A scene like a heavy drama. Only the faces of Petra Hřebíčková and Jiří Bartoška assure that a new comedy by screenwriter and director Petr Koleček is being shot with the working title Božský děda. “It’s more like a tragicomedy,” says Kolečko, known as the author of such comedy films and series as Bajkeři, Okresní přebor, Most! or Through the fingers, in which he stood behind the camera for the first time as a director.
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A flat actor in a wheelchair
“The story is about sixty percent inspired by events in one part of my family, so it’s a pretty personal project. That was also one of the main reasons why I decided to direct again after a long hesitation. And I am very happy that I managed to put together such a strong cast, which includes Jiří Bartoška, Zuzana Kronerová, Jiří Langmajer, Petra Hřebíčková or Táňa Medvecká. I sent them all one of the versions of the script and after some adjustments, everyone accepted. And because they are mostly great actors who think about their characters, we often change the script on the set as well, which I don’t mind at all, “Kolečko explained.
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Director and screenwriter Petr Kolečko on set.
Photo: Milan Malíček, Právo
“The perpetrator returns to the scene,” Jiří Bartoška points to the house and garden opposite, where he filmed The Tiger’s Theory with Radek Bajgar four years ago. Asked what brought him back to the camera now, he confirms that he really thought he wouldn’t be starring in the film.
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“I last played in the film Havel and then I received offers for two-day roles such as the father or grandfather of the protagonist. Indifferent characters that anyone could play. So I said I probably wouldn’t play anymore, because movies are written for girls in their thirties and guys in their forties, which makes sense. But then Petr Kolečko sent me the script and suddenly it was a well-written character who has a story. So I said yes, I’ll shoot something else, “he adds.
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The role is for Bartoška, who has always said with exaggeration that the actor is “flat” and will not allow the directors to force him to walk, not to say running uphill, moreover comfortable. “I have a stroke in the middle of the film, so then I’m just sitting in a wheelchair and I don’t even have much text, the others will talk for me,” he laughs and at the same time describes the plot of the film.
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Petra Hřebíčková and Jiří Bartoška during the filming of the film.
Photo: Milan Malíček, Právo
“My character is a renowned pediatrician in a small town who lives life simultaneously with the doctor he meets in the hospital and the wife he has at home. He feels that no one knows, but of course everyone knows it, and the moment the situation is named, the old man has an early stroke and the second part of the story begins. My wife is played by Zuzana Kronerová, who bakes well, makes perfect stuffed chickens, and my mistress Ivana Chýlková, who, on the other hand, can’t cook much, “suggests which of the two women his pediatrician would probably like to spend his retirement age with.
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Daughter of Kronerová and Bartoška
Petra Hřebíčková has already starred in Koleček’s first film Through the Fingers and confirms the director’s words that he likes to listen to actors, working with him is a collective work. After a series of romantic comedies, her character is a different, more serious one.
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“It’s a nice change, and I realized that it’s hard that it’s not the character who carries the main storyline, but also the role of the episode, just sharpened by something. I’m somewhere in between and it wasn’t easy to keep in the right position, “says the actress, adding that playing the daughter of Zuzana Kronerová and Jiří Bartoška is a pleasure.
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The break forced by the rain ends, the crew and the actors return in front of the house, a car drives into the square and Jiří Langmajer and the young actress Martina Czyzová, who plays Bartošek’s loving granddaughter, get out of it. “Grandpa!” He lovingly comes to the wheelchair, greets his mother. The family is together, and we will find out how it will all turn out if the coronavirus situation so wishes, at the end of summer or in the autumn of next year.
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