Final Transcript

        FX NETWORK:  The Bridge 

        July 1, 2013/10:00 a.m. PDT

SPEAKERS

Roslyn Bibby

Diane Kruger – The Bridge

PRESENTATION

 Moderator        Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by.  Welcome to The Bridge conference call.  At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode.  Later, we will conduct a question and answer session.  Instructions will be given at that time.  (Operator instructions.)  As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.  

I would now like to turn the conference over to our host, Roslyn Bibby.  Please go ahead.

R. Bibby        Thank you, Kathy.  Hello, everyone and thank you all for being on the call today.  I’d like to also thank Diane, who was able to steal away from production to join us for the call.  

Very quickly, by now everyone should have received the first three episodes of The Bridge.  If you have not, please let me know and we will definitely overnight that to you, so let me know today.  

With that, Kathy, let’s go ahead and open it up for questioning.

Moderator        Thank you.  (Operator instructions.)  Our first question comes from Austin Siegemund-Broka with The Hollywood Reporter.  Please go ahead.

A. Siegemund-Broka        Hi, Diane.  

D. Kruger        Hi.

A. Siegemund-Broka         Thank you so much for speaking with us, first of all.

D. Kruger        Of course.

A. Siegemund-Broka        To get to my question, you’ve sort of got a double role to play here, and that’s both a person with Asperger’s and a cop.  I wanted to know, what was the hardest thing for you in performing, about putting those two roles together?  

D. Kruger        Well, it’s just that how can someone who has a condition such as Asperger’s really excel at being such a good cop.  And that’s really what drew me initially also to the project, because, yes, she has this condition, there are so many shortcomings in her personal life that appear because of that condition, yet she is so different in her job because she has this ability to focus and to really look at things from a different point of view, and that was really interesting to me.  I had never really had a desire to play a cop, I’m not really the gun toting kind of person, so that’s what really was interesting to me.  And in the original Scandinavian show that ... adapting, that was really the thing that drew me to it, ‘Sonya’s’ character is just so different and cool and a real challenge, because Asperger’s is much more subtle than a more severe version or case of autism.

A. Siegemund-Broka        Yes, terrific.  May I ask a follow up?

R. Bibby        Yes, you can ask a follow up.  Go ahead.

A. Siegemund-Broka        Great.  What was the hardest thing to master about playing a person with Asperger’s?  You mentioned that it’s a very subtle thing, what was the most difficult aspect of that?

D. Kruger        Everything about Asperger’s was very new to me.  I’ve heard of autism, but I wasn’t familiar with Asperger’s.  As soon as I started reading up on it, I realized that this is a really daunting undertaking and continues to be so, because it’s not something that you can just put on.  It’s a mind frame that I have to put myself into every day.  There’s not one single line in the dialogue that’s ever been a straight up line.

And so the key for me really happened when FX decided to reach out to Autism Speaks, which is the biggest association for, not just for Asperger’s but for autism obviously in the U.S., and they introduced me to a young man called Alex ..., who has Asperger’s himself and FX decided to bring him on as an advisor to the show.  So he’s on the set every day when I work, and I’ve spent, I’m not kidding, more time with him in the past four months than I have with my partner ... because I have so many questions and I’m just observing him, but I’m also asking him some pretty uncomfortable questions.  And his willingness to be my partner in this has made a big difference.  I sleep easier at night knowing that he watches over everything I do.  

A. Siegemund-Broka        Yes.  Thank you so much, Diane.  

D. Kruger        Of course.

Moderator        The next question comes from Jamie Ruby with SciFiVision.com.  Please go ahead.

J. Ruby        Hi, thanks for doing the call today.  Is there a particular either part or scene that you’re looking forward to people seeing specifically?  

D. Kruger        Well, I think what I’m looking forward to is that we decided early on that we were not going to label ‘Sonya’s’ condition in the show, which I think is very important and very interesting, because we didn’t want her condition to be her defining character trait.  So I thought that was really brave and it’s pretty ballsy, in my eyes, because in the first episode, I don’t know if you’ve seen all three, but she’s so odd and you don’t really know what it is that’s off.  And I think it will be great to get the opportunity for the next 13 episodes to see her nuance and her layers and to understand a lot of her back story that has made her the person that she is today.  

