Antonie Formanová: I am a little funny about our family. But no matter what I do, I can’t avoid it

František Ladislav Rieger, Member of Parliament, 85 Street, 8 Square. Versus Zdeňka Havlíčková, orphan, daughter of the greatest Czech journalist, 0 streets, 0 memorial plaques. How could this unequal fight turn out?

The series Daughter of the Nation also tells about this, in which the main role of journalist Karel Havlíček Borovský’s daughter was played by Antonie Formanová.

“We will have the National Theater instead of the Nighing na Náise, they decided. They found out that they listen better than a young girl,” says Antonie Formanová, the main line of the series directed by Cristina Groșan and Matěj Chlupaček, based on the script by Lucie Vaňková.

At the end of September – in the Czech Republic and Slovakia – it will be shown on the Canal + platform, and next year it will also appear on the screens of Czech Television. In a preview on September 28 – the National Day of the Czechs – it will be shown in the main competition of the international Serial Killer series festival in Brno.

In the interview you will read:

• what caused the failure of the Girl of the Nation project,
• as Karel Havlíček Borovský spoke of his daughter,
• how many journalists Zdeňka should have given birth to the nobility,
• what do Formanová and Havlíčková have in common,
• why Antonie keeps her maiden name after her marriage to director Martinec,
• what was the name of her thesis.

When we last interviewed you, you were still at DAMU and working as a wardrobe designer at the Dejvicté Theatre. And now you are involved. What else has changed?

I’m married and I’ve done my first major role in a series. Such good events. Except now they were tearing my figure eight, which was a real horror for me. I’m pretty bad when it comes to teeth. And unfortunately, there is no discounting that there are worse things to do with me. I should get another one out, but I don’t see it anytime soon.

Otherwise, are you having a good time?

I don’t feel like I haven’t had a good time before, but I have had some real milestones and everything has gone according to my expectations. That makes me happy.

If they didn’t want to change her life…

Did you change your name?

I put the new one in there. Antonie Martinec new font. I use both. And maybe I will.

Forman is a brand and belongs to your family, right?

I wouldn’t say brand directly. The name carries the message of my origin, and I am proud of it. We are three sisters, so we know that the name will end with us here in Prague. So I want to keep it, knowing that I am one of the last ones to carry it in our fingers. It is important to me.

We also gathered because of a woman named after a famous ancestor. Because of Zdeňka Havlíčková – the daughter of Karel Havlíček Borovský – who you will play in the new series Daughter of the Nation. I know it’s a lot for the first sign, but there’s nothing you can do, you usually have this…

In fact, that was also the first thing that happened to me, and what happens to everyone probably in relation to both of us. But although I am proud of the connection, Zdeňka was more specific about it.

I follow my own path, which no one laid for me. I know that I have not consciously used my ancestors, and I am proud of my grandfather, grandmother, mother, father, uncle and I am not afraid to talk about it. That legacy hindered Zdenek in her personal life and she decided on a path she did not want to go.

Maybe if everyone didn’t keep throwing it at her, if it didn’t stress her out, if it didn’t change her life so much, she wouldn’t define herself that way. I think her father liked her, maybe she was proud of what he did. But she threw herself somewhere she didn’t want to be, she wanted to get away from him and be someone else.

But she is buried