LOS ANGELES: Actor Diane Kruger says she had a difficult time in convincing Quentin Tarantino to cast her in "Inglourious Basterds" as Bridget Von Hammersmark, a German film star turned Allied spy in World War II.
On a recent episode of the podcast "Reign with Josh Smith", the actor said Tarantino did not want to audition her as he had not liked a film she starred in. "He auditioned everyone. He didn't want to audition me because he saw a movie that I was in he didn't like. 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," Kruger said.
The 45-year-old actor, who is currently promoting her new action thriller "The 355", said that she had to pay her own airfare for the audition in Germany. "I had to pay for my own flight from New York to go to Germany because he wouldn't, even though, obviously, he's American, but he wouldn't see me in the US. So I had to jump through all these hoops that definitely put my nose out of joint, but I was like, 'You know what? F*** him! I'm just gonna do that and prove to him that I can do it'. Thankfully it all worked out, but sometimes it just seems so unfair and you've gotta change the narrative," she said.
However, the actor believed the director was willing to look beyond his perception. "I think for him, too, that must've been a lesson. Sometimes you are the one that puts - and I'm sure I'm guilty of that too - you put people in boxes. You think they're gonna be one way and then they're not at all," he said.
The German-American actor, also known for her roles in "Troy", "The Bridge" and "Into The Fade", earned Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for best supporting actress for her role in "Basterds".