‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’: Daniel Brühl Improvised His Viral Dance Scene
When The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiered on Disney+, no one expected Daniel Brühl as Helmut Zemo would be the highlight of the show. After the third episode of the miniseries aired, a scene of Zemo dancing in a club went viral.
While Zemo’s dancing in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier took the world by storm, the viral scene was not actually planned. According to Brühl, he improvised the scene and had no idea it was kept in the episode.
Zemo returned for ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’
Brühl originally played Zemo in Captain America: Civil War in 2016. In the movie, Zemo sets out to avenge his family after they were killed in Sokovia during the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron.
To do so, Zemo breaks up the Avengers by pitting Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) against one another. Zemo returns once again in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Marvel fans are able to see a new side of the character in the show.
“… after reading the scripts, I thought, ‘Oh! This is a whole new game,'” Brühl told Entertainment Weekly. “It gives me the opportunity to discover so much more [about the character] and to show different sides of Baron Zemo that, actually, I always had in mind knowing the comic books.”
With different aspects from Marvel comic books added to the show, Brühl is able to explore Zemo’s background and give the character a sense of humor.
“… it was so much fun to play around with it. And the sense of humor. I’m always a fan when this is part of the performance, no matter how serious the circumstances are,” he said.
A clip from ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ went viral
In the third episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Zemo, Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie), and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) travel to Madripoor.
While in a club, Zemo blends in with the crowd and starts fist-bumping. The short clip of Zemo dancing in the club became a standout moment and went viral. On April 8, Marvel released an hour-long loop of Zemo dancing for fans.
“It’s so hysterical,” Brühl said of fans’ reaction to the scene. “[That moment] was improvised when I saw the crowd dancing, going loco. I felt the beat and was like, Zemo has been sitting in a dodgy German prison cell for years. So, he needs to let off some steam and show his moves. Let’s go for it!”
Daniel Brühl thought the scene would be cut from the Marvel show
While Brühl had fun dancing on the set of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he did not think his dance moves would be included in the episode.
“I enjoyed so much the reaction of Anthony and Sebastian looking at me. Still, I was 100 percent sure that they would cut it out [of the show]. I was really surprised and happy that they kept it,” Zemo told Entertainment Weekly.
Episode 5 of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will premiere on Disney+ on April 16.
