Vicky Krieps on Being ‘Scared’ to Play Real-Life Nazi in ‘Monster: The Ed Gein Story’ After Grandfather Was in Concentration Camp
Key Takeaways
- Vicky Krieps plays Nazi war criminal Ilse Koch in "Monster: The Ed Gein Story," a role she initially found difficult due to her grandfather's experience in a concentration camp.
- The decision to accept the role was eased by the context that Koch is portrayed as a fantastical character from a comic book within Ed Gein's imagination.
- Krieps researched Koch by focusing on her motivation: a sick perfectionism that drove her to commit atrocities to maintain a perfect facade.
- Krieps connected Koch's evil to Hannah Arendt's concept of evil existing in the private, everyday sphere, embodied by the desire for a perfect life.
- A key goal for Krieps was to portray Koch with enough humanity to provoke audience introspection on where the 'monster' truly lies in society.
Vicky Krieps discussed the complexities of playing Nazi war criminal Ilse Koch in the Netflix series "Monster: The Ed Gein Story," a role she initially resisted due to her family's personal connection to the Holocaust. She found resolution when co-showrunner Ryan Murphy explained that Koch was presented as a fantastical element within Ed Gein's mind via a comic book, which Krieps felt was a freeing perspective for portrayal. Krieps had extensive prior knowledge of the Holocaust from childhood reading, but her research for the role focused on portraying a fantasy figure resembling a '50s housewife striving for sick perfection. She felt it was important to show Koch's eventual descent into madness as a form of reckoning for her actions, contrasting with historical figures who never showed remorse. Krieps ultimately connected Koch's evil to a human drive for perfectionism, drawing parallels to Hannah Arendt's concept of evil existing in everyday life. Her goal was to imbue the character with enough humanity to make the audience question why they might feel sympathy for such an evil person, reflecting her fascination with the nature of monstrosity given her background.
