you might think that one of its stars, Daniel Brühl, may have drawn on his experiences with Marvel for the new TV show. However, instead the inspiration came from elsewhere – a “total disaster” of a movie that the actor worked on.

Speaking to GamesRadar+, Brühl (who portrays criminal mastermind Baron Zemo in the MCU) reveals that he drew on a truly terrible experience for his role of Eric, the struggling director of the next chapter in a huge superhero franchise, titled ‘Tecto: Eye of the Storm’. 

Although Brühl won’t name the film, he tells us how it was a sinking ship from minute one, which helped inspire his work on The Franchise, the story of a movie going wrong.

Brühl admits: “Funnily, I wasn’t thinking of my two adventures with Marvel for this because it all pretty much worked. It was a very well oiled machine that never had these mad crazy problems that we are seeing in this show. But I have done a film that I was definitely thinking of that had been a total disaster.”

He continues: “The ship slowly sank the minute I arrived basically and there was no way out, so it was so depressing – arriving day one and there being no going back, no possibility of saving this thing. I remember my sad, grey face every evening that I came home, looking in front of the mirror, trying to encourage me to survive the rest of the journey.”

(Image credit: HBO)

This wasn’t the only thing that inspired Brühl on The Franchise though, as he also drew on his time directing his own feature, a 2021 German comedy-drama titled Next Door. The actor also spoke to James Bond director Sam Mendes, who helmed both Skyfall and Spectre, and is a co-creator of this new show.

Mendes was more than happy to answer Brühl’s questions about directing a franchise blockbuster: “I directed one very small film, being in the position of pretending to be the captain of a ship, solving all these problems that always come. That helped and talking to Sam Mendes, asking him all these questions about his experiences in the big world of cinema and the craziness he has had to deal with.”

With regards to Brühl’s character of Zemo in the MCU, he recently gave a cryptic answer as to whether he will reprise the role in the upcoming movie Thunderbolts* – which is a likely place for the villain to show up.

“So, you’re still in with them? Does that mean you will make a cameo in Thunderbolts?” he was asked by Yahoo! at the recent BFI London Film Festival. “Next question” Brühl laughed, dodging the question. With him neither giving a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ answer, we are now pretty convinced he is sure to appear.

The Franchise premieres today on Sky and NOW in the UK with its first three episodes. You can watch it weekly in the US via HBO and Max.

For more, check out our guide to the new TV shows heading your way.