Marie Kreutzer's film "Corsage", in which you play the main role, will be released on Wednesday 7 September in Luxembourg. If you look closely at the credits, you can see that you are credited as executive producer. Is that a first?
Vicky Krieps. - Yes, being an executive producer can mean different things. It can be, for example, someone who comes in at the last minute to help finance a project. Or it can be a way of underlining the importance you have had in a production. This is the case here. This title is a way of thanking me for being at the source of this film [She was the first to suggest the subject of this film to the director, Marie Kreutzer, as she told Delano’s sister publication, Paperjam .] But also for the personal things I brought to the film and to the character of Empress Elisabeth of Austria that I play in 'Corsage'.
Last May, you announced the creation of your production company. How far along are you now?
It exists! But don't expect it to be the talk of the town right away. I'm going to take my time and build it up bit by bit, at my own pace. My main goal was to have my own space, a safe space that is legally mine. Where I can develop my wishes and desires. Without having constraints from other people.”
If I go into partnership with people who are only interested in making a profit, I know it won't work.
A production company that won't really work like other production companies?
Exactly. Besides, it's not there to generate profits or to take the place of other companies in a possible market. Nor did I create it to prove certain things. It will be a bit of a secret garden for me. It will be a place to help some young talents to grow artistically, to develop subjects--especially women's subjects--that are close to my heart. It will also be a way of using the network I have built up over the last few years to connect people and projects. And then, if one day I start writing a film or if I feel like directing one--and I know that this will happen in the future!--I will be able to do it without constraints. Without having someone above me to whom I am accountable.
I might be thought crazy to set up such a structure for this. But up until now, professionally, everything I've achieved has seemed a bit crazy. I always went on a hunch, as I did this time. And in the end it always made sense.
"My primary goal was to have my own space, a 'safe' space that is legally mine." (Photo: Robert M Brandstaetter)
As an actress, you say that you have no career plan. But a company is just the opposite. You need predictability...
I know. It's something that will have to be put in place. But I'm sure I'll meet the perfect person to help me with that. A young producer who will have the same creative ideas as I do, while bringing a more business-like approach that I absolutely do not embody.
In a world where cinema is now called Netflix or Amazon, where everything is summed up in money, I don't want to go down that road. If I get involved with people who are only interested in making money, I know it won't work.
When I was told that this company had to be named, I thought I would name it after me. The me I would have liked to be.
Why did you name it Viktoria?
Viktoria is the name I would have liked to be called. So when I was told that this company had to be named, I thought I would name it after me. The me that I would have liked to be.
And why Luxembourg when you live in Germany?
Because it was legally easier. I also admit that I don't always feel good in Germany. It is certainly the right place for some people, but not for me. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I didn't grow up in this German culture... And then, when you're in Luxembourg, you can be in Paris in 2 hours and 20 minutes. And I really enjoy working in French cinema.
To come to your profession as an actress, on the sidelines of the German promo for "Corsage", we heard you say that you wanted to ‘return to films like 'Phantom Thread'”, which revealed you internationally in 2017. And that you had finally taken on an American agent. Are we now going to see you in big Hollywood productions?
No. It's more like today I've accepted the fact that I made this film, but also that American cinema wants to work with me again. It took me a long time to digest being part of such a machine. But I didn't want to fight with ghosts anymore. So I got an agent for the United States. After that, I will mainly continue to work in European productions. Or American films, but from the independent circuit.
This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.