Professionally Gorgeous Actress Diane Kruger Resents Being Judged on Her Looks Auditioning to Play the World's Most Beautiful Woman in 'Troy'

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This is Diane Kruger, the German born actress. [Troy McClure voice:] You may remember her from such megahit films as "National Treasure" and playing Bridgit von Hammersmark in "Inglorious Basterds." 

And in 2003, she landed the coveted role of Helen, in the epic Wolfgang Petersen sword-and-sandal film "Troy." As in Helen of Troy. A/k/a, "The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships." So named because when Prince of Troy Paris (Orlando Bloom) visits Sparta as an honored guest, he steals Helen from her husband King Menelaus (Brendan Gleeson) and brings her with him, thus setting off the Trojan War. This movie:

Well it seems that in spite of what you might think, an actress being cast to play a woman so face-meltingly beautiful that ditching her warrior king for a feckless soy boy would result in sand being turned to blood and your new boyfriend's heroic brother Hector's (Eric Bana) corpse getting dragged around behind Achilles' (Brad Pitt) horse would be some kind of an ego boost, you better think again. 

Daily Mail -  Diane Kruger recalled being made to feel like a piece of 'meat' during a gawking screen test for Troy in an interview with Variety on Sunday.

The 45-year-old German–American actress recounted how a 'top executive' at Warner Bros. gawked at her after she was forced to audition for them in full costume, which is a rare occurrence, even back in the early 2000s.

'I’ve definitely come across the Weinsteins of this world from the get go,' she said of the humiliating experience. …

'I remember testing for Troy and having to go to the studio head in costume,' she remember. 'And I felt like meat, being looked up and down and was asked, "Why do you think you should be playing this?"' 

Industry insiders suggested to Variety that it was uncommon for an actress to have to interview with an executive in their office in costume, which might give a better idea of their attractiveness, but not necessarily their acting talent.

It's more common for tests to be filmed so that producers and executives can view them later. 

'I’ve been put in situations that were so inappropriate and so uncomfortable,' she continued. 

'I think when I first started out, it just felt like, this is what it’s like. This is what Hollywood is like. Also I come from modeling and believe me, they have their moments,' she added.

Far be it for anyone to tell Kruger what she should or should not make her feel uncomfortable. Nor am I stupid enough to go to bat for an unnamed studio executive who may or may not be one of the creeps who tried to make giving him orgasms a prerequisite for a career in Hollywood.  #MeToo has been a good thing and hopefully that workplace harassment is no longer tolerated. Fuck all those guys. Whoever she's talking about, he never so much as gave me a free pass to a matinee, so let him fight his own battles. 

But in a Hollywood where the worst kept secret was the fact Harvey Weinstein was making aspiring actresses look at his hairy, walrus body and jacking it into potted plants about as often as you take a bathroom break at you job, is being evaluated for your looks when you're auditioning for Helen of Troy really a crime? Anything more than a misdemeanor? I mean, I'm a huge fan of Krugers. "Inglorious Basterds" could very well be my favorite Tarantino film, and she crushes her role in that. But Helen isn't exactly a role that's about the performance. It's about looking so good in a period costume that a prince would betray his father and his kingdom to get some of that. It doesn't strike me as super indecent to see how your female lead looks in the dress before you invest an estimated $175 million of your company's money in the project. If it was for the Frances McDormand role in "Nomadland," sure. But when you're up for the role of a woman whose name has been synonymous with female beauty since Homer wrote "The Iliad" in the 8th century BC, being looked over by studio executives would seem to come with the territory. Besides, the "Why do you think you should be hired?" question has been used in one form or another at every job interview I've ever had, from ringing a register after school to a young Dave Portnoy asking me for a writing sample back when "Troy" was still in theaters for the privilege of writing for him twice a month for free.

The point being, we all get evaluated. If you're hiring a pediatric nurse, asking her to put on a "Troy" costume and stand in your office would be as wrong as asking your Helen actress how to treat a kid with the Chicken Pox. And if you look good enough to get the job, I'd think that's something to celebrate, not be clinging to 19 years after the fact. In this case, Helen is The Role That Launched a Successful Acting Career. We can be sorry for her she feels bad about it. Truly we can. It just seems like the movie industry has a lot bigger victims and much worse pervs to worry about.