Screenwriter and director Petr Zelenka started filming the series Limity for ÈT
14/05/2024 10:46 | editor | printing | opinions
How does a North Bohemian businessman become an icon of environmental protests and a marital dispute a societal conflict? Director Petr Zelenka began shooting the eight-part series Limity according to his theme and script at the Faculty of Art and Design of the Jan Evangelista Purkyn University in Ústí nad Labem.
He chose Aleš Háma, Veronika Khek Kubaøová, Tatiana Dyková, Maxmilián Dolanský and Jaroslav Plesl for the main roles. The series will appear on the Czech TV program next year.
“Petr Zelenka is undoubtedly one of the most original Czech screenwriters. Within his poetics, which mixes the absurd and the grotesque with cruel reality, he does not take any unequivocal position, he only reflects the time in all its contradictions and absurdities. The limits show all the confusion surrounding the problems of our planet and its pollution – including those who plunder it for the sake of economic growth, as well as their opponents with an increasingly radical approach to saving it. Probably no one expects a TV series to present a recipe for solving the ecological crisis. But Limity raises questions and provokes us to look for answers to them, and what is most important for me is the fact that Petr Zelenka does it in Limity in a very entertaining way,” states ÈT creative producer Kateøina Ondøejková.
▲ Filming of the series Limity. First clap L. Netušilová, N. Kylarová, P. Zelenka, M. Dolanský, P. Komínek (photo: Miroslav Kuèera, Czech Television)
Petr Zelenka started working on the plot for the new series, of which he is also a co-producer, almost four years ago. His Dabing Street, the first series for ÈT, also awarded the Czech Lion, premiered six years ago. “I find it difficult to find topics that I believe in and that I would enjoy dealing with. After several years of working on the Limitù script, I am convinced that we have a great theme in this case. Limits are very topical in terms of plot, the processing of the story is original and surprising, and as it seems to me, at the same time, the only possible one,” reveals Petr Zelenka.
“The main character is Karel – a guy who easily and quickly turns himself in, but at the same time he has to be very kind, because from the beginning he only does the most unsympathetic things. Gradually, however, he changes his views on almost everything. And then there are the female protagonists, Karl’s ex-wife and his new partner, who don’t come out of the story in the best way, I’ll admit it straight away. I don’t know why it happened to me like this, I have to pay more attention to it next time and my next project will only be about sympathetic female characters,” promises the director and screenwriter.
In the role of an entrepreneur and an involuntary activist, the star guide introduces the popular knowledge competition Kde domov muj? Aleš Hama. “As is often the case in my life, my casting in the Limits is also a coincidence. One of my colleagues invited Petr Zelenka to the play My best friend, in which I have the main role. Then we went for coffee, he invited me to camera tests and finally offered me the role of Karl in his new series. As I say, coincidence got in Peter’s way,” describes the actor and presenter. His serial son Igor will be Maxmilián Dolanský: “Our family in Limity doesn’t worry too much about anything. The father tries to escape from everything. The son is enthusiastic about participating in protest events and tries to convince his parents that they have a purpose. Perhaps my character’s behavior is also influenced by defiance of authority and a certain form of sullenness. And then love.”
Petr Zelenka’s crew is filming the eight-part series Limity spread over sixty-five days, not only in locations in Ústí nad Labem and its surroundings, but will also move to Libochovice in Litomìøick or to Prague. The last flap should fall at the beginning of August.
source: BEING
