Diane Kruger in Cannes (EFE) (SEBASTIEN NOGIER /)
Diane Kruger has revealed that Quentin Tarantino initially refused to give her an audition for the film “Inglourious Basterds,” which he directed in 2009.
The 45-year-old actress told how the Oscar-winning filmmaker, 58, was unimpressed by her acting chops but then relented.
Although the actress eventually won a SAG Award for her portrayal of Bridget Von Hammersmark, she was forced to fly to Germany to prove her talent.
“He (Tarantino) didn’t want to audition me because he saw a previous movie I was in that he didn’t like,” the German actress recounted during her appearance on the Reign With Josh Smith podcast. “So he didn’t believe me from the beginning. And literally, the only reason he auditioned me is that he had no one else left.”
“I had to pay for my flight from New York to go to Germany because he wouldn’t see me in the U.S.,” the Hollywood star recalled of how hard it was for her to get her personage in the film she co-starred in with Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz, making it one of the best “shitty moments” of her life.
The filmmaker’s initial rejection was the best fuel to empower her. “I thought, ‘screw it. I’m just going to show him I can do it’ and fortunately, it all worked out, but sometimes it seems unfair, and you have to change the narrative,” the actress said.
“I think for him, that must have been a lesson, sometimes I’m sure I’m guilty of that too, you put people in boxes, you know you think they’re going to be one way, and then it’s not like that at all,” reflected Kruger, who is promoting her new film, “The 355″, where she shares the screen with Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz, and Lupita Nyongo. In the all-female thriller, five international spies team up to save the world from a mysterious cyber threat.
In another recent interview with The Telegraph, the actress, who became a mother to a baby girl in 2018 with fiancé Norman Reedus when she was 42, opened up about why she’s “glad” she didn’t have a child before the age of 30.
“I think I would be resentful, no doubt, because of everything you have to give up. I’ve been to all the parties and all the countries I wanted to visit. So I’m 100 percent ready and willing to give my daughter that attention,” she explained.
The actor is also the father of a son named Mingus Lucien Reedus, 22, whom he shares with his ex-partner, Helena Christensen.
While Kruger is glad she waited to become a mother, she also revealed that her daughter was a “surprise” and that she wasn’t sure she would have a child. “It was a surprise. I had sort of given up on the idea of that happening. And then, you know, things happen,” she told the media outlet.
During the interview, Kruger also appreciated her mother’s involvement in raising her daughter. She noted that they are managing to make up for a lost time during the actress’ childhood.
“I left home at 15, so we didn’t get to spend the fun years together. But now, thanks to my daughter, we seem to be making up for lost times,” she expressed.