In six parts, August Zirner speaks on HYPERMADE about language, responsibility, and the subtle difference between expression and effect.
HYPERMADE: You once described yourself as a “friend of underestimated protagonists.” Does that apply to your choice of roles—are you drawn to characters who act quietly in the background and only reveal themselves upon closer inspection?
AUGUST ZIRNER: Did I actually present myself as a “friend of underestimated protagonists”? That was clearly another case of false modesty… I apologize sincerely! Sometimes, my love of phrasing outweighs my honesty.
HYPERMADE: In another interview, you mentioned a “seam between language and music,” along with the wish that artists tell their stories with their soul and all that’s available to them. Does that mean you see yourself more as part of a greater dialogue than as a soloist?
AUGUST ZIRNER: For me, the seam is that I try to tell stories with hands, feet, and everything I’ve got. But as I mentioned at the beginning, I’m kind of a show-off. So yes—a soloist. But I’ve been doing this long enough to know how much one depends on their partners. Dialogue is essential!
The saying “You’re only as good as your partner” may be a cliché, but it captures every form of public performance perfectly.
HYPERMADE: What role does interaction with others play for you on stage—musically, verbally, or emotionally?
AUGUST ZIRNER: I think I already answered that in the previous question. Dialogue is everything!
HYPERMADE: What role does failure play in the artistic process? Is it an obstacle—or a prerequisite for truth?
AUGUST ZIRNER: Fail, fail again, fail better! Failure and making mistakes are crucial. Especially the patient handling of them. As the saying goes: we learn from our mistakes. And it’s true.
HYPERMADE: Directors like Margarethe von Trotta or Sandra Nettelbeck, you once said, really helped you grow through their criticism. Do you remember a moment when such feedback—or failure—led to a personal insight?
AUGUST ZIRNER: Absolutely! When Margarethe von Trotta once told me to stop interrupting and controlling myself and to leave that to her—it hit me instantly how important trust is. To hand yourself over to a good director and just act—letting others be the judges. Sandra Nettelbeck once said I should stop goving around so much—my jokes got in the way of my more genuine expression. That helped too.
HYPERMADE: In films like *The Counterfeiters* or *Rage*, you play characters whose vulnerability becomes almost uncomfortably tangible. What stays with you from such roles—even years later?
AUGUST ZIRNER: That they’re uncomfortably tangible.
HYPERMADE: Is there a work, draft, or idea that never saw the public light—but holds personal meaning for you?
AUGUST ZIRNER: My unpublished memoirs.
HYPERMADE: Are there moments—on stage, in life, in music—when time seems to stand still?
AUGUST ZIRNER: Yes! Thank God!
HYPERMADE: You work with music, language, expression—all fleeting media. What does silence mean to you? Is there an art of silence?
AUGUST ZIRNER: Absolutely! And unfortunately, I have no mastery of it whatsoever!
HYPERMADE: You once said that silence is hard for you to bear. What makes it difficult—the forced stillness, or the expectation that it must mean something?
AUGUST ZIRNER: The realization that in silence—and through it—I have to listen to myself. And truly express what lives inside me. The quiet demand to be honest. I fail at that on a daily basis. But I wont’t give up.
HYPERMADE: How has your relationship with time changed—on stage, in life, in retrospect?
AUGUST ZIRNER: Time is racing! There’s still so much to do. I just hope there’s enough time.
Resonance
Perhaps it is this fleeting mixture of volume and silence, of gesture and thought, of spotlight and retreat—that allows August Zirner to find his own language. A language that may not always be loud, but is always sincere.
Part five will be published on 14.06.2025.
On belonging, roots—and the invisible that lives between the lines.
