Florian David Fitz and Peri Baumeister on alien panic, German science fiction and international fame

The German Sci-fi mystery story The Signal launched on Netflix on March 7, 2024. In the 4-part miniseries, Sven (Florian David Fitz) and his daughter wait for their wife and mother Paula (Peri Baumeister) to return to Earth. But then the astronaut disappears without a trace after her trip into space. What happened? Did she make a discovery out there? The family is pursuing clues that could provide answers.

Moviepilot met Florian David Fitz and Peri Baumeister to ask them about German genre material, Netflix fame and aliens as part of the sci-fi series Das Signal.

Florian David Fitz & Peri Baumeister talk about Netflix’s The Signal

The Signal started as a film project and then became a miniseries for Netflix. Has this changed anything fundamentally? What excited you about the material?

Florian David Fitz: The ending of The Signal – those bookends of the beginning and the end – were there from the beginning. That was also what I found so great. A strong ending that clears you up well and still asks new questions. It actually starts with a stroke of fate for a small family. But then this story explodes. I thought that was great, since audiences have already seen a lot of revelations these days. I do think people want a mystery.

If the news came tomorrow: A UFO has been spotted, the aliens are coming! How do you think you would react to that?

Florian David Fitz: Well… I wouldn’t be too comfortable with that. [lacht]

Peri Baumeister: I would now like to answer that we should please learn to embrace the strange. But I think I would be pissed. But who knows: maybe we need to learn to think a little more openly?

Do you think that somewhere
out there Aliens exist?

Peri Baumeister: It probably is. Just not around here. Not in our solar system.

Florian David Fitz: It’s not a question of faith. It’s a question of mathematical probability!

In The Signal you play two characters with opposing worldviews: Sven goes to the assessment of humanity rather pessimistic and Paula more hopeful. How do you rate yourself?

Florian David Fitz: I don’t think we’re at the end of evolution. But I also believe that we shouldn’t chastise ourselves for what we obviously are: animals who have a dangerously clever brain in their skulls that allows them to do things that are unbelievable for animals. We can act sensibly, but it always costs us strength. Of course, everything that comes from our gut, our instinct, is much easier for us. The gap between our theoretical reason and our actions is what makes it so frustrating sometimes.

Peri Baumeister: I recently watched The Show with the Mouse with my daughter. On the subject of space. There was an interview with an astronaut who was looking at the Earth from above. It became clear how absurd it feels when you zoom out and ask: What are you actually doing?

Florian David Fitz: All the astronauts who have ever been up there say one thing: They wish every person could have that view. Because it puts us in the north. A marble in space. That’s the reality. Not all the shit that concerns us every day.

Of course you didn’t film your scenes in space in real weightlessness, Peri: But how does it work to make these sci-fi scenes in the space station look real?

Peri Baumeister: The signal was filmed in the Bavaria studios. The ISS was there [International Space Station] rebuilt in parts. Only the ceiling was missing a piece, so we were hanging in the air on metal cables using three-point and four-point harnesses and were moved by people on a pulley. It happened one or two times that you sagged.

For the wide camera angles, this method was good to show how to physically move in space. During the closer shots, we tried out many different movement options: Among other things, I sat on exercise balls that were strapped to straps or on chairs with movable limbs. Sometimes just in one [die Knie beugenden] Squad attitude. That was tiring, but also a lot of fun.

If space tourism at some point becomes suitable for the masses, affordable and not harmful to the environment, would you fly into space?

Peri Baumeister: No way!

Florian David Fitz: I have two souls in my chest. Part of me says that would be really cool. I think the view would be great and what that does to you. But on the other hand: For God’s sake! It’s so romantic to imagine, but the spaceship is a metal tube! The air breathed a thousand times reproduced. You pee in random bags. You eat dust food that you boil with hot water. You don’t smell right, your mucous membranes swell. And you have a Window where you can look out on this wonderful world. I think it’s less glamorous than you think.

Sven and Paula’s daughter is deaf and dumb: Do you have for The signal learned extra sign language?

Florian David Fitz: The way we solved it was that someone simply put their hands under my armpits and did it for me. [lacht] No: We tried to learn the basics at the beginning. But it is a real language. You won’t learn that quickly.

And it’s not like Spanish, where you just recreate the word and understand it no matter how you emphasize it. Sign language is more like Chinese: where you seemingly say the same word and it suddenly means something completely different. Our trainer then drew our attention to the smallest details such as hand rotations and mouth images.

Peri Baumeister: I was really impressed by that. I only had one sentence in sign language and managed to get it wrong three times.

The Signal is released on Netflix worldwide. As an actor, do you also have hopes of an international breakthrough or more roles abroad?

Peri Baumeister: So I would be happy to receive inquiries from international productions, if they are good. But that depends on the stories and scripts. It just has to be far removed from what I did last and irritate, touch or trigger me somewhere.

Florian David Fitz: International project inquiries: very welcome. But when I ask myself whether my life would be a bit better if I were an international superstar? Definitely not. Life becomes soberingly small for these people.

What was the last thing that excited you about Netflix or another streaming service?

Peri Baumeister: My teacher, the octopus. A really nice documentary. But that was a long time ago.

Florian David Fitz: I always start by mixing up the streamers. – Lately I’ve been watching a lot of things out of interest. For example Bridgerton: a huge success, but as a genre it’s so far away from me that I can’t contribute much to it. [lacht] What left a lasting impression on me is Fleabag – the second season in particular was a masterpiece! And The Terror: also a masterpiece.

Would you welcome more genre material like science fiction in Germany?

Florian David Fitz: Genre material? Yes absolutely. Cool!

Peri Baumeister: I’m currently doing the exact opposite: crime scenes. [lacht] [Anmerkung der Redaktion: Sie ist demnächst in Tatort – Die kälteste Maschine zu sehen.]

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