Sandra Hüller in 'Rose': Schleinzer Calls Her 'The Queen'

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Markus Schleinzer makes no secret of his admiration: "She's the Queen," he says of Sandra Hüller. The actress is at the center of "Rose," Austria's official submission in the race for the International Oscar. The occasion for the conversation with Variety is the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), where Schleinzer is currently presenting the film.

Casting as training for directing

In the interview, the director places the casting within an unusual career trajectory. He worked as a casting director himself for 17 years before moving to the director's chair — and that experience shapes him to this day. Anyone who has spent years on the other side of the casting table looks at role assignments on their own film differently than someone who never went that route.

Making a film and being a casting director are pretty similar jobs. In both, you have to make the right decisions under pressure and convince others that they're right.

What Hüller brings to "Rose"

For the Oscar submission, this dual perspective pays off directly. With Sandra Hüller, Schleinzer enlisted a lead actress who was recently honored as Best Lead at the Berlinale. At VIFF, he drives the point home himself: anyone who has spent years casting actors for other directors knows exactly what they have in an award-winning cast on their own film.

Austria's Oscar card

Austria is sending "Rose" into the race for the International Oscar — a category that gives small national film industries a global stage in the first place. With Sandra Hüller as the draw, attention is secured even before the actual Academy review. What exact role she plays in the film cannot be determined from the available interview.

Schleinzer sticks to his verdict: "She is the Queen." Anyone who pins that sentence down in a film interview means it — and signals that the casting of "Rose" was anything but a gamble for him.