Sandra Hüller - 'Fatherland,' 'Project Hail Mary' & 'Rose' [LIVE]

24:21Sandra Hüller:And it's interesting because she has said, quote, when I sent the script to her, Arthur, her husband and co-writer, asked me, if Sandra refuses, then who? But I had no second choice. I'm not sure we would have gone forward without her, close quote, which is quite a compliment. And by the way, Jonathan... She didn't say that to me. She didn't say that to you. Well, and it's interesting because Jonathan Glazer, I will just go back and also said a very similar thing that, let's see, I had no other actor in mind. For me, she was the only one capable of achieving it. It got to the point where I couldn't imagine the film without her, close quote.

24:55Sandra Hüller:So you're holding these directors hostage. We wouldn't even have these films without you. I don't know what's going on, honestly. I don't know. Well, with Anatomy of a Fall, I guess, you know, the question that I know you've been asked about ever since people started seeing the film was whether or not you yourself think she committed the act she's accused of. I would imagine, even if you don't want to share that answer with us, did you have to know that answer yourself from Justine? Or how did that work? In the beginning, I thought I needed to know. And I was thinking about her as an innocent person.

25:32I was very much defending her in my thoughts and in the whole development of the work. I think two days before we started filming, I called Justine and I thought, what if she actually tricks me into something? So I had a kind of a trust issue two days before filming. And I asked her if she is really innocent. She's just playing with me and in the end she turns everything around, which I would have felt would have been the end of our friendship, I think. Really, so heartbreaking. And she said, I cannot tell you, I don't know, but I want you to play her as if she was innocent. And that made it even worse for me.

26:08So I had two days to decide what I'm going to do. And I realized it's really not so important if she is a murderer or not. It's really about what other people think of her. So we really tried to get into the heads of the people. And also her process of working is similar to Maren Ades. she's collecting a lot of material in order to find out later which way she wants to go. So we have so many possibilities of telling the stories. And I think the test screenings were very interesting because there were some where people were absolutely convinced. And it's just one look. You just have one little detail that makes people believe that she's a violent person.

26:50And then there were some where it's absolutely good. So she really had to find the balance with her genius editor to never let people know exactly what was going on.

27:00Sandra Hüller:And in some ways that is done maybe most skillfully in the sequence late in the film where Sandra, the character, is on trial and the audio is revealed that they had had this fight, which then transitions for the film viewer to see visual evidence of that fight, but goes back to the courtroom before we can see what we are hearing, which is somebody getting physical with the other one. And so I wonder if you can talk about, she and you, I think, have both said that that was a very complicated one to film and then obviously for her and her editors to piece together afterwards. But what do you remember about the execution of that scene?

27:45Sandra Hüller:Which, by the way, I guess there was also a secret recording in Sybil. So that was a relevant thing in your earlier film. But anyway, talk about the fight sequence, if you would. Well, I think Justine was more nervous about the fight scene than Samuel and I were, because she knew that the whole narrative of the film depended on how good this would work. So we were just fighting. Or at least, let's say Sandra was avoiding the fight for a long time, which is something that I'm familiar with. I don't like that. so I'm trying to calm down the other person as long as possible until it doesn't work anymore.

28:25So we had to find a way to tell not only that they fight, but also that there is a connection between them, that they actually love each other, and there is a certain tenderness between them, and a desperation so they don't fight, because what we hate about fight scenes of couples in films is that they really like it. Most people don't like to fight. So we have to find a way where it's inevitable to really be mean to each other. So that's what we try to work on, to have a conversation in the first place about something that is really important to them. And then it escalates later.

29:00Sandra Hüller:It's interesting because I think the film plays on so many different levels. Yeah, it's a trial of whether or not she committed this crime. But it's also a trial or a Rorschach test in a way about how people feel about a certain type of woman. Yeah, or human being, whatever their upbringing is or their ideology or whatever. If people like women at all, women in a certain position, women with a very diverse sex life, whatever, can judge everybody. And it worked a lot of times that people were really, the film reflected back on themselves and they had to start about their own, think about their own choices.

29:42I really liked that.

29:43Sandra Hüller:And also there are just things that you think about after this film where, first of all, the fact that your character and her husband are both named the names of the actors who are playing them. That's so mean, isn't it? What does that mean? What the hell? What does it mean that they, you know, he's a Frenchman, you're a German character, and you're speaking English at home? Just there are a lot of things that kind of haunt you about that film, which I know were not a coincidence. But when you think about that period, starting in Cannes three years ago, and really like the rest of that year into the beginning of the next year, I will just recap a few things.

