Or, imagine this: You are networking at an event (like the Tribeca Film Festival) and you have met so many people that you have handed out your last copy of your reel. You run into an agent who has seen you on stage, but comments that he would like to see your film work. He asks if you have a reel to give him. Sadly, you don’t, and it will be at least a week until you can get more duplicates made. What now?

If you are a business-minded actor, you would have a website and neither case would have been a problem! You could simply tell the casting director, “Drop by my website, where you can download a copy of my headshot and resume, both formatted for printing.” And for the agent, you would be able to say, “Here’s my website. Not only do I have my reel posted, but I also have clips from a few of the other projects I have done, including some singing and a few commercials.”

Having a website is one of the most important promotional tools an actor can have, second only to a good headshot. A website allows you to provide interested parties with a more full look at your body of work, your personality, and the way you run your business. And it allows them to do it in their own time, at their pace and leisure, which is vitally important in the larger, more competitive markets. The easier you can make it for a CD/agent to get to know you, the better chance you have of making an impact with them.

Now, some actors have “actor pages” created on industry websites, such as Actors Access, Now Casting or IMDB. While these are sufficient for communicating basic information, it is very difficult to allow your personality to come through with these sites. Your website, much like your headshot, is a calling card. After all, their templates are the same for every actor! A website is a reflection of your identity, and the more personalized you can make it, the better off you will be. If you do opt for this, at the very least you should purchase a domain name (www. yourname .com) and  link/forward it to your free page. That way, when someone types in your web address, they will automatically be forwarded to whatever website you choose. Some companies charge a nominal fee for forwarding, while others include it with the domain purchase.

A website is a reflection of your identity, and the more personalized you can make it, the better off you will be

That all being said, having a website can be relatively inexpensive if you do your research. One word of advice- before you sign up for ANY services, be sure to get all of the costs laid out UP FRONT. Websites contains a lot of components that add up to a well-created and maintained business tool. Make sure you have a strong understanding of all of the costs associated, including ongoing text changes, additions or updates to media (like photo, video and audio clips), and the creation of new pages. Often, the initial price tag seems small but the fee for design becomes much larger when considering the price of upkeep. It is very important to weigh all of the costs and decide what type of fee structure is best for your business, and then get all of this in writing before you choose your designer.

Here is a breakdown of what kinds of costs you might incur, and some pitfalls to avoid:

1) You domain name will be around $10 per year.

2) Ongoing storage (called “hosting”) usually costs between $5 – $9 per month. GoDaddy is one of the largest and cheapest and charges around $58 for a full year (great price!)

3) Design services can range from a flat fee of $300 – $900 (and up) depending on how fancy you want your site to be. Be wary of companies that charge less- there may be some hidden fees or restrictions (like limited photos, videos or pages.) Often, the price seems small at first but added costs can push the prices well over $1000.

4) Be careful when signing up for websites you can change/update yourself. These designs tend to either have a very high up front fee, or a moderate monthly fee you pay for the life of your website. For example, some companies charge $195 to design your website, and then charge $25-$50 per month ongoing for hosting & maintenance. That may seem like a great deal, but consider that every year you’d be paying $250-500. How long do you imagine you’ll be keeping your website? That $250-$500 will add up very quickly. This is the same thing that printer companies are doing- they nearly give away the printer and then charge you $40 (or more) per ink cartridge. Be sure that this is a monthly expense you can afford to keep for the rest of your life (or, as long as the website is active.)

5) Changes/updates that are done by your designer are usually less expensive, depending on who you select to do the work. Most charge by the hour for changes. But be careful- many designers have a 1 hour minimum, even if you simply want to add a resume credit. Look for someone who either does not have a 1 hour minimum, or someone who is willing to work on retainer. When I design websites for actors, I do changes on a retainer program and it is a win-win for both the actor and me as the designer. I collect a 1 hour retainer in advance, and then each time the actor has changes I deduct the time from their 1 hour retainer. If the changes take 5 minutes, the actor has 55 minutes of changes left. That way, I still am guaranteed payment for an hour of work, but the actor only pays for work that is actually done. Very few designers use this method because it means less $ for them, but you have every right to expect that you’ll only be paying for work you need.

