A poke with Brad
SheKnows: Since we’re talking Brad, how did you cope with the scene in which you’ve been shot and have a wound in your leg which Brad is poking?
Diane Kruger: It was hard to act. It wasn’t painful, but I had never been shot in a movie and it’s hard to imagine what kind of pain that must be. I had six pages of dialogue to do
and pulling off an accent. Dogs are barking. Eli Roth has an allergy to dogs so he’s standing next to me like this (indicates scratching her arms). Brad’s doing his funny accent. It was just a mad,
mad day. It was exhausting, and that was my first day of work. Here we go…
SheKnows: Yikes! The attention on Brad Pitt a few years ago when you worked with him (on Troy) was pretty intense, but it’s even moreso now. Has the Brad you knew then
changed, or does he seem to have been unaffected by all of the attention?
Diane Kruger: I don’t know Brad well enough to know what goes on behind closed doors or how he lives on a day-to-day basis. At work, he hasn’t changed. He seemed very calm. He was
incredibly excited about his part. He stayed with the accent the entire time. He brought over six-packs on Friday nights and we’d all sit around and talk about the week. So, to me, he didn’t seem
different. He seemed very much at peace. We were all there and he seemed to have a good time.
SheKnows: Have you seen an evolution in his acting?
Diane Kruger: He was pretty good in Troy. He wouldn’t be Brad Pitt if he wasn’t a good actor, and I think, in general, actors — every movie you make you get better or
different. You add something to your branch I guess.
SheKnows: How hard was it to play the duality of your character? She’s this gracious movie star flirting with all the guys and then, when she’s with the Basterds, she’s sarcastic
and kind of tough.
Diane Kruger: Yeah. That was fun. She’s such a great character in that sense. Also, and it was important to Quentin, when you watch movies from the ’40’s — acting was really
different. It was formal and a little put on, like it seemed supernatural in a way.
He really wanted that in the beginning of the film. When you first see her in the tavern you have to immediately know, ‘Oh, she’s the movie star.’ When she talks, nobody else does, and she has this
commanding presence and you have to, right away, know that she’s this incredibly smart, intelligent woman. Because, if you, for one second, doubt that she’s a double agent for two years and got
away with it and she wasn’t going to be able to pull off Operation Kino, then that whole half of the movie falls flat.
Diane gets soft
SheKnows: But, she has a softer side.
Diane Kruger: It was great to have the other side, the real Bridget in that really emotional scene where she knows she gonna die and she’s not James Bond. She’s just the movie star
that tried to play smart.
So there was such a variety and I love how fierce she is. She gets back at Brad and she just thinks the Basterds are morons for screwing the whole thing up. It’s great.
SheKnows: Everybody thinks they know what Quentin would be like. Did he throw you any curve balls as you got to work with him?
Diane Kruger: What you see is what you get. He’s what all his movies are and more. He’s definitely larger than life at times. But, actually, I found him to be incredibly sensitive
too. For example, his sets are loud at times and there are all these guys running around, but my last scene with Landa was an emotional scene for me, and, for whatever reason. it was a really
difficult day for me. When I walked on set, he sensed it and he sent everybody out. It was the opposite of the entire shoot we’d done. So, I think he has a thing with actors.
SheKnows: Brad’s character has a mystery scar on his neck. Did you have any detail like that that Quentin gave you to inform your back-story on the character?
Diane Kruger: I have back-story but no scars. I don’t want to give too much away because who knows if there ever is going to be a prequel to this movie? But I wanted to know, what
is her motivation to do this? As a movie star, why would she risk it? Her life was pretty good. She truly despises the Nazi regime, the Third Reich. I love that it’s not out of (personal) revenge
in a way. Her motives were nobler than that — more idealistic. There is something to be said about a woman who is so opposed to a social system or a regime. In theory, it’s something a single
woman could not change, but I just love that big heroine idea. She’s gonna bring down the Third Reich.
Going back to the ’40s
SheKnows: Who were some of the classic actresses that you based your performance on?
Diane Kruger: I think it’s many different actresses. There’s no one in particular that I was more inspired with than others. Quentin made me watch a lot of movies that were not
necessarily German. It was more about the style and how glamorous actresses were and how they held themselves. Because we all have the same references. Marlene Dietrich we’re aware of, Katherine
Hepburn — they all have that thing in common.
SheKnows: So what were the specific details that you saw in these actresses that you pulled for your performance?
Diane Kruger: The way they sit, they talk, way they hold a cigarette. There’s a commanding thing about speaking, I think, that we don’t really do anymore. I think, my upbringing is
that you had rather be discreet and not be heard, or try to fade — whereas these women, in movies anyway, wanted to be heard. That’s a different attitude you have to put out — an energy.
SheKnows: The press kit says you really “get” Quentin’s sense of humor, but how did you handle that while speaking in German? Did the rhythms change?
Diane Kruger: No. The translations in both German and French were really true to what he writes in English, but Quentin can’t really hear it, so he has to trust the translator —
that he hand-picked by the way — Tom Tykwer who is his close friend, so he really trusted him. But, in English, it was tough in the beginning because he wanted us to say every word. That’s an
exercise that I’ve never done. Usually it’s ‘That’s the idea.’ And he’s, ‘You forgot to say”and.”‘ ‘Oh, okay.’
Up next…Kruger waxes poetic about joining the Tarantino legacy and life with her guy, Joshua Jackson.
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