Where we go away from the original show is that the writers agreed to write a back story to her character, which we will come to explore as the show goes on, and it will really show you a very emotional side of ‘Sonya,’ which I’m always very excited to play because she so often could come across being blunt or standoffish, which is not at all the case, because people with Asperger’s have empathy and they have feelings, of course, but they just don’t know when to show those emotions.  There’s a delay there.  And they understand when somebody is pissed off or their behavior causes people to misread their intentions, but they just don’t understand what it is they said that ... those feelings off, so there’s always this delay.  

And so there’s a lot of darkness and loneliness that ‘Sonya’ carries around and probably has carried around for most of her life, and yet she’s so great at her job.  And so there will be a lot of emotional moments for her, some funny moments because obviously Asperger’s leads sometimes to comedic moments, like I don’t know if you’ve seen episode two, but the way that I go to pick up a guy in a bar is pretty priceless, in my opinion.  

J. Ruby        Right.  And then also with this kind of script, is there room for any kind of improvising or changing around the lines, or is it pretty set in stone?

D. Kruger        No, we change, not a lot, but there are definitely gaps to be filled in, and FX being FX and being a very actor friendly network and being very character driven, we always do table reads, the writers invite all of us actors to give comments on the script.  And it doesn’t always make a huge difference, but they have been very open to our suggestions, and a lot of the scenes are being changed ..., and that’s really important because sometimes you can write a great scene but when you’re actually in a situation and it doesn’t work, you have to be flexible enough to make it work for you.  

J. Ruby        Great, thank you so much.

D. Kruger        Of course.

Moderator        We have a question from David Martindale with Fort Worth Star Telegram.  Please go ahead.

D. Martindale        Okay, thank you.  Hi, Diane.  

D. Kruger        Hi.

D. Martindale        I’ve seen the first three hours of the show and it’s a terrific show.  You’re really quite wonderful in it.  And this is a joke, but regarding the bar pick up scene that you mentioned my first reaction is, where can I meet these women?  There are some very topical and controversial sometimes issues that are laid out in this show, because it is the Mexico/U.S. border you know involving immigration and drug and gang wars in Mexico, and I suspect that when these are in the news sometimes that people tune out, or tend to, because they don’t want to think about it, or at least they don’t want additional information that might change their opinions.  And I think dramatizing it in a show like this, people will pay attention and think and maybe without realizing it the new information, it won’t taste like medicine.  Have you thought about it in that way?  Do you like it when you can layer that extra element onto what you’re doing, that the storytelling gets to inform in this way in addition to entertaining?

D. Kruger        I’m not sure if it’s necessarily to inform the public of something.  I think it’s more shining a light on a situation that most people I think in the U.S., and Mexico, I’m assuming, are aware of.  I personally don’t like shows that try to, or movies as a matter of fact, that try to, like you said, teach you a lesson or tell you this is the way it is and we should all be doing something differently, because at the end of the day that’s not our job.  The show has to be entertaining, but what we’re trying to do is shine a light on a situation and be as accurate and be as not partial to either side.  And so to me that’s what is different, and it’s never really been done, in my recollection, either on television or in films, the movies, because we don’t have all the answers.  Obviously I don’t have the ... to really know how we can stop the drug cartels or how we can find the murderer of the missing girls of Juarez, but we can show them what is going on, we can show and look and hopefully, shine a little light on the situation.  That’s really what I thought was interesting.

D. Martindale        Okay, that’s well put.  That’s very well put.  And also, your character and Demian Bichir’s character, you all make quite an interesting and unique detective team, you’re so brittle and socially awkward and he’s so warm, a people person, and that was all laid out for you in the script, right?  Did you all have to fine-tune it, or work at it, and how do you all get along when the camera stops?

D. Kruger        Well, following the adapting and ... the relationship between those two detectives was laid out for us, which is also what to me was interesting about it is that we have two opposite cultures and in a way I think Demian represents very much how we imagine Mexican men to be, very Latin and charming and he has a great accent.  And then ‘Sonya’s’ very much, in a way, America because she’s very ... the rules and is very much all about business and enforcing the law, so that was in the show.  What we are trying to convey, as the show unfolds over the 13 episodes we’re trying to show two such different cultures, two such different countries, and how they can put their differences aside for the greater good and try to make their relationship work and how they can take away things from one another, so that’s what we’re working on every day, in every episode we’re trying to adapt the characters to that.  