6) Also, be sure to determine who actually owns the website design – once it is designed, is it yours to do with as you please (even if you choose to host/update it with someone else?) Or do they hold the copyright and keep the design (and contents) if you opt to go elsewhere? These are important things to go over before you pay any fees.

Remember the adage: “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

Regardless of how you choose to set up your site, all fees can be written off on your taxes as a business expense, and goes a long way in investing in your future as a professional performer. The internet is here to stay, and it is time for you to take advantage of this incredible promotional tool!

Have questions about web design? Shoot me an email or leave a comment, and I’ll get back to you ASAP!

Erin Cronican’s career as a professional actor and career coach has spanned the last 25 years in New York City, Los Angeles and regionally. She is the founder of The Actors’ Enterprise (TAE), a fun and inspiring one-on-one coaching service that provides incredibly affordable business training to actors who want to feel more fulfilled and in control of their careers. With an approach that is hands-on and customized for each person, TAE helps actors set goals, organize their business, and create a plan of action with easy tools that can take them to the next level, no matter where they are starting from. She also creates compelling and affordable designs for websites, business cards and postcards. TAE’s focus includes coaching on marketing/career development, business skills, and audition techniques that help actors work SMARTER, not HARDER.

Actors who are interested in coaching can receive a free 30 minute career consultation (by phone or in person.) Learn more at www.theactorsenterprise.org or www.erincronican.com.

HOW TO GIVE GREAT AUDITIONS BY CHANGING YOUR FOCUS

Hello fellow actors!

I’m thrilled to be able to share my years of experience as an on-set and stage actor and over 15 years of teaching and coaching actors. Some of the topics I’d like to cover include; how to have sexual chemistry at auditions and on set, the secret to playing bad guys, cops, lawyers, FBI, judges and prostitutes; how to break down audition scripts; how to get more depth and vulnerability as an actor and much, much more!

For my first column I’d like to address:

How to feel confident and have a great time at your auditions.
The incredible technique I’m going to share with you is based on the work of Jerry  and Esther Hicks, who introduced the secrets of the law of attraction years before the huge success of the video and book, The Secret.

According to Esther and Jerry Hicks we are always either focusing on what we want or what we don’t want. When you’re unhappy, nervous, angry, etc it’s usually because you are focusing on what you don’t want. “I don’t want to be lonely, I don’t want to have so few auditions, I don’t want to be poor”, etc. The secret to shifting your mood in general and specifically when you audition is to focus on what you do want and how you DO want to FEEL at your auditions and on set.

So here’s a simple process for preparing for an audition:

First, imagine yourself on the way to an audition for a part you really want. try to focus on how you are feeling.

FOCUS ON HOW YOU ARE FEELING
Usually if you’re honest, you’ll say, for example…I feel nervous, I feel excited. I feel anxious. I feel like I’m not even right for this role. I feel unprepared, etc.

THEN ASK YOUR SELF WHAT DON’T YOU WANT TO HAPPEN AT YOUR AUDITION
This is what we’re usually focusing on subconsciously and completely unaware of.
For example, most actors are thinking…

I don’t want to screw up my audition,

I don’t want to forget my lines,

I don’t want them to think I suck,

I don’t want to embarrass myself,

I don’t want to be nervous.

I don’t want to be intimidated by other actors or the casting director.

According to the law of attraction,  the universe does not differentiate between what you want  and what you  don’t want. The universe does not hear the yes or no in your statements or focus. It just hears what you are focusing on. So if you walk into an audition thinking, “I don’t want to forget my lines”, you end up attracting “I don’t want to forget my lines”, and you know what? You’ll probably forget some of your lines. So what should you consciously focus on? In this case you’d say to yourself “I want to FEEL like my lines just flow easily. I want to feel confident that I’ve got my lines down”

So what’s the key to having a great audition using this system?

Start focus on what you DO WANT YOU HAPPEN and HOW YOU DO WANT TO FEEL

WHAT YOU DO WANT TO HAPPEN
I want to have a great audition.
I want them to love me and think I’m amazing.
I want to nail this character and be open and vulnerable and confident.

I want to have my best audition ever.

Now on to the MOST IMPORTANT step – Focusing on how you want to FEEL at your audition. Here are some suggestions.

I want to FEEL confident and inspired.

I want to FEEL like I’ve got the part before I ever walk into the audition room.

