Looking back at it now, I really feel like it was a gift because I don't know if I have the talent to become a prima ballerina. It's such a hard job to have. I don't have any regrets about it.

I play a curator, the most American part you can think of. My work is to protect the Declaration of Independence. I work at the National Archives in Washington.

It's quite a famous story that takes place on Christmas Eve, and the Germans, French, and Scottish are trying to make peace one night and they bury their dead and they play football. I play a German opera singer, in German, which I never have so I am really excited about that.

The script was very explicit about the nudity that was supposed to be in the movie. Actually, they don't show everything we shot. They would cut here and it was floored. It was very embarrassing.

I really feel like the first day I went to drama school and I went up on stage, that I found my vocation. It's kind of a cliched thing to say but I really feel like it was what I was meant to do.

Orlando's a really cool guy. They hired him for "Lord of the Rings" out of drama school. He's very new at this still and doesn't have a lot of experience. So we were in this together and we've tried to help each other out. We felt very equal which was good.

I think they went with the idea that people know the story pretty much- knowing that he's going to take her when she's going to go with him. Also, the movie is really focused on Achilles and Hector and their battles.

I love Nic Cage. He was so much fun to work with.

I made a French film called "Merry Christmas" which is a very European film. It's a World War I piece.

But quite honestly, personally, I was much more concerned - I mean, there's not much I can do about my appearance obviously other than spending four hours in hair and makeup.

I would do anything for a part, nearly anything. Being in movies doesn't mean being pretty.

What I really tried to do with Helen was make her show this sad side of her. She was married off at 16, was so young and living in this castle that can't leave because of how she looks, and married to a man she hates and three times her age.

The only song I can sing is "Lady in Red" so that must tell you how great it must have been.

Looking back at it now, I really feel like it was a gift because I don't know if I have the talent to become a prima ballerina. It's such a hard job to have. I don't have any regrets about it.

I don't know how you prepare for something like that. I cannot imagine living in a fishbowl like that. I don't live here so I don't know it will be that bad anyway because I live in Paris and we don't have that sort of phenomenon there. So I don't know, we'll see what happens.

Her beauty didn't do her any good and she couldn't use it in any positive way or manipulative way. I just hope that people will look and see and believe in that hope of love, that hope of freedom, even if it was just for a limited time.

It must have been so impossible to think about it and dare to do that, so they feel compassionate for her. I don't think the movie would work otherwise.

A lot of directors idealize their leading ladies or turn them into these objects of sexuality and beauty.

Above all, I dislike vulgarity.

Being German, I think we don't really express a lot of things.

Berlin is still going through a transition since the Cold War - both in what used to be East and West Berlin. I can still sense the confusion and the struggle for identity there in the streets. There's a pulse to it.

Critics can be harsh and I think it's going to take me a long time to make people see what I have inside of me and that I really put my guts into movies and that I'm not superficial and that I'm not just a pretty face.

Every actor you learn from, take something from everyone - big actor or not. Whether they're big movie stars or not doesn't really matter.

Family is becoming more and more important to me.

For exercise, I tend to like the outdoors. In Paris, I rent a bike in the street and cycle around, and in L.A. I live up in the hills so I go hiking a lot. I like to stay fit by being generally active.

I am a better person when I let myself have the time for romance and for love.

I consider myself a 'local' actor in France. I started out in France, I went to drama school in France and the French film community was very welcoming to me when I was a young actress.

I didn't grow up watching a lot of TV.

I do give myself a break in my personal life but I think in work, if you don't push yourself you get bored and want to do something else.

I do watch what I eat, but not for weight reasons.

I don't have any romantic ideas about marriage. Trust me. A white dress... ? No. It's not something for me.

I don't have to work just to work anymore. More interesting parts come my way, so I can afford to say, 'I don't want to make that.'

I don't know about style. I know about my personal style.

I don't make movies thinking: 'Oh, this is going to be a huge box-office hit.'

I don't obsess about my weight. I just know I've got to watch it when my pants feel tight.

I don't want to let my life as a woman pass me by. There's a time to work, there's a time to be young and crazy, and there should be a time to enjoy motherhood. I'm actually looking forward to that.

I don't want to live my life in a five-star hotel. That's not real life to me. You can't appreciate it.

I feel as if sometimes women can't deal with what's going on and they have no one around who actually understands.

I find that classical music helps put me in a place that is very calming and allows me to express emotion through my body. I played clarinet as a child, so I guess I have a bit of a musical ear.

I get offered a World War II movie at least once a week just because I speak German and was born there. I have always stayed away from it because I didn't want to be put into that box.

I grew up loving actresses or actors who were very classy but who seemed a little bit mysterious because you couldn't grasp what they're really thinking.

I grew up loving actresses or actors who were very classy but who seemed a little bit mysterious because you couldn't grasp what they're really thinking. I mean, Grace Kelly always looked impossibly glamorous, yet you could always see there was something behind her eyes.

I grew up with classical music when I was a ballet dancer. Now when I have to prepare an emotional scene, to cry or whatever, I listen to sonatas. Vivaldi and stuff. It's just beautiful to me.

I have a kind of boring personal life, to the paparazzi anyway, and I don't hang with the cool crowd.

I have three goddaughters - I'm not sure why they trust me, because I have no experience with children - but I try.

I know a lot of people think, 'She's so glamorous.' But that's really not me at all.

I like the idea of accessibility, coming from a lower-middle-class background myself, I feel like beauty and products should be accessible to all women over the world.

I made a French film called 'Merry Christmas' which is a very European film. It's a World War I piece.

I only dance when I go out.