Diane Kruger

ATALE IN INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS TALKS ABOUT GROWING UP IN GERMANY, WORRIES ABOUT BRAD

PLAYBOY:-Your face launched a thousand ships in tKe Brad Pitt epic Troy, Josh Hartnett is obsessed with youin Wicker Park, you and Nicolas Cage have twice hunted fVr National Treasure, and we're about to see you in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, playing a World War II German film star and Nazi hunter. You've played so many different sorts of roles with so many different accents that few people seem to know you're actually German.

KRUGER I'm from a small village right next to a forest close to Hildesheim, Germany, and my childhood was spent build­ing tree houses and, for class assignments, doing things like observing how baby geese swim. My dad left when I was 13, so it was just me, my younger brother and my mom. We didn't have much money. My brother and I weren't allowed to watch TV other than a few programs my mom chose. It was a very protected childhood, and it was definitely German.

PLAYBOY You must have been a knockout. Who protected you from the local guys?

KRUGER: I had a childhood boyfriend, but I certainly wasn't the hot chick. I stood out only for being the thinnest, most awkward one, with long blonde hair. Guys mostly ignored me. I was dedi­cated to becoming a ballerina. I went to dance class while other girls played soccer with the boys, so they were the popular ones. Then I began modeling pretty early.

PLAYBOY: Did modeling make you more or less popular? KRUCEI The other kids resented that I was getting okay grades while being excused for being away a lot. The principal finally forced me to make a choice: "Either you're a model or a student." My mom said I could go to Paris for a year, but if modeling didn't work out, I had to come back and finish school. Because she trusted me, I tried to be responsible and not fuck it up.

PLAYBOY: Was Mom wise to trust you? KRUCEi; In Paris I did all those stupid things you're supposed to do, but I was a pretty good kid who didn't want to go out and get crazy. I didn't even drink until I was 21.1 definitely suc­ceeded as a model against the odds-like looking 13 when I was actually 16 and standing only five-seven, which at the time was very short for a model.

PLAYBOY: Considering your success, even you must have real­ized that you had in fact become "the hot chick." KRUGEI' Paris was the first time I felt men were teally look­ing at me. I enjoyed that Frenchmen were gallant and tried to * * * woo girls a bit more ardently than the men where I come from did. I was faitrjful to my childhood boyfriend from Germany for, like, six months.'ahd then we broke (concluded on pag$ WO)

DIANE KRUGER

(continued from page 89) up. I fell in love with a French student, and we ended up dating for three years. We broke up too, but he's still my best friend.

Q6.

playboy: What sort of men, French or not, would never get to first base with you? KRL'GER: I've never liked arrogant men, the ones with the smooth line all ready to go, like, "Oh, you have the most beauti­ful eyes" or whatever. I hate over-the-top guys, the ones who drive yellow Porsches. I like tall guys who carry themselves with a confident stride and have good skin and an air of taking care of themselves. I gen­erally don't go for traditionally handsome guys, either. 1 prefer a kind of broken-in, goofy look.

Q7.

playboy: Have you been more likely to have your heart broken or to be the heartbreaker?

KRUGER: I think I broke a lot of guys' hearts when I was younger, not because I intended to but because I was selfish. I ended things with guys I was never really in love with and probably left a little harshly and abruptly. But when I was 21, modeling and living in New York, I had my heart broken for the first time. I was madly in love with this guy who was horrible to me. That was the worst year of my life. Ever since, I've been a lot more cautious about treating other people's hearts carefully.

Q8.

PLAYBOY: You began turning up in acting roles in 2002. Walk us through the transition from aspiring dancer and model to actress.

KRUGER: Growing up I never even thought about anything else but being a dancer. By the age of 11 I was studying with the Royal Ballet of London, but I suffered a knee injury at 13, which devastated me. I love fashion, and 1 won a modeling contract and worked all the time, which was fun at first, but I got bored quickly. I moved to New York and shot a lot of ad campaigns for Saks, and I remember thinking, I don't want to be touched anymore. I was so fed up with constantly putting on makeup, taking off makeup, having my hair teased. That's when I began pursuing acting roles.

Q9.

playboy: You burst on the scene in Troy playing the legendarily alluring Helen opposite Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom. Did you take it hard when many critics knocked you and the movie? KRUGER: I thought we were making movie history, so the criticism was not easy, especially when it was only my second big role in a feature film. Ultimately I think it made me a lot stronger and definitely much more of a fighter.