I want to feel like God himself/herself is walking in with me into the audition room and telling them to hire me.

I want to FEEL  like the casting director and director are going to fight over who gets to compliment me first

I want to FEEL like the casting director is going to take one look at me and say, “you’re amazing. Let me go out there and tell the other actors to leave because YOU’VE GOT THE PART”

I want to FEEL playful and open and vulnerable and  have a GREAT time

I want to FEEL like a million bucks.

I want to FEEL like I look incredible, handsome, beautiful sexy.

I want to FEEL like the casting director and director will need to wear sunglasses because my talent will shine so bright

I want to FEEL like I don’t give a shit what people think about me in and outside the audition room

I want to feel free to express myself and take risks.

I want to feel focused, and in the moment.

I want to feel like I am the character I’m auditioning for when I’m in the audition room.

These are some of my suggestions but feel free to make up lots of your own.

The idea is to have as much FUN as possible when you are saying OUT LOUD how you want to feel at your auditions and on set. You need to say them for at least a minute to begin to shift your mood. If you can get into the habit of doing these “I want to FEEL’ statements every day for 5 minutes, then you’ll see how incredibly effective they will be at your next audition. Even if you haven’t had auditions lately, you’ll start attracting auditions just by consistently focusing on how you want your auditions to go and how you want to FEEL at your auditions.

Try these tools and let me know how they work for you. Remember to have fun and do them consistently.

Go forth with confidence and have FUN!

Also, remember to let the audition go once you’ve left the room. You have no control over whether or not you will be hired, but you do have control over how you FEEL when you audition!

Here’s one last important tip. If you are always waiting an external circumstance like an audition or booking a part to make you happy, you will never be happy.

Focus instead on your internal state. Focus on being happy and then you will attract the things that make you happy.

Benson Simmonds is an award-winning actor, acting teacher, coach and short filmmaker. His YouTube mini lectures series on acting continues to receive thousands of hits and inspires actors all over the world. Benson is currently working as an actor in LA and also teaches acting classes and coaches one on one.

To view Benson’s YouTube lectures on acting, click below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06WUiSxiuv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B-SdWJ7E_0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HWvAy-Wd0c

To view some of Benson’s award-winning acting work (including his short , Applaud or Die) click here.

So, to combat the many unscrupulous characters baiting actors with empty promises, below you’ll find are 11 of my favorite reputable websites where casting notices can be found.

Actors Access
Backstage
Actors Equity Casting Call
Playbill
SAG Indie
Now Casting
Casting Networks/LACasting.com
Casting Networks/NYCasting.com
NYCastings.com
Mandy.com
Craigslist

Any of the others not listed here typically have the same notices that are on the above sites. If you are in LA or NY, I would caution you if paying to use any website other than these listed- it probably wouldn’t be worth the money. Of course, there are exceptions and I am sure a new website will come along and blow away the competition. But as of now, the above sites are the most reputable for those in the major markets.

Please note: not every website has a vetting process, so it is up to the actor to research the casting notice to make sure the project is legitimate. Even for a casting website like Actors Access, which is probably the most professional and popular service, unsavory notices can get listed (especially on public forums like Craigslist.) It is up to the actor to keep themselves safe, so use caution when submitting your materials.

A side note: Any website that claims to have notices for principal roles on TV and studio film projects is probably not being truthful. I notice these sites all the time, saying things like, “Find auditions for Grey’s Anatomy here!” or “Breakdowns for CSI just posted!” … only to find out that they are simply posting the general address for the casting directors (who accept submissions via mail EVERY DAY.)

Occasionally, Actors Access and Backstage will show roles for feature films/TV but these are usually roles that are very hard to cast, like 70 year old Filipino twins. Principal roles for TV and studio features almost exclusively go through Breakdown Services, which are not accessible to actors OR these other casting sites.

As promised: Here are a few casting sites for other parts of the country:

San Diego
Actors Alliance of San Diego

Chicago
THECastingWorkshops.com
PerformInk.com
League of Chicago Theatres

DailyActor Readers- if you know of casting websites from other cities that are reputable, post the links as a comment so that other actors can benefit from your experience.

Feel free to post any comments/questions you might have – and happy auditioning!

