After Making Oscar History, Sandra Hüller Already Sees Her Life Changing

It’s rare for any actor to lead two films that go on to garner best-picture nominations at the Oscars—and it’s fully unprecedented for both of those films to be non-English-language. Sandra Hüller can claim that groundbreaking first, as the star of The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall, both of which are widely expected to win at least one Oscar come March 10. And Hüller herself is in the hunt for best actress, having received her first nomination for her tremendous work in Anatomy of a Fall. It’s been a remarkable journey for the German star and her top movies for nearly a year now—going back to their world premieres at Cannes last spring, where they won the festival’s top two prizes.

Hüller and I first spoke before both films made their North American bows in Telluride—that is, before the unofficial kickoff to their Oscar campaigns—and have caught up periodically since then. She joined me this week for Little Gold Men (listen or read below) for a reflection on the whirlwind of the last few months, how she sees her life changing after this historic run—details are sparse but exciting there—and what it will be like going home to her home in Germany when all is said and done. While she’d been introduced to the American awards circuit seven years ago with the international nominee Toni Erdmann, this has introduced a whole new world to Hüller—and she knows there’s no going back.

Vanity Fair: Can you talk a little bit about the Nominees Luncheon? How did being a part of it hit you?

Sandra Hüller: Surprisingly emotional for several reasons. First of all, I met all my fellow nominees in the category, which was so wonderful because I’ve admired them very much for a long time. We had the chance to say hi and thank each other for the flowers that had been delivered [to us], which was such a nice gesture between everybody that I didn’t know about at all. Also I like the fact that it’s a room full of people who have already won—there was no competition that day. It’s very different from Oscar night, because then, everybody’s so tense and nobody knows what’s going to happen. But at this point, we’re all just nominated and that felt really, really warm. I noticed a sense of private pride in myself, that I was in there with so many people that I admire. It was a beautiful afternoon.

Did that feeling of private pride surprise you?

I mean, pride is one of the deadly sins, right? See, it’s not something that you rock around every day. But at that point, yeah, I would never have expected myself to be in that space and I had no idea what it’d feel like. Also, the food was good.

You’ve been on this circuit off and on now really since Cannes. Is there anything about these last few months that have really surprised you or taken you aback, just in the way it works, the way you have to show up?

I would’ve assumed before from the outside, it’s a cold business, but it doesn’t feel that way from inside. The people that I’m working with feel very, very dedicated, and I have a lot of respect for the work of everybody. I don’t feel like it’s exchangeable; it really feels like they mean you and not anybody else. That surprised me, really. I had assumptions that were just not true.

This year, you are, given that Anatomy and Zone are both nominated for Best Picture, the face of the globalization of the Oscars, essentially, which is an exciting development.

Obviously, I like this development. I appreciate it very much. I also think it’s very modern—that’s the world we live in. We cannot make films just for a specific country, it doesn’t make sense. The things that happen in the world have to do with everybody. That’s what globalization is about. So I think that’s a good thing, and it’s about time that this happens. I cannot speak as an American because I’m not one—I don’t know how American people feel about this, it could be different.

Is it something you’re noticing in your work back in Europe, though, this evolving way that international films are embraced here?

We can only assume that it also had to do with the strike and that the American film industry that didn’t work for some time or wasn’t able to work—we had a chance to show our stuff more. But at the same time, this feels like you would take away something from the quality of the films that we were just lucky, which is also true. It’s just also really good work. They obviously are for everybody, but when we show both films around the world, people connect with it in a way that’s really astonishing. The private stories that we hear from everybody, the family stories we hear from people—the assumptions that they make, especially about Anatomy of Fall, is breathtaking. The whole Oscar circuit started when American studios bought our films. We didn’t know about how this would work before, when the films were entered into Cannes and accepted in Cannes, and all these things. So it started right after. We are learning constantly how this is working.

You and Justine had a tight working relationship on this movie. The interesting thing about a campaign like this is you’re talking about the movie together very frequently. Have you gained any new insights just from listening to her talking about the movie and talking with her about the movie so long after you made it?

