Franka Potente
Franka Potente
Franka Potenteis a German actress and singer. She first appeared in the comedy After Five in the Forest Primeval, for which she won a Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Actress. Her breakthrough came in 1998, when she had the leading role in the acclaimed action thriller Lola rennt. Potente received Germany's highest film and television awards for her performances in Run Lola Run and the television film Opernball. After half a decade of critically acclaimed roles in German films,...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth22 July 1974
CityMunster, Germany
CountryGermany
I choose my work very carefully, always for the script and the director, and I don't think that's going to change. My work is like a house. It's built on very strong poles.
Television in America is so elaborate. There are so many remote cranes, and they have all the toys to play with. The directors are really good. They really work with you. So, I'm not really on set thinking, "Oh, my God, this is television. It's very different."
I think actors are divided into two groups: one that wants to be an actor to become famous and rich, and the other that wants to be an actor because they have to be. I'm more in the second group.
I think I'm a really good partner and very sensitive to the other person's feelings. I want somebody else to be comfortable, to understand about my job, and if they want to come on a set and see me work, they always can.
I think when I'm in love, I really am very good with calling, little faxes, and visiting and I really put a lot of effort into it. I'm really not the one that's not available because of work and I'm very sad when I actually leave.
I think working with Johnny Depp was very intimidating. It was my fault though. I mean he's a total cool nice, nice guy, but I was just so, I don't know, overpowered by his presence. Like he's a very mystic person. He's older so I never really warmed up around him. I was so stiff.
I said, 'Wouldn't it be great if Matt Damon's character fell in love with a girl with a real butt?' They were like, 'Yeah sure, sure - here's your personal trainer.'
I just want to be able to sit on grass as long as I want to, without anybody telling me to leave. Everything is so restricted, here, in that you actually have to stand behind a line, you can't go up the Canyon and enjoy the view.
I read scripts from everywhere and I decide upon the content and the quality by my standards, as to whether I like it or not.
If you ever get really dressed up for a party, you get a feeling from the reactions of people that you don't need to be that loud. It's the same when you act. You have to always consider what's around you and the texture of things and try to meld in with what's going on.
My background is a small town with no movie theater. So... I always pictured myself onstage. I went to acting school and learned all the skills. I left early because I did my first movie and discovered that I really loved the minimalistic work with the camera.
Only in movies or books or TV do we have a chance to actually like aspects of a killer.
I always performed when I was a child. My parents got very annoyed, because my brother and I had our little bedrooms upstairs, and I would plaster the house with posters with arrows pointing upstairs.
Everybody is great when things are great. It's the 'not great' stuff that matters.