When the cameras are not rolling Demian and I have actually become really friendly and really good friends.  We were supposed to make a movie together before the show came along, so it felt like we were meant to work together, and I admire him very much as not just a colleague but also as a person, I think he’s wonderful, and so his significant other and mine have sort of formed a real friendship.

D. Martindale        Cool.  Thank you very much.  It’s been a pleasure.

D. Kruger        Thank you.

R. Bibby        Excuse me, Kathy.  Please let me interject for a moment.  Unfortunately, we’ll need to stick with asking one question.  I understand that we have many, many callers in queue waiting to ask a question, so please limit it to one question.  Thank you.  Kathy, go ahead.

Moderator         We have a question from Bruce Miller with Sioux City Journal.  Please go ahead.

B. Miller        Diane, how do you pull away the emotion, because for an actress emotion is the calling card that you bring to any kind of a production, but how do you take that away?  

D. Kruger        It has not been easy, and it continues to be – it’s not like she doesn’t have any emotion, like I mentioned before, it’s just that it’s in the oddest places.  It goes against my instincts every single day.  So doing this back story has been my saving grace because there’s that one place that you come to learn when you watch the show where she puts all those bottled up emotions.  And then also Ted Levine’s character, ‘Hank,’ he’s sort of her ... I’d say, he’s the only one that gets to see the more emotional side.  But it’s a daunting character to take on, and you have to accept that people might be put off at first when they first meet her.  

B. Miller        It’s fascinating to watch that.  I was very intrigued by that and thought, “Oh, I bet she’s holding back and saying, no, I can’t do that, I can’t do that, because it’s against what the character would do,” but you’ve done a great job with it.  And can I just ask, do you solve all of this in the 13 episodes or not?

D. Kruger        Yes, we are going to solve this crime.

B. Miller        Okay, thank you so much.  Sorry to ask two.

Moderator        We have a question from Paulette Cohn with Xfinity TV.  Please go ahead.

P. Cohn        Thank you.  Good morning, Diane.  

D. Kruger        Hi.

P. Cohn        There are several shows on TV right now, The Following, The Killing, Hannibal that all deal with serial killers.  Can you weigh in on what you think will make The Bridge stand out and what’s unique about it than the other shows?

D. Kruger        Well, to me, first of all the setting between Mexico and America is unique and I don’t think has been done on television before.  And I think the backdrop of the unsolved crimes as the missing girls from Juarez, the relationship between America and Mexico is very interesting to see and shine a light on.  I think that the two characters, Demian, ‘Marco Ruiz’ and ‘Sonya Cross,’ are an unusual combination of detectives.  The show’s not your usual cop show.  It’s a very character driven show, and you think the show’s about one thing and then it goes in directions that will be quite unexpected.

P. Cohn        Perfect, thank you.

Moderator        We have a question from Curt Wagner with Red Eye.  Please go ahead.

C. Wagner        Hi, Diane.  Thanks for taking the time.

D. Kruger        Hi.  

C. Wagner        This is sort of a follow up to something someone else asked, but I just wanted to check in, it seems like a very challenging assignment for you, not only with ‘Sonya’s’ Asperger’s and learning about that, but also mastering the situation on the Mexican-American border and all that that entails.  And I was wondering, did you do a lot of research for that aspect of it, or did you find that the scripts pretty much covered everything you needed to know?

D. Kruger        Yes, I did a lot of research.  We actually shot a couple of days in El Paso for the pilot, so I did get to walk the bridge of the Americas and spent the day in Juarez, because I just needed to see for myself.  And I don’t have the pretension to know everything about the conflicts that are going on, but certainly I’ve been in the U.S. on and off for the past 20 years and I read the New York Times every morning, so you feel like you practically have to be blind and deaf to not hear about those issues and hear about immigration and so forth.  I’m intrigued by that aspect of the show, for sure.  I want to know more.  I want to understand more.  And I find it fascinating, and quite risky, actually, on FX’s part to try and shine a light on that situation.

