MPM: Having had European independent films like Joyeux Noël, Mon Idole and Frankie, and then U.S. studio work like Troy, National Treasure and Wicker Park - it seems like your work in two distinct worlds of film. Is it your ideal situation as an actor to try to balance both worlds?
Diane: Well, yes and no. There's a whole variety of movies that I would like to make in the United States that are not accessible to me as of now, and it'll take a lot longer for me to make the kind of films that I would ultimately love to make, or [to work with] filmmakers that I would love to work with.
Europe, I guess, tends to be more character driven and, especially for women, they have better parts for women. I can go back to America and show my work there and show a much deeper variety, I guess, than what I've been allowed to do in America as of yet.
Also, I'm very European. I do want to make European films and tell European stories, 'cause they're my history and it is very important to me. And I'm not gonna fall over my heels to just do work in America, but it would be lovely to have access to audition for projects that I love and [for which] I feel strongly. MPM: With the exception of the National Treasure franchise, a lot of the films (Spring Break in Bosnia, Goodbye Bafana) you work on tackle humanitarian issues and racism and are based in reality. It's a heady exercise in any language. Are you a research junkie for those sorts of films?
Diane: Very much so. World history's my favorite subject in school, and I'm very musical 'cause I used to be a ballet dancer. I love films that I ultimately would like to see myself as an audience. And I love to be reading.
I made my first movie in South Africa five years ago, and I was really shocked at what I witnessed when I was down there. So I read everything about the history of that country five years ago. So when Goodbye Bafana came along, I really felt like it'd be great to be part of it, and I loved the idea of the white Afrikaaner [prison guard]'s point of view rather than Mandela's story, 'cause that's, like, Mandela's story to tell, not ours. MPM: That was a co-production between, I think, five countries. Is it any different working on a production like that because of all the different production entities involved?
Diane: Not really. You don't really ever get to see them running around on set. But they're small productions at any rate; films that have that subject matter are very difficult to finance, I guess, for whatever reason. I'm shooting National Treasure 2 [Book of Secrets] right now, and that's a whole other shoot. MPM: Is that why you've been going back and forward to Washington?Diane: Yeah. I'm in Washington right now, and then we're gonna go to South Dakota. I'm very excited to actually see the Presidents' heads. MPM: You can recreate the North by Northwest chase.
Diane: Yeah, exactly! Why not! That would be cool. MPM: I've read that you're an active supporter of UNICEF.
Diane: Yeah, it's the main charity I support. I try to do as much as I can for them. For Cannes, they're gonna have an exhibition of photographs I took in South Africa. I went into all the townships, and I spent a long time in South Africa before we actually started shooting. I was trying to get schools going. I made a calendar for UNICEF last year. I don't want to be hypocritical about it and say I'm this amazing person that goes to all these countries and helps, but I try to do just as much as I can. MPM: Do you think that your work there was inspired by your work in film, or was it the other way around?
Diane: It's both. I used to model, and I really have been [traveling] around the world from a very young age, and so you do see a lot of countries that are underprivileged. On Troy, we were shooting in Mexico, and on our way to work we would go through all these slums. And it was just kind of amazing to think that we're doing a $120 million movie - for entertainment for a two-hour movie - and this entire setup here could be turned around with the budget of this movie. So it does give you a little bit of perspective of the work there is to do; and it's a little overwhelming to think about it.
You definitely realize how privileged you are when you go to countries like this. MPM: What does acting fulfill in you that modeling and ballet didn't?
Diane: Well, I think it's everything else I've done before, combined in one. It's a physical expression, it's an emotional expression, and you get to dress up for very different projects and time periods. I love the theater - I was in every school play, and I've always loved to be on stage. I've never really had stage fright. I just love to explore - to play with my own emotions. I get to feel alive, and take risks; and I'm really hoping that the more I can prove myself as an actor, the more risks people will let me take. Some actors are very lucky, and they get offered the most amazing parts from a very young age on; but I feel my career has been the wrong way around. I started with a huge movie, and I want to take smaller projects now, to actually explore other things than just the blockbuster. MPM: How was working with Denys Arcand?
Diane: I loved working with him. Also, I play a movie star; I play a fantasy, but it's funny. He actually saw the humor in me, which is great. I got do to things that are funny and totally apart from anything I've ever done, so I'm quite hopeful for this film. It looks really good. MPM: Did you have mentors early on in the process of your work?
