Actress Diane Kruger first rose to fame as Helen of Troy in the 2004 epic “Troy,” but she feared Hollywood wouldn’t know what to do with her, and that’s when Europe stepped in.
“I liked acting, but at first it wasn’t easy. A lot of people said to me, “Okay, so it’s Helen of Troy, where are you going from here?”Actually, it was European cinema that saved my career,” the actress told TheWrap at the Cannes Film Festival as part of TheWrap Conversations at the Cannes Film Festival. Brand Innovators Business Show.
She said the 2017 German drama “In the Fade” only allowed her to show another side of herself as a performer, but it also earned her a very intimate role in David Cronenberg’s new film “The Shrouds. “
“I think other people saw me from other angles; They added ‘In the Fade’, it would have been a movie, if it had been in English or an American movie, I’m not sure they would have come knocking on my door. It allowed me to show another side of myself. I know for David, this is the movie he saw and he called me because of that.
“The Shrouds” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday, and ahead of its premiere, Kruger told TheWrap that betting on the director’s late wife on screen is necessarily a flattering “dream come true,” but also a great duty, as it allowed him to “step into a very intimate space. “
“He didn’t make videos for a long time,” Kruger said of the gap between Cronenberg’s “Star Maps” (2014) and Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future. “”I guess that’s why, because he was accompanying his wife. his sickness and death. “
Cronenberg’s late wife, Carolyn Zeifman, died in 2017 after 43 years of marriage.
In addition, the winner of the festival’s Chopard Trophy in 2003 and winner of the Best Actress Award in 2017 still plays not a single one of the three characters in this incredibly private film. “The Shrouds” also stars Vincent Cassel and Guy Pearce and was originally conceived as a series. for Netflix, with Kruger replacing Cannes favourite Léa Seydoux along the way.
Kruger sat down with TheWrap founder and editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman on Sunday for an in-depth interview ahead of the film’s release. Read on for their full discussion of TheWrap’s conversations at the Brand Innovators Business Show, below:
Tell us about the presentation of “The Shrouds” at Cannes with a director as iconic as David Cronenberg.
It’s a dream come true. I think when you’re in the industry, David Cronenberg, it’s like winning the lottery. I’m very flattered that he came to see me and that he sought me out for his film. It’s a very private film for David. Es semi-autobiographical. So Vincent Cassel is Cronenberg in the movie and I play 3 characters in the movie: one is his wife who is dying of cancer, the sister, and an avatar that Vincent creates in honor of his late wife. It’s a moving film for me because I feel like I can introduce a very intimate area for this filmmaker. I’m a little nervous about tomorrow.
How did Cronenberg come to you?
Last year at Cannes, it was announced that Léa Seydoux and Vincent Cassel were going to star in his next film, and then along the way, Léa gave up and he called. I was literally in Paris to paint a French film with Vincent. And he sent me the script. . . I didn’t know at the time that the script was about his private life. It was a surprise to me. When we sat down, I said, “This is a very emotional scenario” and he told me what was accurate, what was based on real events. Suddenly, playing his wife made me a little worried.
He didn’t make films for a long time, I guess because of that, because he accompanied his wife in her illness and death.
Did he provide you with the story in this way?” It’s the ultimate movie I’m going to make and I’ll tell you about it. “
I’m incredibly flattered, but it also comes with a lot of responsibility. I didn’t need to impose that on myself, I was quite indifferent to myself and the film. . . I felt him reliving a lot of things, and it’s an uncomfortable area for me. I was kind of on tiptoe, he disappeared a little bit.
He doesn’t read the table, he doesn’t rehearse, he talks to you beforehand. He’s one of those directors, a bit like Quentin Tarantino, if I’d met him earlier in my career, I’m not sure I would. I’ve been able to take care of this point of “Forward”. Here we go.
So he doesn’t invite you to dinner for 10 hours and tell you his innermost and darkest thoughts. He tells you, “Do your job. “
There’s a lot of freedom, but at the same time – he led us – but there’s an expectation that you have to know your lines, each and every word. He is valuable with his words, just as he is, because he wrote them. But there’s no improvisation, it’s done.
What did this bring to you in terms of mortality and aging?
For what I do, it’s smart to get older, because you bring a lot more empathy and enjoy a role. A role like this might not have been so vital to me 10 years ago. In some ways, you’re closer to your own mortality, but you’ve also loved, lost, and maintained long-term relationships.
Cronenberg himself has been around lately. We live longer and with much more energy. Are you thinking about that? We are capable of doing more in our lives.
There is a sure confidence in him. His painting ethic is excellent, he doesn’t want to paint until nine in the morning. It’s okay for me, I don’t want to get up early, I love it. In some shots, he knows exactly what he wants, others may be unique. He knows what he wants. I think he pushes the boundaries because his films and his spirit are so different. And it’s yours, you don’t have a lot of percentage. He’s a pretty general guy when you meet him, but when you watch his movies, you know there’s a lot going on. There.
Are you going to do the parts you’d like to do now?
I think they come to me more now than they did when I was younger. I don’t know why, maybe there will be more outings with streamers and other possibilities. I think I have a lot more to say. I enjoyed acting, but it wasn’t easy at first. A lot of other people were saying, “Okay, this is Helen of Troy, where are you going from here?Actually, it was European cinema that saved my career. I think other people saw me from other angles, adding “In the Fade,” which would have been a movie, if it was in English or an American movie, I’m not sure they would have knocked on my door. show another side of myself. I know for David, it’s the movie he saw and he called me because of that.
Is European cinema indulgent?
I don’t know if that’s forgiving. American cinema, in my experience, has been: you’re in a movie; If all goes well, you’ll have another chance; If it doesn’t go well, there are 15 other undercover people behind you. It’s just another system, I don’t need to say it’s bigger or worse. It’s not so much aimed at actors anymore. You’ve got the box office stars doing what they need to do, and then the kind of videos like the Cronenbergs, which aren’t made in America. Very little.
Is there a dream role you’ve wanted to play?
I still dream of Marlene Dietrich, which was the most complicated assignment of my life. It’s still a work in progress, but I’ve enjoyed it, not only because of the movie star I was, but also because I’m German. Myself. It’s still a work in progress. We had scripts, we had a show, it’s all written. Covid has arrived, it’s an incredibly expensive show to perform, as you can imagine. We had a director, everything. Many streamers have been very cautious post-Covid, it’s a $50 million task.
Watch the full video interview below.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.