When Quentin Tarantino has his mind set on a particular actor or actress for a role, he’s nearly dead set on his pick. For this reason, German native Diane Kruger had a lot to prove in order to win his confidence in her for Inglourious Basterds.

“[Quentin Tarantino] actually had someone else in mind when he first cast his movie, and that didn’t work out for whatever reason. He actually couldn’t believe that I was German, so I had to prove my German-ness to him,” the model-turned-actress explained.

Then again, who can blame him when one can barely pick up on Diane’s accent? Iconic fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld can’t tell!

“I do speak fluent French, but I know I have an accent. He [Karl] says that because his own accent is so strong and he speaks the same way in German, French and English. English is not my first language, so I’ve always had to work at my accent. It’s become sort of my specialty — I’ve played South African, Serbian and German, obviously.”

Obviously her acting chops grew on Tarantino. Aside from scoring the role, it sounds as if just being on set with the Pulp Fiction director was just as much of a reward:

“If you know Quentin, he’s definitely the captain of the ship. His enthusiasm and persona go a long way. It’s like a haven for actors. You just get bombarded with the most extreme movie references and footages, and every actor gets a whole list of films he wants you to see for your character. Films you’ve never heard of, or actors you’ve never heard of. So his sets are really about the love of making movies.”

Inglourious Basterds hits theaters on August 21.