June, 2004 - Nr. 6
Classic German beauty stars in "Troy"
TWIG - German director Wolfgang Petersen’s grand epic "Troy" premiered in Berlin on Sunday (May 9). One of the glitzy highlights in the program at this year’s Cannes film festival, his film stars some of the biggest Hollywood hunks around - Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom, to name just two.
Petersen himself is no newcomer to Hollywood. After the worldwide success of his war film "Das Boot" in the early 1980’s, he went on to film such films as "The Perfect Storm," "The Never-ending Story," and "Air Force One."
But when charged with finding someone to play the most beautiful woman in the world, Petersen discovered a star a little closer to home. After reviewing thousands of possible actresses, he chose Diane Kruger, a willowy, classic blonde beauty from Lower Saxony.
Although she was previously practically unknown even in her native Germany, Kruger beat out Hollywood mainstays like Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts to play the wife of Menelaus, who is abducted by her lover Paris and taken back to Troy. The full scale, ten-year Trojan War ensues when an alliance of Greek states set off to bring back the infamous "face that launched 1000 ships."
Petersen has said that he didn’t know that Kruger was German until he picked her out of a collection of over 3,000 audition tapes. Kruger has been focusing her attention on acting and has all but lost her German accent with the help of a voice coach.
Before turning to acting, Kruger was a ballet dancer and a model. Her highest-profile role so far was in the recent television movie "The Piano Player" alongside Dennis Hopper and James Faulkner.
"Troy" hits American theaters this weekend and is expected to be a major summer blockbuster.
Republished with permission from "The Week in Germany"
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