C. Wagner        Okay, and do you feel that the relationship between ‘Sonya’ and ‘Marco’ is a metaphor for that whole Mexican-American relationship and how it could be, I guess?

D. Kruger        Yes, a little bit, obviously just on the surface, because our characters are not trying to make a political statement.  But it is pretty obvious how different our ways of operating are on the show and how we look at the world quite differently.  And I think it is a little bit of a metaphor of how we’re trying to solve crimes, shine a light on those horrible situations that present themselves.  And we’ll see what happens, we’ll see how the season evolves and maybe the second season, what direction it will go.  

C. Wagner        All right, thanks.

D. Kruger        Thank you.

Moderator        We have a question from Adam Newland.  Please state your company and then ask your question.

A. Newland        I’m from TVEquals.com.  By the way, Diane, thanks for taking the time today.

D. Kruger        Of course.

A. Newland        You have a very long, extensive movie career and I was curious as to what led you to television?

D. Kruger        I thought I really ..., the networks on cable television right now is in its Golden era and I find myself watching the shows like House of Cards and Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and feeling like they’re better than most movies that I watch these days, and they’re real great dramas and the quality of the writing surpasses so many movies, and I just am very excited to be part of the show.  The writing is superb.  A character like this has never been offered to me in the movies, and the opportunity to get 13 episodes to explore that person is exciting, and I feel like it is a really exciting time for directors and actors to come to cable television, so that’s really what led me to it.  

(Missing part of audio)

Woman        ... character, but with Ted’s character and also anything with Demian’s wife.  

D. Kruger        I don’t know.  I don’t want to give away too much.  But I think definitely ‘Ted’ is a character that knows ‘Sonya’ better than most.  He’s sort of a father figure for her, and you will come to find out why in the show, with my back story, the idea being that my sister was killed when we were teenagers, without giving away too much, so that is the private back story that we’ll come to explore through ‘Ted’s’ character.  And with Demian’s wife, I don’t want to give away too much.  Nothing that is relevant to the plot on a bigger scale, but we will definitely see that relationship explored a little bit.

W        Thank you very much.

D. Kruger        Thank you.

Moderator        We have a question from Brandon Rowe with Spoiler TV.  Please go ahead.

B. Rowe        Hi, Diane.  Thanks for taking my call.

D. Kruger        Hi.  

B. Rowe        I have unfortunately not seen the first three episodes, so I was wondering how different you think the tone of this series is versus the original.

D. Kruger        The tone is actually pretty similar.  I think that we follow the skeleton of the original show faithfully.  It’s the same sort of intrigue and plot.  Obviously just the colors of the show in terms of lighting is very different, because we’re setting it in El Paso and Juarez, so it’s much warmer and lighter and brighter and sunnier.  But the characters are pretty much the same, and then obviously storylines will evolve a little bit because of that, and the major, major difference being that we get to see ‘Sonya’ in her personal life much more than in the original show.  

B. Rowe        Thanks a lot.  I really look forward to watching the whole first season and many seasons afterwards.  

D. Kruger        Oh, thank you.

Moderator        We have a question from Alyssa Rosenberg with Think Progress.  Please go ahead.

A. Rosenberg        Hi, Diane.  You mentioned that you were drawn to the cable television renaissance, but roles for women on cable television have frequently been limited to the wives of the men who are the main characters.  Do you see opportunities for women broadening in cable television with roles like this one, and do you think that cable does better with women than the movies does?

D. Kruger        Oh yes, I absolutely agree with that.  There will continue to be movies that have great female roles, but I definitely think that on cable television, from Mad Men to Homeland or Robin Wright in House of Cards, those female parts are so well written and unafraid of characters, and that’s really what it comes down to, I think.  It seems to me that they thrive and the audience is looking for characters like that, and it’s very exciting for women, I think in general, definitely.  Like I said, I’ve never been offered an in-depth character like this in a movie.

A. Rosenberg        Thank you.

Moderator        We have a question from Steve Eramo with SciFi and TV Talk.  Please go ahead.

