Hopefully, before season two of FX’s critically acclaimed The Bridge comes to an end Franka Potente and Diane Kruger will square off in a scene. Potente is in 12 of this season’s 13 episodes, and her character, Eleanor, has been fascinating to watch develop. And to see Potente’s psychopathic Mennonite killer go one-on-one with Kruger’s Sonya who has Asperger’s could catapult season two into Emmy territory.
In support of season two of The Bridge airing on Wednesday nights at 10pm ET/PT, Potente took part in a conference call to discuss her approach to playing Eleanor and her research.
Franka Potente The Bridge Interview
Your character has this very plain, very unobtrusive exterior, but inside there’s the heart of a sociopath or a psychopath. Can you talk a little bit about getting into that character and what attracted you to her?
Franka Potente: “I was given very little information when I embarked on this journey. I knew the show so that was a door opener, but Elwood Reid told me she’s bad, she’s very dark, she has dark secrets that only kept revealing themselves episode per episode. She’s a shunned Mennonite. I did some research and then put that in the back of your head and see if it ever surfaces again by itself, because a lot of things you can’t play.
For example, like you say, the simple, plain look; that’s mainly created by the costume designers. I’m kind of there to maybe give my opinion or something, but I appreciate their knowledge very much so I just basically put on what they put on me, which is also coming from this Eleanor place, like not caring about what she wears. I think inside though she’s also quite simple, to be honest with you. What’s complicated is her baggage from the past and the history of the terrible things that have happened to her and are still very present in her life and driving her to do what she does.
I think she’s a very structured person as an inside universe that lays down the simple rules, which are basically it’s either things go as clear as Eleanor needs them or people need to be removed because they endanger the structure. In a strange, beautiful, weird way, that is actually very simple, I think, for her.”
How is doing 12 episodes of this character compared to working on a film or doing a one-shot guest-starring role?
Franka Potente: “It’s amazing. I loved every little bit of it. At first, it wasn’t quite clear that Eleanor would stick around this long. I think we had maybe seven episodes in mind, and then I don’t know, it just kept growing and she kept sticking around, which is amazing.
I like this kind of work where every week a stone is turned. It’s almost like I’m given a new challenge or something; a scavenger hunt that will eventually lead me to the goal or the prize or whatever. It’s a very playful approach. I think that in movies versus TV work we get a script maybe two, three months ideally before we do the movie and then we have to know everything; we have all the conversations and we have all the rehearsals and then we start shooting.
It’s a very different dynamic, and I think that a lot of the stuff that we do in TV, the way we work, the pace and everything is a lot more realistic to how we would discover a person in real life. You know what I mean?
You meet someone, let’s say, you start dating and then every week you find out more things. You don’t know everything about a person the minute you meet them, but if I play a character in a movie, I have to know everything about that person the minute I start shooting day one. I really do appreciate this way of working because it keeps everything fresh, it keeps you up on your toes, keeps you curious and sometimes you’re surprised. I think that happens with ourselves. I think that happens with friends, so I can connect to that very much.”
A lot of people believe you’re the most intriguing character in the show. How do you feel about that?
Franka Potente: “Well, I mean, I guess that’s not a bad thing. It’s easy though, I have to say, when you’re the new kid on the block. She’s definitely weird so I think her character raises a lot of questions, and that is intriguing. I’m also aware and very grateful for my environment. It’s easy to join an environment like the one on The Bridge where the stakes are already high. All the characters are ambivalent and interesting so we’re already in an environment that feeds everyone. Eleanor definitely thrives and lives off of that. Put it this way, for me, we just wrapped yesterday so the job’s done for now. I definitely benefited from all that, and it made it so much more enjoyable. I loved going to work every day.”
You’re a mom so I’m wondering how difficult it is for you to have those scenes with the younger actors, and between takes do you relax a little? Do you approach that a little differently than you would going opposite an adult?
