After Pilsner, the Netflix series How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) (2019 –) is arguably now Germany’s greatest export. Already in its third season, the series has found global popularity and boosted the profile of one of its stars, Maximilian Mundt, who plays protagonist Moritz Zimmermann – a pale high school graduate who earns pocket money as CEO of MyDrugs, Europe’s largest online store for illegal substances.
And while this isn’t the 25-year-old Hamburg native’s first screen role, it is by far his biggest and most demanding. His Moritz is so unlikeable it touches your heart – so outstandingly uninteresting he’s almost dazzling and so hopelessly megalomaniacal and manipulative that you can’t stop watching him. “That’s his superpower,” Mundt explains. “Antagonists are the new crowd-pleasers, the ‘not so nice’ and ‘a bit odd’ characters.”
Mundt’s next noteworthy project, however, is with one of Germany’s most undisputed crowd-pleasers: an action-comedy-thriller series with David Hasselhoff. Says Mundt: “I’m totally looking forward to it.”
SLEEK sat down with Mundt to dig into his role as a teenage drug dealer, how his theatre upbringing in Hamburg has motivated him in unexpected ways and what’s next on the horizon.
One of the most extraordinary aspects of your role is that, as a viewer, you never know whether Moritz believes what he says or if he’s explicitly lying.
I never knew that myself. In the final season, he keeps mentioning that “he’s got a plan.” I was never sure if he actually had one or if that was just a lie again.
The character’s greatest strength is that at first glance, he seems completely uninteresting to those around him. So uninteresting that you don’t look too closely and therefore don’t become suspicious.
Yes, definitely. That’s his superpower. Moritz so boring and unimpressive that no one would believe he’s capable of doing anything interesting or thrilling.
He’s not a likable character, is he?
No, but that’s the same case with Berlín, the lead character in House of Cards. Antagonists are the new crowd-pleasers, the not-so-nice and a bit odd characters.
Were you surprised by the success of the series?
Totally. Especially since during the filming of the first season, we sometimes didn’t know what we were doing. For the production company and kind of for the rest of us as well, it was a completely new challenge. I remember very vividly when we were halfway through shooting it, we watched a few scenes and just thought, ‘Oh my god, what is this gonna be?’
Oh!
Yes, to be honest, the sound wasn’t right yet and most of the jokes weren’t working because the scenes hadn’t been properly edited yet. After that, we felt so unmotivated, but kept going under the premise that ‘no one would watch this anyway, maybe Netflix will even take it out their catalog and sell it to some underdog TV channel like ZDF Neo.’ One week before it went live, we saw the complete first season in a cinema. That’s when I thought it was, uh, pretty cool? But I was still surprised how well received the series was received in the end and the range of viewers it attracted.
In what way?
The people who recognize me on the street come from the most diverse backgrounds. Sometimes, they wear Adidas tracksuits, and sometimes they look like they came straight out of an important business meeting, dressed in a suit and tie. Somehow, the series speaks to all kinds of people, representing a broad age range, from the 14-year-old to the pensioner. My grandmother is a massive fan, too.
So the audience is roughly comparable to the customer base of “MyDrugs”?
You could say that.
You started your acting career in the theatre, right?
Yes, in 2013, I started acting in the youth club of the Thalia Theatre in Hamburg. Initially, my mother had sent me there to get some social interaction, since I was more of a loner when it came to my free time.
How did you like her suggestion to start acting?
I thought it was great because it felt like a challenge. I quickly realized that anyone can join who wants to, which is great, because it’s like a safe space where young people can express themselves and let themselves go in a protected space. They can be their true selves and speak their truth. It was also the first time I got really good feedback when I spoke or presented something on stage, which helped me grow. Once I stood on the stage and said something, and the director, Alina Gregor, said very boldly, ‘I don’t believe you,’ and I was like, ‘What?’ I literally just said what I had for breakfast, of course, that’s true’. And she answered, ‘Yes, but I don’t believe you. You are supposed to play a character, not yourself. You are playing yourself, but you aren’t yourself.’
A crucial difference.
Working with Alina taught me so much since she showed me how much we pretend to be someone else during the course of our daily lives. That helps me when I play a character, to be authentic, to not be perfect at all times, and to forget what others think of me. These days, I am one of the mentors for the group. In the past few years, I got involved as an acting coach and a directing assistant who works with the group.
You are also a photographer, aren’t you?
Yes, but more when I was younger, which is a shame. I blame art school for that since I didn’t get in with my rather dreamy and surreal photographs. I got rejected with the mark ‘E’ and the reasoning that I have ‘no artistic ability.’
Are you joking?
Sadly not, that’s what they said. That feedback pulled me back into reality and turned me off chasing my dreams within photography. Since then, I rarely take photographs. I was dying to study there back in the day, so after the rejection, I re-applied with works inspired by their annual exhibition. I basically faked my portfolio. I created umbilical cords out of plastic bags, messed around with fake blood on the pages, burnt pictures, and stuck them onto the pages. I reproduced the total cliché of an art school portfolio, and this time, I was accepted.
Wow! Do they already know that, or will they only know when they read this interview?
They will know when they read this. To be honest, they will kick me out anyway, since my attendance was so low because of the filming, even though I’m actually studying film at the school. But, I guess, they’d think what I do is too commercial for them.
So you’re studying to direct there?
It’s more film in general: performative film, art-house film, documentaries, installation film, anything really. The idea is to be a film artist afterward.
That’s not a very typical curriculum.
No, not at all. In the beginning, I thought a lot about studying directing, since I didn’t want to study film in a classical way. But to do that, I’d have to quit acting for a while, which strategically, would be a bad idea at the moment.
Did your involvement in “How To Sell Drugs” help you to get any new parts?
Yes, in the fall, I will be a part of a German-American co-production, an action-comedy-thriller series starring David Hasselhoff.
Hasselhoff is the best!
I am totally looking forward to it.
This February, you were part of the #actout campaign, where queer actors and actresses called for more representation and diversity in terms of roles by outing themselves.
Yes, exactly.
What I found particularly remarkable was how rather silent the public reaction to the campaign was. It was accepted with such great understanding by the public, which is, I think, a good sign.
I was also totally surprised. I only signed up for it since it was a project about visibility. I never wanted this to be a big thing, or evoke the notion that I had a problem with being gay.’ I thought it was simply beautiful, that so many people said “Hello, here I am, stop assuming that I am hetero all the time.’ This heteronormativity is the exact reason why ‘outings’ still exist these days, and no one sees the possibility that anyone could be anything. I was so surprised by the positive reaction since I still got my usual casting calls, not only the ones where they are looking for a gay man. What was really important to me was that I got a lot of messages from young people, saying ‘Thank you!’ or ‘I didn’t know that!’ Well, yes, how could you know?
How could they know?
Exactly. Because you never know.
This interview has been translated into English from German and has been lightly edited for clarity.
CREDITS
PHOTOGRAPHER: Tristan Rösler @ Shotview Management
HAIR AND MAKEUP: Peggy Kurka using CHANEL Beauty and Oribe
STYLIST: Camille Naomi Franke
CREATIVE DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER: Jenny Halonen
PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT: Felix Gundlach
STYLING ASSISTANT: Ana-Marija Knezevic