Thomas Kretschmann stars as one of the most skilled assassins in the world in Wanted, an action drama directed by Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov and based on the comic books by Mark Millar and JG Jones. Born in East Germany, Kretschmann (The Pianist) took an interesting path to becoming an actor. "I started as a swimmer when I was 10. They were asking me, 'Do you want to be a world champion?' And I said, 'Yeah!' From that point I was part of the machinery. From 10-18 I’ve been swimming 20 kilometers a day. It’s like 15 miles for the Americans, more or less. And then I quit when I was 18, right before the Olympics in Moscow," explained Kretschmann.
"Then I wanted to - we are talking now late 70s, early 80s - I’m in Germany and I finished school. I wanted to be a designer. Actually it was my biggest passion, or is still. I like to think I come in a room and I know what’s wrong and what’s right, you know? So more than acting I have to figure that out. I had a friend who came to me and said, 'You want to be a designer in East Germany? Are you stupid? What the f**k do you want to design here?' And so I thought, 'Okay, then I’ll do something else, so acting!'"
Kretschmann then auditioned at an acting school in East Germany where he competed against 1,200 people for six spots. "In that time, in the early 80s, you have this suit, this starzy guy, and he goes, 'So Thomas, do you want to, out of your own free will, do you want to do three years [in the] army instead of just one and a half?' One and a half you had to, right, so three years was like the extension. If you say yes for sure, then you study and you got your spot, you know? You become what you wanted to. And if you say no, the next untalented guy who says, 'Yes I’m going to do it,' gets your spot. It was common knowledge. I said, 'Yes, of course, if it’s necessary, no doubt.' I packed my stuff and I [ran] over the border and escaped to West Germany."
He could have been shot for fleeing to West Germany, and the fact he escaped unharmed changed his outlook on life. After a stint in theater in West Germany, which he didn't particularly enjoy - Kretschmann says he found it a little boring - he was offered his first film role. The theater didn't want to let him go to do Stalingrad and fired him for taking the job. "That was national theater company so everybody was like, 'You’re crazy, you know?' So I left, I did this film, the war came down, the theater collapsed," explained Kretschmann. "That was the next lesson in life: you have to know when it’s time to go."
Kretschmann followed up Stalingrad with roles in French and Italian films before heading to Los Angeles. Roman Polanski offered him a part in The Pianist after which, Kretschmann says, "Things were easier."
In order to get into the character of an assassin named Cross in Wanted, Kretschmann did check out the comic book that inspired the feature film, but then basically just followed director Bekmambetov's lead. "It’s like [he's] the best assassin in the world, and you go like, 'All right, Angelina Jolie is playing another assassin I’ve just seen in Mr. & Mrs. Smith. What the f**k am I doing now?' So now basically I make sure that I look good, and I look like I know what I’m doing. I don’t want to think twice when I’m shooting if I hold the gun right or wrong. It was a good opportunity to learn something new, so I did excessive gun training and now I know everything about guns."
Kretschmann wasn't the least bit concerned that his character, Cross, is not a talkative man. "You know what I like? I like not to talk actually in films," said Kretschmann. "Also, this [press junket] is tough for me. I’m not a big talker. Sometimes, but I’m getting into it, I am. But, you know, I like to organize stuff. For an actor, I think it’s more interesting to express yourself without talking. I personally like that. Like regular scripts, where I have like normal dialogue, I try to cut out as much as I can. Everything. Basically what I can play, I don’t like to say. And if a director knows what he’s doing, they get along with that. They seem to like it."
Wanted employs a very unusual visual style that wasn't completely captured in the script. Kretschmann said he had an idea what it might look like on screen, but the end result exceeded what he imagined. "You have an idea, and you always have an idea, right? But mostly your idea is more glorious than the result. And this time, it was the first time [it was] the other way around. It was the first time I walked out of a film and thought like, 'Wow, I didn’t expect that.' You know, it’s so much better and so much cooler that what I thought it is, you know? I think it’s [my] favorite action film I ever saw."
"He is so full of ideas you have no idea," said Kretschmann about director Bekmambetov. "I think it evolves. Like while he’s like finishing it, you know, he goes like, 'Ahh, maybe I could do this? And maybe here I’ll put this on top.' And he goes and goes and goes."
Kretschmann also had plenty of praise to shower on the film's star, James McAvoy, who tackled his first big action movie with Wanted. "He’s great. He worked his butt off. He spent, like he spent every day on set. He’s like holding the whole film, right? So my scenes with him were…it was a pleasure to work with him. It was awesome. I think he’s one of the greatest actors we have in the world, all age. I mean, it doesn’t get better than that. He’s so fantastic. He’s such a good actor and he’s very smart and an easy person, a very nice guy. You just like watch and learn. He’s 20 years younger so I’m sitting there and thinking, 'Oh my God, this kid, he’s so awesome.'"
