A PORTRAIT OF ACTOR LUNA WEDLER

Actually, the fact that Luna Wedler has become one of the most sought-after actresses in the German-speaking world within just seven years is only due to coincidence. “To this day, I don‘t really know why I went to my first audition when I was 14 years old,” says the Zurich-based actress laughing during our video call. “Something obviously drew me there. It’s as if there was a dormant passion that I was then able to discover – just as it had discovered me.”

The prompt outcome of this first audition was a role in the film AMATEUR TEENS by Niklaus Hilber. And with it, the beginning of an odd addiction, as Wedler herself puts it: “At that time, the rehearsals and coaching went on for a week, and the acting teacher did exercises with us that completely wore me out at first. I didn‘t know what was happening to me at all; it was like a wave passing through me. The adrenaline when you immerse yourself an­other person‘s emotional world, that‘s what excites me about the acting profession even to this day.” The young actress quickly turned into a border crosser. Not long after her debut, she took on the lead role in Lisa Bühlmann‘s very special coming-of-age film BLUE MY MIND – parallel to studying at the European Film Actor School in her home city –, was awarded the Swiss Film Prize, and from then on, she was filming less in her home country than in neighbouring Germany. It was the next logical step, Wedler believes, not only because the domestic market is simply much smaller but also because she herself is half German.

Aron Lehmann gave her the title role in his acclaimed comedy THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD, for which she won the New Faces Award and the Günther Rohrbach Film Prize, among others. More major appearances followed in the bestseller film adaptations CLOSE TO THE HORIZON and AUERHAUS, the lead role in the Netflix series BIOHACKERS, which has enjoyed two seasons so far, and finally a nomination for the German Film Award for the globally acclaimed drama JE SUIS KARL by Christian Schwochow.

Wedler is well aware that so much success in such a short time could lead to getting carried away: “It happens very quickly, and I see it happen to colleagues all the time. Suddenly being successful and famous is not something you choose, even if it is a form of recognition and confirmation. But for me, it‘s all about my passion for the job and interest in the characters, not about the trappings.” Friends and family who have nothing to do with the industry are a great help, she adds. “And still living in Zurich. That‘s my hideaway that I can always come back to, where I‘m just Luna.”

Coming home to work now and then, and shooting in Swiss German again is also a great pleasure, whether for SOUL OF A BEAST, which celebrated its world premiere in Locarno in 2021 and won numerous Swiss film awards, or for a new project that will be made this year. Otherwise, Wedler is also turning her attention more to other language regions.

“I really hope to be able to film something inEngland soon,” says the actress, who turns 23 in October and is already receiving language coaching for English. “I just really like British cinema. That black humour and sarcasm is totally my thing.” And she has already gained her first international experience: when she was honoured as a European Shooting Star at the Berlinale in 2018, for example, she met Hungarian director ldikó Enyedi, who gave her a role in THE STORY OF MY WIFE. But there is no reason to fear she will turn away from German-language productions. In autumn 2022, the Berlinale entry THE PASSPORT FORGER, which has been sold to countless countries, will finally be released in cinemas here. Meanwhile, Lehmann‘s upcoming novel adaptation WHAT CAN WE SEE FROM HERE and BACHMANN & FRISCH, Margarethe von Trotta‘s eagerly awaited new project, have already been completed.

While Wedler views national borders as unimportant in her work, she keeps her own limits firmly in mind. Only to leave them behind, “I just love to go beyond my limits in my roles,” she concludes. “It‘s amazing what you can get from yourself; things that you didn‘t know you had in you. And I don‘t mean great outbursts of emotion or anger. On the contrary! After all, one of the hardest things in acting is doing nothing.” She is not afraid of taking on too much, anyway: “I am only concerned that I might repeat myself.” But that doesn‘t seem to be the case at present.

Patrick Heidmann