30:21Sandra Hüller:Again, all the acclaim here in Cannes. First person to ever receive two nominations in the same year for the Best Actress European Film Award. BAFTA nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress in the same year. a Best Actress Oscar nomination, star of two Best Picture Oscar nominees, which, by the way, was the first time there had ever been two non-English language films nominated for Best Picture in the same year, on and on and on. Also at a time, I think because of the strikes, or I'm trying to remember what it was, but there was something where actually not everyone else was even able to be at things, but because you were in two things and were not in American productions, you kind of had to kind of be at everything.

31:00Sandra Hüller:I just wonder, when you look back at that time period, was it fun, scary, weird? As you became really a much more well-known person in the business and beyond? It was everything you just said. It was everything all at once. I really have to thank the people who put the schedule together from Narrative and my German press agency. Because it was really difficult to balance the dates with the two films. So they did all that. I don't know, you know, you go through these things. It's an experience. You try to adapt to everything. You try to see the beauty in everything. You meet people. You learn a lot about yourself in those environments.

31:42It's a lot of honor. There was a lot of love coming our way. Also, I mean, we were always there together as a group. I was with two beautiful teams, and we shared these moments. I was never really lonely or anything. So it was really a beautiful time.

31:59Sandra Hüller:And I don't think you had necessarily a lot of time to sit and process all of it, because I believe right away you were on to the first of the films that are now rolling out this year with this crazy earth, and with Rose, right? We'll say, again, this is a woman passing as a man, and therefore entitled to a wife and farm in a remote 17th century Protestant farming community. after the 30 Years War, a black and white film. I mean, this was something you were committed to even before all the attention, right? In 2022, yeah. Yeah, and meanwhile, this is the film that three years later, it goes to Berlin, premieres, and you again win the...

32:45Sandra Hüller:Now they've changed it. It was Best Actress, now it's Best Leading Performance. But point is, that's a big deal. And 20 years after you did it before, Or just with that film, you pick projects wisely. What was it, though, with this one that appealed to you the most about playing? Well, first of all, I knew Markus Schleinze, the director, because we were working together, and Sissy and I, he played the emperor there. And we had nice conversations. I knew his connection to Hanneke, and he told a lot of funny stories. So he told me about the scripts, and I read it. I found the people in the script are using, I don't know if it's translating in English, but they use a very specific form of language.

33:28It's very, very poetic. So the whole script is more of a long poem. It is something coming from theater that I'm definitely drawn to. I want to know how this works. It's really like ice cream. I really want to have it.

33:42Sandra Hüller:And you played male characters in theater. I played Hamlet, yeah. and other people who were pretending to be male. So that was also a challenge during that time. And yeah, I just wanted to explore how this works and if they're going to believe me and what it would feel like. And also I wanted to know how Marcus works. So it's always a mix of motivations, yeah. So that's the first of these 2026 films. Now we want to go to Project Hail Mary, which Ava Stratt, head of this international task force behind Project Hail Mary, an effort to save the world and humanity from extinction. It's Phil Lord and Chris Miller, you and Ryan Gosling in front of the camera.

34:27Sandra Hüller:I don't think you had ever done anything on this size and scale of a film before. Not many people have. So was that something that you were itching to do? It sounded like years ago you were almost wanting to avoid things on a huge scale. So was there an evolution in your thinking about that? There is something like scale, and then there's something also like quality on that scale. So I didn't necessarily want to do something really big because it can be so bad. And I'm not good at a lot of things. So I have to find something that I can actually do without feeling terrible. all the time. So this was an opportunity because I love the films of Chris and Miller, of Lord and Miller.

35:17And I, of course, adore Ryan Gosling. What can you say? So I just had to do it. And also, you know, it doesn't, I think about this a lot to, if it's really smart to avoid things all the time. Sometimes you just have to try them. I can still decide later if I want to be a part of it for longer, you know, but you know, it's like, I like it when the space is sort of expand and I can have more choices. So, yeah.

35:43Sandra Hüller:It's obviously still a huge endeavor, this kind of a movie, but it sounds like they did as much to keep it feeling not like that for the actors as possible. A lot of practical sets and effects and puppets and all kinds of things, right? So maybe did that make a difference or do you find like, are you acting differently? Do you approach acting differently when you're doing a Rose versus a Project Hail Mary? No, it's not a different approach. But it depends more on who I'm playing with and what they bring. So when you play with someone like Ryan Gosling, you don't try to compete. I can never be as fast as him, as inventive or whatever.

36:26I can just be there and try to find an end to the scene. And then everything else will happen on its own, probably. Since it's not a so-called main character or something, there is not a bow or some sort of development that I have to think about. But I think that the preparation is always the same. It's just a bit more fear management in that one.

