Diane Kruger Recalls ‘Uncomfortable’ Screen Test for 2004 Film ‘Troy’: ‘I Felt Like Meat’
variety.comMatt Donnelly Senior Film WriterTo play the steel-edged movie executive at the center of “Swimming With Sharks,” Roku’s upcoming female-centered reboot of the Hollywood classic, Diane Kruger took a long look at her own experiences in show business.From her early modeling career to breaking into feature films in a dramatically different business landscape than the current one, Kruger has weathered the ups and downs that define many successful careers.
But in playing a movie executive, one fond of hurling Louboutins at assistants and willing to sell her mother up the river to close a deal, she was struck by the differences in acceptable professional behavior over time.“I’ve definitely come across the Weinsteins of this world from the get go,” Kruger said during a conversation at the Variety SXSW Studio, in town for the first screening and panel surrounding “Swimming With Sharks.” “I remember testing for ‘Troy,'” she said of the 2003 Brad Pitt vehicle which launched Kruger in the U.S.
market, “and having to go to the studio head in costume. And I felt like meat, being looked up and down and was asked, ‘Why do you think you should be playing this?’”Kruger declined to name the top executive behind the Warner Bros.
release. Multiple industry insiders told Variety it not terribly common that a star would have to present themselves in costume for an interview in an executive’s office.
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