Franka Potente: “Well, yes. Danny, the little guy, he was maybe five or six or so. Of course, being a mom you know how to…I can only answer for myself, I know how to speak to kids better now than I did before I was a mom, and sometimes on a long, long day where I leave early in the morning and I come home late I don’t see the kids so I kind of miss them. Yes, I guess that probably goes a little bit into me interacting with the kids there on set. They’re awesome and very professional and sometimes shocking how well behaved and patient they are. Otherwise, Kyle [Daniel Polo] and Dex [Jacob Houston], they were 18 or so, so they’re full-on adults. They’re just colleagues.”
How does Eleanor feel about being a women in a very male-centered world of the cartel? A lot of the other characters are amazed at the fact Eleanor is so high up in the cartel being that she’s female.
Franka Potente: “I think Eleanor is not interested in the female/male distinction necessarily even though we see, as the show progresses, that she does have almost like a soft spot with certain women. She will have interesting connections that are surprisingly tender for her with female characters. No, I think she has a lot of male attributes. She’s just as cutthroat as Fausto is in a way. She’s not very emotional or, to say it differently, I think she’s very good at tucking her emotions away. She’s not like a sexual person, at least she doesn’t look it, but there’s not really so much that will get into the way between her and one of the male players in a weird way.”
Can you talk a little bit about playing the role that is usually reserved for men to play?
Franka Potente: “Well, I don’t look at it that way, of course. I don’t have any awareness of it while I work on it. To me, it is what it is, and that’s how it is for Eleanor. To be honest with you, it might seem more extreme because it’s enhanced, it’s like this weird looking, frumpy-ish, but yet hard-a** woman in the Mexican cartel world.
If we translate the question into our real lives, women have to be super heroes; we have to be moms and we have to lose the baby weight in eight weeks, have to be back at our desk another week later. We have to be awesome and beautiful and wear heels and work out. That’s really tough as nails, I think. Despite her appearance and all this, I think that makes it maybe a little bit more odd. But I think in reality woman are not much softer than men or anything. I think in the world we live in right now we have to do everything with the same energy and the same vitality. We’re go-getters just as much.”
It’s interesting that Eleanor is almost like a counterpoint to Sonya in that on both sides you have some very cold, very task-driven women. Can you talk about the parallel and the contrast between those two characters?
Franka Potente: “Yes, I totally agree. They have a lot of similarities. They’re both struggling with something family related in the past that they want to end, or want to come to terms with. I think they are both driven by some weird passion even though the surface is aloof or cold or whatever, but they’re definitely on different sides of the river. Sonya is the law and Eleanor is definitely not that; she operates by her own laws. It’s going to be very interesting to see, as the show proceeds, if these women do get to interact or, if their paths cross, one can imagine that it’s going to be very interesting.”
How much research did you do into the world of drug cartels?
Franka Potente: “I tried to inform myself a little bit more about the whole Mennonite background, and I’ve watched the show and I know a little bit about what’s going on at the Mexican border and the immigrant situation. At the end of the day, I think you have to dismiss that a little bit because all this information is stuff that I can’t act, you know what I mean? I can act someone who’s aloof, who keeps things simple, who follows a structure and defends it with blood if necessary. That’s all stuff I can act, and I really try and focus on that because, otherwise, I think you can make it also unpleasant and complicated for the audience, because then, as an actress, I’m trying to basically almost comment on what I do. That’s very confusing and not clear.
I always believe, to me, the audience is smart; they want to figure things out. It’s not my job to tell them how to understand the character, that’s their job. If they see it a different way than me or the writers, that’s absolutely fine, that’s the magic of why we watch things because hopefully it does jump start our mind and we put things together and we want to understand her secret. Why is she doing this? What I like about a character that is different, that’s bad is that, let’s say we understand that all the audience, we are all normal, we’re good. How is that we can watch someone so bad, so psycho and kind of enjoy it? How can we watch someone like that who is so different, and for a split second maybe admire her determination? How can we check in with our own aspirations watching someone like that? That’s what I want. That’s what’s interesting to me. I cannot comment on what she does, that’s not interesting to me.”