36:51Sandra Hüller:I saw another thing where you, quote, learned that not everything always has to be motivated from the inside. sometimes you can simply assert something, perform, as long as the director finds it credible, it's credible. It doesn't always have to align with my own sense of truth." That's kind of an interesting discovery. Yes, it is. Because you can be trapped in your own... it can be a moral code or it can be an acting code and or you think everything really has to develop in your body and in your system and Sometimes it's just not necessary. It's an economic question. I prefer to find things inside of me and then find out what it does to my partner and what they do to me.

37:35I don't like to prepare a whole character no matter what anybody is saying. And then being away from the set, being away from the people, away from my partner, and then I'm coming there and fulfill my own vision. That's not what I think makes work fulfilling. I like to collaborate, and so I don't do so much of a preparation most of the time. I really just try to put things away more than I add them.

38:02Sandra Hüller:And in this case, you are working with a lot of people who enjoy improvisation. Is that something you're comfortable with, you enjoy? I love to watch it. I can't do it. I love watching it, and that's kind of the beauty of the experience with Project Elmer, that I could watch a lot of it. I had a lot of fun. But I'm really bad at it, especially in another language. I mean, even in Tony Adman, it was really difficult. But also there, I had Peter Simoniszek, who was like an endless source of invention. Maybe it's because I'm an older sister or something. I'm better in finding the fence for everybody.

38:39I don't know.

38:40Sandra Hüller:Well, one last Project Hail Mary question. I assume most people watch here or listening are caught up. I won't get into the exact specifics, but she does a kind of a not nice thing in this film. But at the same time, where it might be, it would be easy to hate or to really dislike a character for doing something like that. And yet one of the things that many people have remarked upon is, and I think it's a testament to your performance, is that you don't feel that way towards her. And in fact, one of the scenes, maybe the best scene in the film, there's a lot of contenders. But I think a scene that helps to make that the case that we don't feel that way towards your character is when she performs a bit of karaoke.

39:27Sandra Hüller:Because... Again. Again. Yeah. Your singing has been... Every 10 years you get called upon to... But in this case, covering Mr. Harry Styles, as with covering Whitney Houston, it's not just the, obviously, just the song or anything, but there's such nuance to the way that you, your physicality during the performance and all of that. And I really do think that that goes a long way towards the way we feel towards Ava. And so I just wonder if you can break down how that scene came about, how you approached it, and if you also feel that it was an important one. That's a really interesting topic to me because I felt that I'm playing her as the softest girl you've ever seen.

40:11But she has to make tough decisions. So I really try to be, you know, not a cliche of a leading, a world leading woman, you know, that we all see that you have to be harder than the others and tougher. And then you have, you look a certain way, whatever. There are so many wrong things going on thinking about these women. So that was the first thing. And I think she really believes that the world is worth saving and that we can actually do it if we make an effort. it's a coincidence that it's just about him then it was supposed to be different so she just has to adjust so adding that and it was added the karaoke scene it was not in the script it was scripted that people were having a goodbye party and they were having karaoke but Stratt wasn't in it which I found very reasonable because why would she and then Ryan Gosling came up with the idea and he wanted her to be in it and then we had to find a song and then I found the song and two days later I was singing it and I understand that people like her more through this so it's kind of a calculated thing which coming from the background that I come from I kind of reject I don't want this to be this way but on the other hand I feel that it helps and honestly it was just such fun to sing it because I love this song so much So it is kind of a twisted thing if people like her because of that, because of course I would have wished them to like her just like that.

41:42But yeah, I'm happy this scene is in there.

41:44Sandra Hüller:Totally. Okay, so last night in this very building, we had the world premiere of Fatherland. It was very well received here. It's such a powerful film from a great filmmaker, Paweł Polakowski. his first since 2018, I believe. And he's coming off of home run after home run, Cold War in 2018, Ida five years before that. He's just one of the greats. And I wonder, did you guys know each other before this one? Or just how did this one come about? We met before he told me about the project. There was just a general meeting in Berlin. And we liked each other from the beginning. So for me, it was out of question.

42:25of course knowing his work that I wanted to be a part of whatever he wanted to do and then he found this great story and then he found Hans Sischler, August Diel so these were ingredients that I really loved and I wanted to be a part of.

42:38Sandra Hüller:I wonder other people are making connections between Ida and then Cold War and this one it's true that Ida and Cold War are fictional characters and these are very real people, people that lived and made a big impact But other than that, there seemed to be some thematic connections. And I wonder if that was something you guys ever discussed. No, we didn't discuss the earlier films. I think it would be really distracting. Yeah, probably. I mean, the other thing, though, is that they share in common, even if they're showing harsh things, they're shot so beautifully by this great cinematographer, Lukasz Szal, all in black and white in each case.