S. Eramo        Hi, Diane.  It’s a pleasure to speak with you today.  

D. Kruger        Hi.

S. Eramo        I just had a very general question for you.  I wanted to find out, did you always want to work in this industry while you were growing up, or did you have other professions in mind?

D. Kruger        No, I didn’t dare dream of anything like this.  I come from a very small rural village in northern Germany, and being an actor never even seemed a possibility.  I thought you would have to live in a big city or been discovered somewhere or being born into an artistic family, which I certainly wasn’t.  I dreamt of becoming a ballet dancer.  I studied with the Royal Academy of London for 11 years –  

S. Eramo        Wow!

D. Kruger        ... and that did not pan out, my love for being on stage was born there, and then I actually went to drama school in Paris, France.  So that’s where it first started.  I never thought I would have an opportunity in the United States to act and continue to expand my career outside of Europe.  So my reality is, to be honest, it’s bigger than I would have ever dared to dream.  

S. Eramo        Diane, thanks again for your time, and best of luck and success with the show.

D. Kruger        Thank you.

Moderator        We have a question from Far Hossain with FranklyFar.com.  Please go ahead.

F. Hossain        Hi, thanks for your time.  My question is, because of ‘Sonya’s’ Asperger’s she doesn’t necessarily understand why people react in a certain way, but what do you think would have to happen to make her really tick?  

D. Kruger        What would happen to make her really tick?

F. Hossain        Yes.  She was upset with Demian’s character to let the ambulance go through and ruin the crime scene, she didn’t understand, but she wasn’t as mad about it.

D. Kruger        Well, many things make her tick, and that’s one of the major challenges for people who are affected by Asperger’s.  They get overwhelmed easily in a situation that they are not used to, which could be just an unforeseen situation, and something that they can’t control.  Some of the things that go through someone’s head who has Asperger’s is they project themselves into every possible scenario when they are, for example, with, let’s say, she would need to go interview, like the scene with the judge’s husband, so clearly she’s very uncomfortable with people one-on-one that she doesn’t know and that are emotional, she doesn’t know how to handle emotions, so she has probably been in a situation like this before so she will try to go through the protocol that she has learned, worked well in a situation where someone told her it is the custom to do so.  

But if a person reacts differently than she expects, she very often can get overwhelmed, and there are calming mechanisms that people with Asperger’s do, like certain materials that they would rub over and over, certain pics, heavy breathing, trying to stay in check.  But you will see her in the show get overwhelmed by a situation and you will see her come undone.

F. Hossain                Thank you very much.

Moderator                We have a question from Daniel Calvisi with ActFourScencePlay.com.

D. Calvisi        Hi, Diane.  I’ve seen the first three episodes, and the show is fantastic, so thank you for talking to us.  My readers are screenwriters, and so am I, so many of us are writing pilots and we’d all love to know what stands out in a pilot script to attract a movie star like you.  You talked about transitioning from film to TV, so what specifically jumps out at you, what does it need to have for you to feel like this script is A-list material?

D. Kruger        For me it was a little bit of mystery.  I didn’t immediately understand ‘Sonya’s’ character.  It wasn’t quite on the page.  So I was intrigued enough to take the meeting with the writer to get a sense of who she was and what her story was going to be.  I personally find that, my partner is an actor and he was on network television and a lot of the things that I learned from him is that coming from movies I really like to know, at least in broad terms, where my character is going throughout the season, what the broad aspects of her character are so I can prepare.  Because in movies you know the beginning, middle, and end, and so you can tune your performance to what will happen next, or what is to come and how it might end, and you know the whole picture.  And I would not like not knowing at all, to be sort of totally surprised every week, “Oh, and this is what this character’s doing now.”  I need to define my character from the beginning so that I can stick through that throughout the season.  That’s something that I looked for and that I got from my writers.  And the willingness from my writers, feeling like they will help me create this character, I can fall back on them, because in television you have a different director every week and they aren’t necessarily as invested or know my character as well as those writers, so I want to feel that teamwork.  

D. Calvisi        Great, thank you.

Moderator        We have a question from Bruce Eisen with Here Is TV.  Please go ahead.