It’s so much that I could not pick one. Especially in the writing process with Arthur Harari—how they created everything, how long it took, that it wasn’t meant to be that long because COVID came and lengthened the whole process and made them be together around the clock. All these things I didn’t know. What connects us also is that we love to work really hard. We’re not so good at taking in the praise that comes after. I watch her sometimes and we have to tell each other that it’s a good thing that’s happening and we can keep it. And we can be a little proud sometimes, yes. [Laughs]

Have you noticed a difference perhaps in roles coming your way, projects in the air? I imagine you’ve gotten to meet some filmmakers here, and the exposure in the air is probably quite new.

It is quite different. And the good thing is that it’s taking place here, it’s got nothing to do with where I live. Some things are happening that I’m very happy about. But of course, I cannot talk about them now. It’s a bit different from seven years ago [with Toni Erdmann], and it seems to be really—yeah, it’s real.

That’s a very exciting tease.

Yeah. To me too. [Laughs]

Coming off of a film like The Zone of Interest, and the reluctance I know you’d had in playing Nazi characters before this film, how have you found talking about it? You mentioned some of the conversations and the ways this movie has affected people, unlike Anatomy of a Fall this one can leave people in a kind of silence and require a little bit more absorption.

They’ve been very emotional, very respectful. Also, very private. A lot of things I cannot share because people tell their family stories. It seems to have brought an awareness to people around the fact how the world is changing now, and what we are living now, and what we are living with every day. The fact that Jonathan didn’t want to make a period piece, but he wanted to make a film about now and about us seemed to have really worked out. People connect—some people do, not everybody of course. I cannot control the audience. But some people really make this bridge to their own life decisions that they make every day, and they seem to have a higher awareness of that now after seeing the film.

Given the increased level of attention, is there a film of yours that did not get a lot of attention that you hope people seek out as they’re more interested in your work? I think Sybil is a movie people are starting to discover here, at least.

Oh, yes please. I’d love people to see Sybil, it’s such a great film. Virginia Efira and Adele Exarchopoulos, they’re magnificent in it. Everybody should see it. I’d done a film with a woman called Nanouk Leopold, my first foreign language film, called Brownian Movement. I still love it. When I look at it now, I was a bit young for the role—but we are trying to find out if it’s possible to remake it now, because now, I’m the right age, I think. This is something that I would love people to see. And of course, Requiem, my first film ever.

You’re acting in many languages now. Back on Brownian Movement, did you feel nervous about acting in another language?

No, I didn’t. Nanouk is not a native English speaker, she’s a Dutch speaker, so there was no sense of looking for perfection in any way. It was more about, as Jonathan always said, that art is a universal language. It doesn’t matter how you speak it. It matters that people understand what you want to say, not how accurately you are able to say it.

On the day we’re recording this, there’s a live-read event for Anatomy of a Fall with a lot of stars reading. What are you expecting?

I’m really curious how it’s going to go and, at the same time, I will not watch because I think it must be strange for the people who’ve worked on this to have the actress who has played the role before sit in the audience. I will say hi. I’m really happy to meet everybody because there’s such great actors. Then I will leave and let them do their work.

I have met some rather famous people here who love your movie. I’m curious who you have met, who’ve shared some thoughts about it that have stuck with you.

I’m not a name-dropping person. [Laughs] But I really have to say there were some really, really overwhelming moments.

When last we spoke, you had described going back to Germany in the middle of this campaign and to do stage work. What do you have lined up for after the Oscars. I assume you’re going to be ready to get back to some work.

I mean, it’s been work. The past months has been completely full of work—but not of the creating work, not the creative part of it.

A good distinction to make, yes.

But yeah, I’m going to do a little stage work. There are a lot of pieces that we’d done a long time ago that are coming to the surface again now because people want to buy tickets for it—which I didn’t do before. It’s a bit strange. But, “Okay, let’s feed them.”

So you’re selling tickets to plays you didn’t use to charge for?

Not so much, no. It’s also really strange because I’m not alone on stage. I’m working with a lot of people who are on that stage too, and we did good work, I think. But the recognition comes now after all this buzz. I assume that for my colleagues it’s not so easy sometimes.

So comes a change in profile, right?

Yeah, that’s true. It’s a transition.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

Listen to Vanity Fair’s Little Gold Men podcast now.

“I Need Six to Eight Pardons”: Inside the Secret Scheme to “Find” Trump’s Votes

Simone Biles Talks Marriage, WAG Life, and the Paris Olympics