INTERVIEW

ONDŘEJ TROJAN

Beauty in Trouble is already the fifth movie you have produced for Jan Hřebejk and Petr Jarchovský. When this pair comes to you with a new movie, do you automatically produce it? Or are you interested in what the movie is about and do you try to somehow influence it from the producer's point of view?

It's definitively not that I would have to decide if I want to do it or not. I just accept it almost automatically. I also put my potential into the screenplay. The Beauty in Trouble screenplay has changed a lot from its first version to the final one. The movie even changed in the cutting room, some scenes were shortened and moved, which benefited the movie a lot.

Jan Hřebejk with Petr Jarchovský were inspired by Graves' poem. Did you somehow interfere in the screenplay, so that the movie wouldn't be too poetic?

I don't mind poetics. The pattern is nice, but it's still only a frame, which they have filled with a contemporary story. It is by the way very emotive. I would say that Honza Hřebejk had never made such an emotive movie. He got very low under the skin of the characters, which is very appealing in the Beauty. And the audience will certainly appreciate it. We already presented the movie at a private screening in the United States, and we saw how stricken people were by those emotions.

You had trial screenings for a chosen audience; people abroad saw your movie. Did the movie change according to the viewers' reaction?

The first version was cut with the knowledge, that we would change things in it. We screened it once with a few chosen viewers, so as to confirm together what we wanted to take away of the movie or dynamize, shorten. This is how it went in about five waves.

Did the characters themselves or their behavior change? Or was it only a change in the rhythm of the movie?

The characters couldn't be changed anymore. But when you write the screenplay, you never know how much the actors will be able to put in each scene so that the viewer won't have to still reassure for example that the relations are set a certain way, here the actors fulfilled it fantastically. This is why in the cutting room some scenes appeared to be unnecessary, because they just amplified or repeated something that was clear. But you can never in advance guess which scene will be stronger, which one will come off the best. So a certain level of wastage is natural.

How would you comment the erotic scene, which appears in the movie? Were their big discussions around it?

On the contrary, the shooting took place quite naturally and easily. The actors knew that this scene, or more precisely these two scenes, is necessary to the movie, that it isn't only an art bit to draw viewers to the theater.

What would you say about the meeting of two stars of the Czech cinema scene Aňa Geislerová and Jana Brejchová?

Such a generational casting of two strong personalities can be tricky, as known in the saying about the two roosters on the dump. But actually there were no problems. Both of them complemented each other very well, which the viewers will be able to see by themselves soon. There is definitely no doubt that they are playing mother and daughter. Jana Brejchová after a longer time could show in this character role what an exceptional actress she is. And this is precious in Honza's movies, that he knows how to get some things from the actors, which themselves might not even think they have. This is why I gladly take off my sombrero for Aňa and Jana for their brilliant performance in the Beauty.

You work a lot with Aňa Geislerová, you cast her already in her first movie, and she also played in Zelary. How does she evolve?

Pretentiously I would say that Zelary were for Aňa decisive in her acting. She could leave the saucy romps and a certain classification, which was beginning to take over on her. She played a fate, dramatic role, which she developed in the Beauty in another direction, it being a contemporary story. Here she could be even more herself in her role and improvise more with the text. I believe it is another step in her acting carrier. Aňa is undoubtedly a talent, who would also succeed abroad without a problem.

In the Czech Republic you are considered as the most successful film producer. You bring a new movie to the theaters every year, you collect awards abroad as well as here. From this point of view is it easier to get money for a next movie, for instance just because Hřebejk - Jarchovský - Trojan is a brand?

Thanks to the experience it is faster, but not easier. Financial sources keep drying out, so movie after movie it is rather harder to finance it. Even with such names, when you can predict the movie will make twenty million on proceeds. But a movie costs thirty five million, so I need to find somewhere those fifteen non-capital millions …

In the end you decided you would participate in July to the main competition at the IFF in Karlovy Vary. It is not the first time you are in the international „A“ competition. What do you expect from it?

I think this movie could score well at festivals. I believe that alike Divided we Fall, the Beauty could succeed not only here but also abroad.

How would you characterize the movie?

It is an entertaining movie, sometimes tragic. Typically for the creations of Honza Hřebejk and Petr Jarchovský, there is a mix of emotions, an overflow of sympathy to each character and this balancing between the comic and the tragic. A strong story, a surprising plot and excellent actors give the Beauty a gradation. There is beautiful music and on the film-making side, the movie is visually expressive, wide screened.