Diane Kruger

“So this one is Easy Rider, Dennis Hopper. My very first movie was with Dennis Hopper, he played my dad. I was still in drama school when we made this film. Not a very good film, but I was so incredibly impressed by him, and he really taught me all the basics of being an actress, like: if you don’t see the camera, the camera can’t see you, which seems pretty obvious, but it wasn’t so much to me. Obviously, I had seen this film before I met him, but I always like to watch it because I think he’s one of those actors who really rebelled against the conformities of what Hollywood can be and who always stuck to his guts, and, you know, he became Dennis Hopper by being true to himself and never giving in. So, good one.”

“Oh, yeah, this is cool. Fish Tank, Andrea Arnold, and I love her personally. She’s a really great lady and wonderfully out there and crazy and creative. And Fish Tank really touched me. Her voice and her… The way she looks at things and she observes things is so interesting, and she’s such a great female filmmaker, so Fish Tank is the shit.”

“Oh, yes. So this is In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar Wai. I just remember being completely transformed, not just by the beautiful images, but the beauty of storytelling through camera, the quietness of his camera. It taught me a lot about, inspired me a lot about what an actor can convey through nothing, through the eyes. And I’m just a huge fan of Wong Kar Wai and his films, so, yes.”

“And of course, Crash. I am the most unconditional David Cronenberg fan. The very first film that I had seen of his was The Fly. I was very little. It screwed me up for life. And then Crash is something that I discovered later. You know, it is very rare, I think, to have a director who builds a body of pictures that are so diverse, but yet have that very specific tone and you know exactly what movie you’re watching, what filmmaker made that film. And his movies are so layered, but when you really look at his films, including ours, The Shrouds, the layers and depth of humor, humanity, of creating situations that seem so extreme, but they are so personal. I’m such a huge fan and I think David is definitely one of the best directors that I’ve ever worked with, and I think his films stand the test of time and they’re just so great.”

“The first one that I loved was this one: Dietrich & Von Sternberg in Hollywood. So Marlene Dietrich I have a very special connection to, because I’m German, and when I grew up in Germany, I remember my grandfather being very upset when my grandmother would want to show me pictures– movies of Marlene Dietrich, like, “Don’t watch this. Don’t get the kid to watch it.” And so, of course, I wanted to watch it even more and more and more and I fell in love with her, and I remember shooting Inglourious Basterds with Quentin Tarantino and they were… he gave me a book on von Sternberg. He shot a scene in the film inspired by how he would place the camera and what he wanted to convey with the camera, and I thought that was so cool, and what always strikes me is, when you’re an actor, it is so special to have a relationship with a director who really sees you or sees the potential of all those different roles or characters that he thinks you could portray. And those relationships have always fascinated me, so I love this and I really recommend this. This is awesome. Thank you.”