B. Eisen        Hi, Diane.  Thanks for taking the time for the call.  You touched on this on an earlier question, but I just wanted to follow up, in terms of what you’re currently watching on TV, what do you think is really good?  You had mentioned House of Cards, Mad Men, and Breaking Bad, anything else our readers would be interested in knowing about?

D. Kruger        Those are my favs right now.  I do love The Americans.  I’m not quite caught up, I have three more to go, but that is my favorite new show.

D. Calvisi        Excellent, great.  I agree with you on all those.  Thanks again.

D. Kruger        Thanks.

Moderator        We have a question from Evan Real with Life In Style.  Please go ahead.

E. Real        Hey, Diane.  We love knowing what our TV stars watch and listen to, so I have a quick three-parter.  What’s your favorite show on TV right now, your favorite song on the radio, and the best movie you’ve seen recently, and then a quick why for each.

D. Kruger        My favorite show, like I said would be House of Cards for the intrigue.  I find myself fascinated by looking behind curtains in Washington, and I’m a huge fan of Robin Wright and I think she is absolutely amazing on that show.  

        My favorite song on the radio, gosh, ... that question.  I love “Radioactive.”  I don’t know who sings it, but that ... “Radioactive.”  I love that.  I don’t know why.  It was in one of the movies I did, so I guess it’s been stuck in my head.

        And my favorite movie that I’ve seen recently, I don’t know.  I just saw Superman, I saw that, and I thought that was pretty cool.  

E. Real        You liked it?

D. Kruger        I liked it.  Yes, he’s a good new Superman.

E. Real        Cool.  Great, thank you so much.

D. Kruger        Okay, thanks.

Moderator        We have a question from Lily Miranda with Film Thrasher.  Please go ahead.

L. Miranda        Hi, Diane.  Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today.

D. Kruger        Of course.

L. Miranda        You mentioned earlier that The Bridge was based on a popular Scandinavian drama, and I just wanted to know, did you feel any pressure giving your own spin to a series and characters people already were familiar with, and did you encounter any rigorous things for the role, maybe something that was too much for you to handle while you were filming?

D. Kruger        No, actually it was very exciting to see the original show.  I actually watched most of it and the ... my character was kind of the defining moment for me to take the show.  It’s a very different culture, Denmark and Sweden obviously, but I’m European myself so that sensibility ... close to home.  I loved the show.  I was completely hooked.  And I had heard about it before, I watched it, and it was a huge success in Europe, so I found myself actually excited because obviously we adapted the show and there was a lot more, especially for my character, than was in the original.  So I felt like there was enough room for me to make it my own and to give it my spin, so that was the exciting part.  

There have been scenes in the past ... we’re just finishing nine right now, there have been scenes that have been very challenging for me in terms of performance.  It’s a lot.  The Asperger’s is something that has taken up a lot of my time and a lot of my space and there are days when it’s easier to get my head around it and just forget about my normal, natural instincts than others, and there have been some really emotional scenes, very difficult emotional scenes that have to do with my back story.  So it’s definitely still a challenge.  

L. Miranda                Thank you very much for your time.

D. Kruger                Of course.

Moderator                Next in queue is Brent Hankins with NerdRep.com.

B. Hankins        Hey, Diane, thanks for taking the time to speak with us today.  I love the show.  I watched all three episodes back-to-back and it’s sort of killing me that I have to wait until August to see anything new.  You talk a little bit about the cable renaissance and how cable TV is really doing a lot with strong female characters and so forth, obviously the character of ‘Sonya Cross’ is completely different than anyone we’ve ever seen in a police drama for that type of show.  With some of her social awkwardness and things that come from the Asperger’s, a lot of that is played for comedic effect and in certain situations where it’s very awkwardly funny, do you worry at all that some viewers may be offended by the choice to play the character in that way, or do you think that the show handles it pretty well?