Erin Cronican’s career as a professional actor and career coach has spanned the last 25 years in New York City, Los Angeles and regionally. She is the founder of The Actors’ Enterprise (TAE), a fun and inspiring one-on-one coaching service that provides incredibly affordable business training to actors who want to feel more fulfilled and in control of their careers. With an approach that is hands-on and customized for each person, TAE helps actors set goals, organize their business, and create a plan of action with easy tools that can take them to the next level, no matter where they are starting from. TAE’s focus includes coaching on marketing/career development, business skills, and audition techniques that help actors work SMARTER, not HARDER.

Actors who are interested in coaching can receive a free 30 minute career consultation (by phone or in person.) Learn more at www.theactorsenterprise.org or www.erincronican.com.

On her career before Mad Men:

‘[With modeling] You’re like an object. They move you around. And I felt like, God, I’m miserable. I hate modeling,” she says. “When I moved back to New York, the agency said I owed them $20,000. So I left the agency and then—very quickly—decided to go to L.A. and try acting. Without any training.”

It did not go well. Jones would go to auditions and just emote, channeling whatever feelings she could muster from her real life—loneliness, anger, heartache—into the character she’d been asked to read. “I felt really vulnerable,” she says. “Like, why do these people deserve to see me have these emotions for five minutes and then tell me that I’m bad at it?”

But eventually, through audition after audition, she learned not just to feel vulnerable but to play it. “January has an athletic intensity to her acting, a very instinctive kind of immediacy,” says Mad Men creator Matt Weiner, who wrote modeling into Betty’s backstory during the show’s first season. “She found a way to make Betty’s lack of self-awareness so believable by bringing in this mix of hardness and childishness, which she saw Betty having—this ability to want something, and go for it in an almost childish way.”

Yet even with Mad Men’s success, January’s feelings of vulnerability haven’t entirely disappeared. Especially since there were plenty of times—both in New York, where Laura Steinberg would sometimes help her with her rent, and later, even after some successful movies in Hollywood—when it seemed that she’d have no choice but to return to South Dakota. “There have been so many moments in my life where I was just like, That’s it, I’m going home,” she says. “And then my agent’ll be like, ‘Just do this little movie; it’ll be fine.’ ”

Not long after arriving in town, she started hanging out at Jason Segel’s house, where the Judd Apatow crew was working on a pilot called North Hollywood. “We’d all get together at Jason’s house to improv and write,” she says. “We’d do this fake talk-show game where someone would be the host and someone would be the guest. It’d be like: You’re Sharon Stone and I’m Conan O’Brien. Go!”

The show didn’t get picked up, but the training proved useful for other roles. In Anger Management, most of January’s scenes with her lover—Jones plays a lesbian porn star—were improvised, often with encouragement from Adam Sandler (“Whenever there was a lull in the dialogue, Adam would be like, ‘Yo, suck on her finger!’ ”).

A short time later, she was cast as a ditzy American flirt in Richard Curtis’s ensemble Love Actually. “The minute I got on-set, I started improvising,” she says, “and before long the producer takes me aside and says, ‘You don’t do that with Mr. Curtis’s scripts.’ I got all defensive and said that the script didn’t sound like an American girl. The whole time I’m thinking: Fuck, I’m going to get fired. But Richard came in and was like, ‘Well, how would you say it?’ ”

About Betty Draper:

Jones has managed to occupy the character so seamlessly and convincingly that it’s almost a career liability. “I’d never really played a mom or a wife before,” she says, “and all of a sudden I’m getting all these lonely mom and wife offers. I don’t want to get stuck.”

But she’s not too worried about it. First, the emotionally inhibited ’60s housewife is such a specific role. “It’s not like being on Friends or something,” she says. And being identified so strongly with her character is, in a way, a testament to the quality of her work. Jones proudly tells the story of Jack Nicholson, with whom she acted in 2003’s Anger Management, having watched nearly the entire first season of the show without realizing that she was Betty Draper. “That was pretty awesome,” she says of getting the call from Nicholson. It was a kind of vindication, especially since not everyone in Hollywood has always been so positive.

“I don’t have a lot in common with Betty,” she says. “but I’m very protective of her. I just feel like she’s trying really hard to make her life good, and make her marriage work, and it just seems hypocritical that when she slips up, people get mad. Because Don does it all the fucking time.”

