Rush came to Karlovy Vary already in 2017, when it was shortly before the festival and the city was in full preparation for the film festival.
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The festival was recommended to him by his assistant at the time, who accompanied him. It is said that he did not call fellow actor Johnny Depp, who was a guest at last year’s event.
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“But I watched the videos and I came here in 2017 to see the city, and it was already preparing for the film with banners and posters. And my assistant, now a Czech filmmaker, tells me: This is the preparation for the festival, which is great. You have to come here for him sometime. And I told her: I’ve already been invited so that would be great.“
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Geoffrey Rush
Photo: Jan Handrejch, Law
The actor also appreciated the interest of film fans, he was surprised, for example, that even the morning screenings were full. “I went to see the hall in the morning and it was full! At 8:30 a.m. I was thinking: who would get up that early to watch a movie? And they were young, bright. In my opinion, this is also part of the program,” he said.
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According to Rush, he accepted the invitation at the right time.
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Geoffrey Rush
Photo: Jan Handrejch, Law
“I don’t remember when they invited me, it was a long time ago, maybe 2015 or 2014. But I was still working. And when it came again (…) Melbourne was under heavy lockdown, you couldn’t leave the country or come back. My wife and I bought an old farmhouse in Tuscany, not for retirement, it was her project, she is a good designer and is working on it with an architect. So my wife tells me: Go to the festival, I’ll stay here with the workers and tell them which walls to tear down and so on…“, he told Novinkám.cz.
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“So this year turned out to be the right time because we were already unhappy with it, the sickness to travel,” Rush added.
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