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Christian Oliver is a bit of a conundrum. He was a teen idol in the mid-90's when he starred as Brian in Saved by the Bell: The New Class and as Luca in the Babysitter's Club movie. In 2003, he was a TV action hero in Europe as the star of "Alarm für Cobra 11 - Die Autobahnpolizei." And very shortly he'll be appearing on the big screen first as a villainous cartoon-come-to-life in Speed Racer and then as part of the plot to assassinate Hitler in Tom Cruise's historical drama, Valkyrie.

Now, that is what I call versatile.

"I was very excited and honored to be able to do both [Speed Racer and Valkyrie]," says Oliver. "It was a Hollywood, blockbuster, Berlin summer for me. The first time that I was able to combine my two worlds that I live in; Germany, where I grew up and where my family is still, and my home here in L.A. that I love so much and have been living for so long.

"The Good German (which Oliver filmed in 2006) was the first step, a movie that took place in Berlin. Unfortunately, it was shot out on the backlot of Universal Studios. And then, the big huge leap was Speed Racer shooting in Berlin at Studio Babelsberg. We were shooting in Marlene Dietrich's studio," Oliver exclaims with a hushed passion. "It was just great to be there and have that sense of history."

In Speed Racer, Oliver plays Snake Oiler, a very serious racecar driver who will do anything to win the grand prize.

"He’s a little cuckoo. A little snaky. Very full of himself. And it was very hard for me to play him," Oliver says with a laugh. "This is supposed to be his one shot at the big leagues and he’s not getting it, so he’s doing whatever he needs to do to take down Speed Racer."

And while acting in a cartoon-based movie has its perks it also has its problems.

"I had an amazing time playing him because the character just lends himself to all the freedom in the world and I don’t think you can imagine what its like to work with two geniuses like the Wachowski’s. They allowed me that freedom to play such a crazy, cuckoo, over-the-top kind of guy."

Then Oliver goes on to praise the fabulous cast, Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, Matthew Fox, John Goodman. . . none of which he got to actually work with.

"I hung out with Emile and Christina and everybody. It was such a wonderful cast but in fact, I didn’t get to work with any of 'em. I’m in the scenes with them, but that’s the beauty and also the downfall of this digital world."