When Jones is at her best, it’s raw, frightening, and most of all, seductive: the kind of performance that requires either topflight training or a lot of work. “January didn’t go to acting school,” says Jon Hamm. “And for someone to pull that off—someone who’s just present and learning as she goes—it’s impressive.”

Why you should never listen to Ashton Kutcher:

“The guy I was dating when I first got to L.A. was not supportive of my acting,” she says. “He was like, I don’t think you’re going to be good at this. So—fuck you! He only has nice things to say now—if anything, I should thank him. Because the minute you tell me I can’t do something, that’s when I’m most motivated.”

Mistake number one: doing what that skeptical boyfriend (as it turns out, a guy named Ashton Kutcher) did and doubt January Jones. Because she will be so pleased—resolutely, ruthlessly, perhaps a tad too gleefully—to prove your ass wrong.

You’ve really built a career out of improv, whether it’s these last two movies you booked or “Lovers & Haters,” the Mariah Carey short film you starred in that Spike Lee directed. Is there a throughline between all those projects?
I guess it really sort of started with the Spike Lee thing. That character had a line or two and once I got cast, I did the table read and Spike started taking lines from other people and giving them to my character. So that part was a small part that got made bigger, and then I got Couples Retreat down the line, and you know how you see on the poster, how I’m on it and my name is big? For most people, that billing was in their contract. My character started out so small and I had such a small agent at the time that I didn’t really have any negotiating power. After I got the movie and they saw what I could do, Vince [Vaughn] would actually write more scenes for me to do while we were shooting it, so getting on the poster and getting that star billing, that came later and that came from Vince, one of the producers on it.

Get Him to the Greek, that was a one-line part where, even though I’d just done Couples Retreat, I wanted to do this movie because it’s Judd Apatow and I want to work with those guys. I’d be a craft services person to get close to them, like, Judd knows talent and if he likes me, then maybe there’s something that he could do. And then I got that part and my one-line character got expanded to where they would just put me into stuff. It’s partly because of that movie that I moved to UTA; my agent started taking notice after I got Couples, but Judd is at UTA, and once a guy like that and everyone else associated with that movie started saying good things about me, that definitely helped the agency really like me.

So it’s weird! You go in for these small things, but they can be made bigger if you’re open to just giving them all you have. I feel like people respect that ultimately, and they do reward you for it.

What kind of new things did you bring to Trudy in Couples Retreat that may not have been on the page?
Well, I know that when I read it, it was kind of written in this standard urban girl way. You’d read it and you’d get a sense of how they would want it done, but I imagine the breakdown for it was that she’s urban, sexy, sassy…I love when they put “urban” in there. They’re getting so specific in a very generic way.

It’s code.
Right, it’s code! Maybe the key comes in cracking the code, because I bet you they saw a thousand people [for the role]. I went in for about six weeks and I went up against some heavy people: They had seen Keyshia Cole, they were interested in some Destiny’s Children at one point, Meagan Good threw herself in…they saw a million people. When I got the movie, one of my friends’ ex-boyfriends was working at William Morris and I guess he was on the phone when somebody told their agent who they gave the part to. Suddenly, it came through this agency, “Who the fuck is Kali Hawk?” [Laughs] They had all these clients who they thought would get it over me, and I thought they would get it too, which is why I just went for it [in the audition].

How do you think you played it differently than they did?
I’m guessing that they saw all these people who looked at the description, “urban,” and they got all this neck-snapping and eye-rolling and attitude, but what they didn’t get was a character. And because I’ve gone through the Groundlings and because I’ve studied that, that’s what I was coming in there with. The other times going in, it was mostly improv; when I finally got to read with Faizon, he said, “Yeah, I don’t really stick to the lines,” and I said, “Great!” and we threw down our scripts and played out the scene. If you’re not trained in improv, you wouldn’t be able to get through an experience like that, it’d be too nerve-wracking. But for me, I feel most relaxed like that. It’s like you’re trusting your innate ability to do what you do.

How did you like doing Groundlings?
I did it for about a year. I did it and I thought I would do it and get to be on Saturday Night Live [laughs] and then I’d get to be in movies. And it sort of worked out the opposite for me: I got Couples Retreat and then I got Get Him to the Greek and then Saturday Night Live called and they offered me a test deal. Everyone was really excited, they were like, “Look, they don’t offer people test deals without having seen a tape of their characters or without having you go on at a comedy club. They don’t just do that. You should be excited!”