D. Kruger        Obviously you always want to make sure that people that are concerned with that condition feel that they are being represented accurately.  I feel very grateful that we were able to get the support from Autism Speaks, who is the biggest association for people with autism.  They’ve come on board to be a partner on the show, and like ... we have a young man called Alex Plank who has Asperger’s who’s been my partner on the show who’s on the set every day when I work, and he’s going into the writers’ room and he makes sure that not only do I have the support that I need, but he helps me immensely.  And I think he would be the first person to say that he finds himself sometimes in funny situations because of his condition.  And I think that’s really lovable.  And I’m extremely fond of ‘Sonya.’  I’ve come to understand where she goes ... she doesn’t understand a situation and if that’s funny sometimes then that’s great because you also see very ... when her condition leads her down a path that is not funny.  I feel like we’re hopefully pretty much on the right track here.  

B. Hankins        Okay, excellent.  And again, I really enjoy the show.  I can’t wait to see more of it.

D. Kruger        Thank you.  

Moderator        We have a question from Ernie Estrella with BuzzFocus.com.  Please go ahead.

E. Estrella        Hi, Diane.  Thanks for the opportunity to speak with you.  I wanted to maybe have you explore a little bit about the warmth that is a very subtle thing that we see you have with ‘Hank’ and how it’s like a minor thing that we get to kind of see as you interact with him, but then when you work with ‘Marco’ you have that defense system up.  How much do you play on those little subtleties of showing that warmth between those two characters?

D. Kruger        Like I said, the challenge of the part is that Asperger’s is very subtle in a way.  When you meet someone, especially a person who’s functioning, who’s learned to adapt to some of the social cues and who is in a work field, some of the symptoms that you would pick up on might be misunderstood.  You could think that they’re blunt, or they’re geeky, or they’re weird people, or they’re annoying, so it is very important that you see other aspects to her, because people who are affected by Asperger’s of course have feelings and of course they do have empathy, and of course they are a regular human being like you and I.  

So we’re forever trying to challenge her, forever trying to find moments where we see ‘Sonya’s’ realization that ..., or that she made a comment that was interpreted in a different way than she intended it to be.  And she is someone who’s trying to learn and to adapt, and that is the beautiful cover of Sonya and that continues to be a struggle.  But one thing I’m not worried about is that the audience will not come to love her, because just as I have, the more you watch, the more you will see the pieces of the puzzle fit together, and she’s a wonderful, wonderful character to play and I really have been rarely so fond of a character than her.  So hopefully everybody who watches the show will come to see that.

E. Estrella                Great, thank you.

R. Bibby                Kathy, this will be the last question that we’ll take.  Thank you.

Moderator        You’re welcome.  And that will come from Preston Barta with North Texas Daily.  Please go ahead.

P. Barta        Hi, Diane.  You mentioned that you did a lot of research for the role to perfect your character’s condition, since the show started do you find that your own instincts and ideas ever intrude on the project and what’s written in the script?

D. Kruger        Yes, I mean, all the time.  Like I said, when I first started reading the books about Asperger’s or autism in general it kind of ... dawning on me that this was going to be a much bigger undertaking than what I thought it would be.  It continues to be, like I said, a huge challenge because my instincts tell me to say things with intention sometimes, which is totally wrong for this character because she doesn’t mean to be rude, she doesn’t mean to be blunt.  It’s really trying to put my mind to see things from a totally different perspective that a person with Asperger’s would do, and that is obviously difficult.  They’re very rational and logical and they take shortcuts.  The social niceties or the social cues that we all have to learn to read just don’t exist for them.  

So sometimes, to be honest, it’s a great relief because you just say it how it is.  And then other times, especially when you’re in a scene where a person is really hurt or is emotionally distraught and you just can’t show any empathy, that goes against any person’s instincts, and so it definitely keeps me on my toes.  

P. Bearta                Great, thank you so much.

D. Kruger                Thank you.

R. Bibby        Thank you all today for being on the call.  We appreciate it.  Please know that The Bridge will debut on Wednesday, July 10th at 10:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific.  A transcript from this call will be available one to two days following today, so I will send it as soon as I receive it.  And of course if you have any other questions about the show, please contact me, Roslyn Bibby.  Thank you, Diane.

D. Kruger                Thank you.

R. Bibby        Thank you for being on the call.  We appreciate the insightful peek in on your character.  Take care, guys.

D. Kruger                Thank you.  Bye.

R. Bibby                Bye-bye.

Moderator        Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our conference for today.  Thank you for your participation and for using AT&T Executive TeleConference Service.  You may now disconnect.