Diane: On my very first movie, I played Dennis Hopper's daughter. It was a terrible movie, never made it into theaters; but I only had scenes with him and I had never been in front of a movie camera. He really took me under his wing and taught me all the basic, silly things that you just don't learn in drama school, like - I don't know; like, if you can't see the camera, the camera can't see you. I think people are kind of prudish and they don't want to show emotions, they would rather turn away from the camera; he sort of taught me to play for the camera. But the person that I learned most from is Ed Harris. I made a film called Copying Beethoven. The director, Agnieszka Holland, a very intense lady, insisted that we prepare for the movie together; so we spent two months together every day, learning how to orchestrate, learning the piano and just rehearsing every day; and it totally changed the way I prepare for movies now. He's such a character actor, and everything he does in a film is thought about and goes with his character, and I just think he's a genius, truly. There's also a calmness about him and a trust and a faith he places in other actors which make it a very comfortable air to work with; but he likes to share and make sure to help you accomplish what you want to do with your character while he does his thing. He's very meticulous, he truly mastered the piano in a very short time. He's very committed. He likes to improvise a lot in a room, and he loves rehearsal. It's like being in drama school. MPM: Did you ever speak to Dennis Hopper about his Cannes experiences with Easy Rider?
Diane: Yes, we sure did! He has a few great stories to tell, that's for sure. He could fill books with his stories, I guess. MPM: Have you a penchance for any of the Cannes Palm D'Or directors in particular?
Diane: Oh, well, there's some that I didn't understand, like for example, Pialat. I know he's considered a genius and I remember very vividly the clip of him receiving the Palme d'Or: He had a very horrible speech, where it's like, "I hate you, too," to the audience. And I remember renting that movie specifically, and I didn't really understand it. But I think that's the greatness of Cannes. It just pushes the limits sometimes. They have a respect for a filmmaker's vision, which I think is what makes Cannes so different from other film festivals - they believe that there is a space and place in the film festival for the big movie, like The Da Vinci Code or Troy, and then the small-budget films and new filmmakers. MPM: Do you consider any specific project to be the point where you thought, "Okay, this is what I want to do?"
Diane: There's just something very magical to me that happens on a movie set, but I think the turning point started when I was able to choose projects more and more. Maybe Joyeux Noël, which was the first part I actively went after and felt like it was, in a way, written for me and I could do something with a part that maybe wasn't necessarily on the page. And that was the first movie, also, where I had a very close contact to the audience; it was a very unforgettable moment, actually, in Cannes: You know how they have all the audience upstairs, and we had a 20-minute standing ovation - not necessarily from the people in the business, 'cause they can be kind of jaded about things like that, but the audience - and that is a very uplifting and powerful feeling to know that people enjoyed what you did. That was the first movie where people would come up asking you not necessarily, "Can I have your autograph?" or "Who makes your dress?" but wanting to talk and tell me how that movie touched them in their life.
MPM: Is there a film you've seen that's changed you in any way?
Diane: There were movies that have inspired me to look at myself closer. Babel was one of them. Like, for example, I'm from the countryside, a really small village in Germany, and I remember showing my mother Brokeback Mountain. She has never met a gay person in her entire life, and I think that was quite an eye opener for her, too, and it made her think about gay people in a very different light. So I think movies do have that power - you either like it or not, but at least they get that thought process going. And with Goodbye Bafana - racism still exists, and I think it's important to make films like that, to make people question what is it that they're afraid of. MPM: Have you spoken with Monica Bellucci or Laura Morante, given that they hosted the ceremonies at Cannes in previous years?
Diane: I haven't spoken to them directly about it, but I have all the DVDs of all the past Cannes ceremonies, all the other hosts. And I had, actually, dinner with Vincent Cassel last year after the closing ceremony, and he was telling me a little bit of how nervous he was and how nerve-wracking it is. Also, I'm the first German in the history of Cannes to ever be the host, so there's a whole other country of pressure! I'm actually not that nervous. It's kind of cool, you know what I mean? Like, I don't feel like I'm gonna do horribly; it's so much bigger than just me. It's 60 years of cinema and filmmaking. I feel, "What could possibly go horribly wrong?" MPM: Right. At least, if something happens, people can always turn around and look at Martin Scorsese.
Diane: Exactly! -MPM Images courtesy of the Ronald Grant Archive. |