And you weren’t?
I kind of was because I wanted it, but I felt like it was coming at the wrong time. I wanted to do it so I could get into movies, but I was doing movies already! I had an agent, these managers, all these things I didn’t have the year before. So I got on the phone and I said to them, “Look. Life is not a straight line for me. There’s no rhyme or reason. I’m that person who’s walking down the street and meets Ron Howard in the supermarket and he puts me in a movie.” And everyone on the phone just goes dead silent. They think I’m nuts! Who comes into the game talking all kinds of shit like this? All I know is that I just say whatever the heck I want and hope it sticks, and if it doesn’t, oh well. I’m no worse off than before I said it.

So I said that and everyone was dead silent, and I said, “Well, that hasn’t happened yet, but it will, because shit like that happens to me all the time.” And then two weeks later, Imagine Entertainment called my managers and asked for me to have a meeting with Ron and Brian Grazer. And I said, “That’s great! Can you schedule it at the fucking Bristol Farms?” And they were like, why? And I said, “Don’t you remember when I was not wanting to do Saturday Night Live because I knew I’d meet Ron Howard in the supermarket, and you guys got all silent?” So now they’re super jazzed. Like, a TV offer came in and they were like, “I don’t know, I think we should pass on it! I think we should hold out!” And I was like, “Yeah, you’re goddamn right we should hold out!” [Laughs]

So there’s no part of you that’s going to watch SNL this year and think, “I could have been Michelle Obama?”
You know, it’s funny that you say that because that’s really what made the decision for me. I’m not driven by the money only — I like that you can make a great living doing art, but that’s not my reason for doing it. Saturday Night Live doesn’t pay that much, but I love it and I would have done it. They said, however, that I had to bring some kind of Michelle Obama character [to the audition], and I didn’t want to do it. I was like, “I don’t know, I don’t know.”

Here’s the thing: There are three top African Americans in the world. There’s Oprah Winfrey, there’s Barack Obama, and there’s Michelle Obama. The Obamas take up two of the top three — do I want my introduction to the world to be me taking a shot at the better half of this great couple that everyone across the world has put their hope and faith into? I’m already kind of off the chain in Couples Retreat, so what am I going to do: Go sign up to be the token black girl on this show and make fun of one of the most prestigious women that we have? No! And no one really understood it. Maybe I was sensitive for others, like, “Is this what other people want to see? I don’t know.” And if there’s a question about it, I don’t want to be the fall guy for it. Someone else can totally go and do that if they want. I don’t know if I want to be Michelle Obama. I don’t know if I want to take that chance.

In the end, I guess we’ll see. I know they’ve been looking for an African American female for a long time. That’s a specific role that they’re trying to fill. I was like, “I’ve got a lot of characters I can do, and that’s the one you require?” It kind of made me feel limited before I got on the plane, so that helped me realize that maybe I should stick to what I was doing.

So let’s go back to that Spike Lee spoof you did, where you played a girl very vocally hating on Mariah Carey in a club. Tell me about dissing Mariah to her face.
It was really weird because when I was doing my stuff at first, she wasn’t there so I’d just do it with a stand-in. In between takes, I was still in character and just making up random shit to say and having a ball, and it was so scathing that Spike was like, “Say it again! Let’s use it.” So finally, when it came time for Mariah to do her stuff, she didn’t want anybody to be there, but it was just her and she didn’t have anybody to look at. And I was just bringing it, like bringing this weird, crazy character all ghetto bitch times nine thousand. [Laughs] Spike’s a New Yorker and he loves that, so he was like, “You know what? Get Kali back in here.” And he put me on the apple box next to the camera so I could inspire Mariah to say things and have me to look at and listen to while she was doing her stuff. He asked me to do things silently, so I said, “OK,” and I was mouthing these words to her. When it was over, I was like, “I’m so sorry! I apologize for all those things I never said.” And she said, “No, no, that’s great. I liked the ‘Hi, bitch.’ That was classic.”

