‘I will always be a European actress’: Sandra Huller on her film Fatherland

German actress Sandra Huller has said she will always remain true to her European cinema origins despite starring in several Hollywood blockbusters.

The Oscar-nominated actress, who recently starred alongside Tom Cruise in Digger and Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary, has returned to her German roots in her latest film, Fatherland.

Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker, Pawel Pawlikowski, Fatherland centres on the relationship between Nobel Prize-winning writer, Thomas Mann, played by German actor Hanns Zischler, and his daughter, Erika, portrayed by Huller.

Sandra Huller at the Digger world premiere (Ian West/PA)

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Set in the summer of 1949, at the height of the Cold War, the historical drama follows the father and daughter on a challenging and emotional road trip across a Germany left in ruins, from US-dominated Frankfurt to Soviet-controlled Weimar.

Returning home after 16 years in exile in the United States, Mann must confront not only a divided fatherland, but also a deep rift within his own family.

Speaking about making the film, Huller, 48, told the Press Association: “It’s really lovely to work with Hanns Zischler because he’s such a beautiful human being, and it’s really easy to connect with him.

“He plays Thomas Mann as a kind of rock in this film, a very intelligent rock, by the way. But I always knew what was behind that. I knew the kind of person he was, and that made it easier to love the father even more, even if people might think he comes across as very cold from the outside.

“I think Erika knew a very different side of him, and their relationship lasted much longer than the period we see in the film.”

Sandra Huller plays Erika, the daughter of writer Thomas Mann (Agata Grzybowska/PA)

Speaking about playing a more reserved character, Huller said she has no problem with silence.

“I don’t find it difficult not to speak in a film,” she said.

“I feel that people are constantly thinking and observing. Erika is a very keen observer, partly because she’s a writer and journalist. She watches people for hours.

“Containing the grief that she carries throughout the film was really difficult, especially as she seems to be the only person in the family who is openly dealing with it.

“But, at the same time, it was necessary and I don’t think she would ever question it. It was simply her role in the family. She had the capacity to feel everything, and so she did.”

Speaking about her varied career, she said: “I feel very blessed and honoured to be part of such a diverse range of projects.

“Of course, it broadens my horizons and gives me greater insight into filmmaking, as well as how other people approach their work and practise their craft. I find it really interesting.”

She added: “I have no control over the opportunities that come my way. When there’s a chance to work with people I admire, whom I’ve watched on screen for so many years, I’ll probably take it if I can make the time. But I’m a European actress, and I’ll probably always remain one, no matter where I work.”

Director Pawel Pawlowski (Aleksandra Modrzejewska-Mitan /PA)

Pawlikowski, 69, who shared the best director award at Cannes Film Festival with Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, the Spanish directors of La Bola Negra, said he likes to set films in this period as he grew up in this world.

“It’s a world I grew up in, in a way. I was born in Poland, behind the Iron Curtain, into a family living in exile, and that world and its circumstances undoubtedly defined my parents’ lives and shaped my own. So, I’m inevitably drawn to it,” said Pawlikowski.

“I also like that period of history because it was a clash of ideas, ideas that ultimately proved to be flawed, but ideas nonetheless. And some of the people involved in those struggles were very interesting.”