43:18Sandra Hüller:And I wonder, just watching how he and Pavel work, most of the time it's you and your scene partner, Hans Zischler, as Thomas Mann. You're the daughter. I imagine it's a fairly intimate set when you guys are... What's it like watching Pavel and Lukasz work together? Well, sometimes it wasn't intimate. Sometimes when we were with a lot of people, it was not at all. Yes, it is intimate, and watching these both is pretty intimate because it's mostly about them finding the frame where we can find our spot in, in the right lighting, and then we can try to find freedom in there. So it was a very interesting way of working that I hadn't experienced before.

44:00A little bit in Rose because black and white filming is very technical, and I didn't know before. Nobody told me. and then we kind of adjusted to each other's way of working was a I think it lasted for the over the course of the filming process the curiosity towards each other and how the other person is approaching this was bigger than any trouble we had so it was really uh to me a really great experience I think there is not a film that I think I've learned the most uh of any of every film in this one.

44:35Sandra Hüller:So if you had to pinpoint the things that you would apply going forward from what you learned on this, what are the biggest takeaways? Well, first of all, it's when we start about the beginning, like Rick V.M., where the camera was following us and we had absolute freedom and the light was built after we rehearsed. It was completely different here. And I learned that it's possible to survive in this environment, too. It's actually really fruchtbar. It is inspiring in fact to find this right place and it's really just sometimes really millimeters of space that you have to act to play what you want to play.

45:16This is one thing and then I always felt that the director or that's what I was used to, that a director is coming towards you and is having a conversation. With Pavel it's different. He will always be close to the camera and close to the monitor and I think it's maybe a good thing to sometimes just go there and join them. That is something that I didn't know before. It was kind of a restricted area, kind of a no-go thing to go to the monitor and to watch them work. I think this is something that interests me more and more to be a part of that process too.

45:48Sandra Hüller:And just this kind of a character, we should say she's very smart. She has a lot of thoughts and emotions, but it seems that she is used to burying them until she kind of explodes. There are these examples of she encounters her ex-husband and there's a little bit of an explosion there. She has a personal loss and then explodes at the people outside of her hotel room. And then really also at some point has it out with her father who they have this very complex relationship. What's it like? Is there a character that you've played before that's quite like that? Or was this a new, just the repression leading to the explosion?

46:27I'm familiar with that.

46:31I think, I mean, most people don't, I mean, there are always restrictions. We go through the world and there are rules and there are personal choices we made. And then they sometimes force us to just endure stuff until we can't take it anymore. I personally, I like to walk away, but if I can stand something. But for her, in that particular case of Erikamann and Thomasamann, I think it's really admirable what they did to just because it is actually very painful what they do. It's not fun to it. It's called a road movie and of some sort, but it's actually just hard work that they do in the midst of the post-war and the death of the brother and all of these things.

47:18but to just make that decision to just go through it is something that I mean what would have been the other choice that is something so big that I admire so much so I just wanted to give her this capacity of just enduring the things that you had to endure because there are some things that we just have to work on inside ourselves that we cannot talk to anybody about and that also makes it a film from another time because we don't do that anymore. We share almost everything with everybody. And those are things that she just had to work out herself.

47:57Sandra Hüller:Well, it's really a provocative, thought-provoking film, and it's up for acquisition for the U.S. still, so a lot of people are rushing to see it as soon as they can get in, which it's a hard ticket, but it's really worth the pursuit. And I will close with one last question. and you've been so great, and thank you for all of your time. Oh, thank you, thank you. I am curious if you can tease a little bit of what's coming next for you, including yet another 2026 film, which I mentioned features you and Tom Cruise for the great Alejandro González-Añárritu. That's called Digger. And I know there's probably limits on what you can share about that, but anything about that or other things we can look forward to seeing you in in the near future?

48:44I am nearly bursting in wanting to talk about this movie I can tell it but I can't I legally can't I can't I can't say that I saw it in a version that's maybe not the final version and that it impresses me beyond anything I've ever seen and that's all I can say it's really, I think it's going to be a remarkable film Awesome.

49:11Sandra Hüller:Well, congrats on another incredible year. And thank you again so much for squeezing this in. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.

49:41Sandra Hüller:and to leave us a rating and review on your podcast app. And to follow us on Twitter and Instagram, where our handle is at Awards Chatter. On those platforms, we announce upcoming guests and provide details about special live recordings of the podcast that you can attend. Until next time, thanks again for tuning in.

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