Diane Kruger flew to Germany with her own money to convince Quentin Tarantino that she was right for her role in Inglourious Basterds.

The German actress revealed to Variety that the Pulp Fiction director didn’t want to cast her as Bridget von Hammersmark in his 2009 movie because he didn’t think she was authentically German enough – so she flew to her home country to prove that she was the right fit for the character.

“For Inglorious Basterds, Tarantino didn’t want to hire me. He wrote it for someone else, he wanted someone ‘authentically German,’ which he thought I wasn’t,” she said.

“I had to fly to Germany on my own dime and he asked me to learn 15 pages of dialogue, in German and in English. It was incredibly hard and I had two days to prepare, but I knew I was right for the part. I came in and he said: ‘You can take your script.’ I replied: ‘I don’t need a script.'”

After Tarantino gave her the role, she felt fully supported by him throughout the shoot.

“Once you are chosen, it’s like he loves you. You can’t do wrong and he will be there to support you. He sits right next to the camera and you feel him staring at you. He just loves actors and making movies,” she praised.

Kruger spoke to Variety at the Zurich Film Festival, where she was honoured with the Golden Eye Award earlier this week.

© Cover Media