Q10.

playboy: Were you comfortable filming nude scenes for Troy even though they ) didn't show up in the movie?

krucer: Nudity was always in the script, and Troy wasn't intended to be a PG-13 film. But under studio pressure to get a broad audience, the nude scenes were cut so they could get the rating down to PG-13.

on.

PLAYBOY: You and Brad Pitt don't have any scenes together in Troy, but you have lots of them in Inglourious Basterds. krugeR: I'm one of a gToup of people trying to assassinate Hitler, and since it's Quentin, the movie is absurd, funny and sometimes so violent that it becomes even funnier. But then the action turns serious and frightening. I'm sure it's going to ruffle a few feathers. I think I have the coolest character next to Brad's. I'm a German movie star who also spies for the Brits, like Marlene Dietrich. Quentin loves strong women in his films, and as you can imagine, we clicked in a way I've never before clicked with a director.

912.

playboy: Did Tarantino write the role for you?

kruger: The part was not written with me in mind at all. He wanted everyone to speak in his or her native language, and because he didn't believe I was German, he didn't even want to meet me. I learned 30 pages of dialogue in German and English and went to the audition dressed like the character. I killed it. I did everything except sleep with the director to get that part.

Q13.

PLAYBOY: Tarantino buffs have noted from his movies that he has a bit of a thing about women's feet. Did you know anything about that going in, or did you become aware of it during filming?

KRUGER: I guess I'm not a very good film geek because I had seen and admired all his films and didn't know that. Quentin absolutely denies it, by the way. It's funny, though, because I was scheduled for what was supposed to be one last day of shooting, which turned into three days of him doing six close-ups of my feet and two of my face.

playboy: How did you and Brad Pitt get along during filming? The tabloids reported rumors that you were having a romantic flirtation and even an affair. krugeR: I'd seen Brad only once since we made Troy. He's a fantastic guy, but it's hard for me to understand the life he and Angelina Jolie lead, because they get so much media attention. We had one day on the set of Inglouriotis Basterds, and by the next week we were on the cover of some tabloid for having an "on-set affair." I don't know how he lives with that stuff or if he even reads it, but it's distracting.

Q15.

playboy Since it's so common for actors to blur the line between fantasy and reality, how do you handle on-the-sel temptation?

KRUGER: It can be confusing when vou're green, especially when you're in an isolated location, away from familiar people and surroundings. People fall in love with their co-stars when they're open to that. I enjoy hanging with the crew, but I'm in a place in my life where I'm very happy and don't want to change things.

016.

playboy: It's easy to see why male journalists and TV interviewers go ga-ga over you. Has anybody from the press ever overstepped his bounds? KRUCER: A journalist wrote me a couple of love letters, but 1 think that was a one-off because he was genuinely interested in me. I've had journalists call my mom and show up at her workplace. There's stuff I'd definitely sue people over, though. They can write anything they want about me but not when it gets to my family.

Q17.

PLAYBOY: You've made two Katioiial Treasure movies with Nicolas Cage. What's your experience with his famed intensity and reported eccentricities? KRUGER: He's definitely an eccentric person, but it's about how his imagination can run wild. Give him an idea for a scene and he can spin it in 4,000 different ways, which is impressive. I can see when he started out and was a lot younger that he must have been really wild.

Q18.

playboy You and actor Joshua Jackson have been in a relationship for several years. How have you come to terms with the public scrutiny that comes with being involved with another celebrity? kruger: Joshua and I are not Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, so it's not like we have four cars following us wherever we go. There are days when it's annoying to have photographers follow you, especially when you're in pajama pants and just want to get a cup of coffee. If you're hungover, the last thing you want is to have someone take your photograph. It hasn't been loo bad, though. We're not that famous.

Q19.

piayboY: What's your recipe for keeping a relationship hot?

kruger: Constant seduction of your partner, no matter how long you've been together, keeps a relationship alive. I love doing girlie things like getting massages, going on dinner dates and making an effort for my guy, putting on a sexy dress and makeup. Seeing "that look" on my man's face makes me feel sexy.

Q20.

playboy: What's the most surprisingly sexy setting in which you've made love? KRUGER: A car. I was on a road trip once, and we couldn't find a place to sleep, so we had to sleep in the car. It was funny and sexy at the same time.