Diane Kruger explains why Quentin Tarantino gives actors “wings”
Diane Kruger has worked with many great directors, but the most prominent name on her CV is Quentin Tarantino. She worked with the American auteur on his 2009 war film Inglorious Basterds, which is not only one of the best movies associated with both but also an intriguing alternate history of the Second World War. Hilarious, graphic and well-made, it is vintage Tarantino, boasting a cast that features the likes of Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, and Mélanie Laurent, to name just a few.
In the movie, Kruger stars as Bridget Von Hammersmark, a German actor turned spy for Great Britain. She and the rest of the cast’s performances were so convincing that they received a Screen Actors Guild Award for ‘Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture’.
Whilst the movie was an enjoyable experience in the end, in January 2022, Kruger claimed that joining was arduous. According to her, this was because Tarantino vehemently opposed her being cast. “He auditioned everyone. He didn’t want to audition me because he saw a movie I was in that he didn’t like,” Kruger explained on the Reign With Josh Smith podcast, discussing Tarantino’s apparent prejudice. “So he didn’t believe in me from the get-go. Literally, the only reason he auditioned me is because there was no one left to audition.”
Even to secure an audition, Kruger had to fly to Germany, which she believes was a deliberate attempt by the director to sabotage her chances. She ignored the obstacles in her way, though, thinking “fuck him” in the face of his bias to demonstrate she had what it takes.
Things eventually turned out well, and Kruger said: “Thankfully, it all worked out, but sometimes it just seems so unfair, and you’ve got to change the narrative.” After the initial friction, Kruger and Tarantino’s relationship became much more positive. When speaking to the Wall Street Journal in 2012, she looked back on working with Tarantino and asserted he is a director who “gives an actor wings”.
She told the publication: “A director who gives an actor wings is Quentin Tarantino. Even the most famous actors have to audition for him, but once you land the role, he empowers you and encourages you throughout the performance. You never feel as if he’s testing you—like some directors—but rather that he wants you to do well. His writing is like poetry.”
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