Thomas Kretschmann

Acting is all about truth and honesty, and the sensitivity that's capable of transporting you.

I don't pretend anything anymore. I don't have time, desire or energy to calculate anymore.

I don't see a film industry in Germany. They have a great TV culture, but how many German films are really exciting?

I experienced a lot, and achieved nearly everything I wanted. I can enjoy that today. Go to bed at nine in the evening, because my child wakes up around seven, without having the feeling that I missed or are missing something.

I figured out, I guess, that the job just makes me happy if it's not number one. So if it all works, great. If it doesn't, I still go home, look at my kids, and I have a big smile on my face.

I thought that if you come across as a freak, there will be some kind of distance. Maybe the distance became excessive. I realized that people were afraid of me without knowing me.

I'm proud of the fact that I made my way in life very rigorously. I was a bit too stubborn when it came to certain things, which was unnecessary, like getting independent from and leaving Germany.

My reputation was a bit exaggerated. Things were written in newspapers, then copied, then doubled. One of the reasons why I never disclaimed that, was because I found it amusing. But I also constructed such an image for myself in order to gain more of a private life.

I've worked with many directors, good ones and bad ones. So if I have a chance to work the good ones, I better put myself in their hands, and trust them, because that's my big opportunity to be different, and to be better than usual.