Do you have those moments where you improv and do your thing and then you think later, “I can’t believe I just said that?”
That’s my whole entire life. I’m trying to contain it as I do press for the movie. I’m a straight-shooter, you know? I’m a New Yorker and we say what we’re thinking. Like, I like to swear. A lot. And I have to be very, very conscious about it because you don’t want to walk into a meeting and be dropping f-bombs and have them think you’re mad at them. [Laughs] I’m trying to learn how to filter the things I say. It’s really hard, because I think in a way, you’re right: You need to be able to access that and have that freedom to be free in your work. But how do you draw the line where you free-associate in your comedy and you don’t have that freedom in your normal life? I feel like you can’t do it.

Was Quentin already familiar with you and your work?
Well, I was very happy to know that he enjoyed Good Bye Lenin! so much. I think it’s one of his favorite German movies of the past few years, and he said that to him, it was the kind of movie that’s started a renaissance of new German cinema. He was also in the jury at Cannes when we showed The Edukators in competition, which I think he also liked. I think he was very clear on certain parts. It had never happened to me before that I got a call on the same day as the audition of the director offering me the part, so I was very thankful that he didn’t let me wait and make me too nervous.

Were you nervous beforehand, though?
I was totally nervous! I’m always nervous doing auditions — to be honest, I hate it. [Laughs] I always envy the actors who are so cool and cold-blooded when they go in for an audition, especially if it’s for a part that you would really love to play. So of course I was nervous — plus, he was playing the scenes with me in a female voice.

He was acting out Shosanna opposite you?
Well, he was very convincing! But of course, it’s very hard to imagine falling in love with Shosanna when there’s a man sitting in front of you. So that made me quite nervous too, but I was very happy to have fooled Quentin and [producer] Lawrence Bender when they wanted me to act in French. There was no French version of the script, so I pretended that I speak perfect French and translated them right away; the words I didn’t know in French, I said in Spanish, which I speak quite fluently. They didn’t notice that and they really enjoyed the fake French, so I think that was the important moment where Quentin thought, “OK, I want to do [this role] with him.”

What’s his energy like?
What I love about him is that I can’t remember working with any other director who’s so passionate and so obsessed about what he does, and cinema in general. To him, I think cinema means everything, and it’s just very contagious for everyone around him. It’s inspiring, how he gives so much energy to everybody. What he did before we started shooting, for example, was to show movies every Thursday — he had these 35mm copies shipped from his home to Germany, and he showed these films to the whole crew to get everyone into the mood to shoot Inglourious Basterds.

Did he give you a lot of reference points for the role?
He told me that he was inspired by a real war hero named Audie Murphy, who became an actor and acted in a lot of big famous movies, like John Huston movies. He was always beside a bigger star; I remember him acting opposite Burt Lancaster, I think. He also recommended a lot of movies I had never heard of — German movies, which was quite embarrassing. [Laughs] I’ve seen a lot of German movies, but it’s impossible to compete with Quentin because I think he knows every movie that was ever shot.

You yourself were a conscientious objector who chose to do civil service instead of enlisting, and now here you are playing this war hero.
Of course, it is strange; playing a Nazi war hero makes it even harder for me. But in this fantasy of Tarantino’s, to me, that was totally OK. I didn’t have any problems with my conscience. In this movie, though, [military experience] was only important for a little bit, for shooting Nation’s Pride [the pivotal film-within-the film in Basterds]. The rest was about being flirtatious, charming, and being the nice and likable German in the movie.

Without spoiling things, there’s a pretty fantastical rewriting of German history in this movie. How do you expect Germany to take to Inglourious Basterds?
It’s such a relief, I can tell you, because we just had our premiere in Berlin. Not only was I nervous, but so was Quentin, because we didn’t know what the reaction of the German audience and journalists would be like. I had a lot of friends and family members sitting in the theater and that’s always the toughest premiere for me, at home, because you have the hardest critics. But the reaction was overwhelming — it was one of the warmest, most incredible premieres I’ve ever been to. I think there was one German journalist who wrote that this film is very important for Germany, because finally, after feeling this guilt [over the war], Germany and the Nazis get what they had deserved.

What does she think about her finished films?
“I wish I could just step back and watch a film I’m in and be carried away. But what I see on the screen never encapsulates the experience – that hour and a half never sums up the shooting of it and the relationships you made and the trials and tribulations. So I always am left with a sense of longing. I’m always happy with what’s there and I’m so excited when it all comes together. But it’s never representative of the whole package.”