I feel that I have to direct films
I will make a film based on my own scenario, hopefully in 2013, and I won't act in it because you cannot do well more things at the same time
This conversation has two topics: the film THE PARADE and several interviews which were given at the premiere of this year's most popular Serbian film by its main actor. ''What can a poor little film do against PR agencies which have a direct link with the God and which believe in the self-proclaimed divine right to mark with a sign of a cross, like foresters, the trees which are to be cut because they do not bear any fruit, and to decide which trees are to be saved,'' Nikola Kojo said then. He rarely gives interviews to newspapers, so it was especially interesting to read the man who has played some of the best roles of sullen guys with hearts hard as asphalt talking without formal phraseology about some entirely basic topics. For example, about human equality.
Did you get the loudest applause on other premieres of THE PARADE as well? Louder than the director or even the whole film crew?
Sometimes I did, sometimes I did not. It depends on the audience. But let's not exaggerate: that applause was not only for this film, but also for my whole work so far.
Do you feel good about that, after so many years, roles and other proofs of your quality?
I feel good about it every time. An actor is a living man and he changes as years pass. Our body is our tool, and it goes through different stages, it's difficult to be new, different and fresh. And it is definitely nice when after covering so many miles you do something good, and the audience confirms it.
How did you defend the character of Limun? When you read the screenplay for the first time, did you have an idea how to deal with that development of a stubborn guy from a judo club to the security guard of the Pride Parade?
That was the most interesting part. I experienced the message of the film through that character. While reading the screenplay I understood that he had to say something important: that people can change for worse, but for better as well, that it's not a big deal to admit you were wrong, and that you should work on yourself. Because our mission, which begins with our birth, is to start learning and never stop doing that. That was intriguing for me.
Do you know anyone like Limun?
These are the people with whom most of us lived during the nineties, and his manners are a commonplace. But the fact that this man changes so much from the beginning to the end of the film is the greatest treasure of THE PARADE. This character does not have, as we actors like to say, "penalties", he doesn’t shoot penalties without a goalkeeper as the other characters do, and his task is difficult. He is like cement milk, he must link various action flows, all the other actors, and that indeed was a challenge.
Do you think that, if he had survived, your Velja from the PRETTY VILLAGE, PRETTY FLAME could have been Limun?
Dragojević said somewhere that Limun is Velja from PRETTY VILLAGE, PRETTY FLAME and I agree with that. Both Limun and Velja are positive hooligans, who remain firm when it is needed.
You said that you to get tired playing main roles. How was it this time?
I get exhausted in each main role. The main role carries a special kind of responsibility: 100-200 people at that precise moment depends on you one way or the other, on your health status or mood. So, I do not worry about the role itself, what I will make of it is my intimate concern. I worry about these, someone would say, pointless arguments: will I stay healthy during the entire shooting, will I pick up a virus on the way, and stuff like that. And then, during the shooting of the film, I live in a kind of quarantine, because I do not want anyone to suffer because of me. Maybe that’s way I was so resigned then, but I feel this way after every major role.
Do you intend to direct or to continue producing?
I worked in production partially in the PRETTY VILLAGE, PRETTY FLAME and THE WOUNDS, a little bit in THE PARADE, too. Production is no longer a challenge for me, I did that because in the nineties we couldn’t otherwise have films, but it is not so different now. And directing is something that appeals to me because of the mileage and, conditionally speaking, injustice which I suffered from some bad directors. I feel I have to direct. I think that almost every actor has the same motive after a certain number of films, and I have been sailing through this business for 33 years. In fact, for years I have been directing short films, commercials and I am an unofficial assistant director on many films, even an unsigned writer. I think it has come the time for me to stand on that side of the camera and shoot my own film.
Tell us something about that film?
I'll just say this: I will make a film based on my own scenario, hopefully in 2013, and I won't act in it because you cannot do well more things at the same time.
