Intervju / Interview
me from the outset to respect every word written, because Cile very in- telligently and insightfully wrote the text about the search for self and the home where our soul resides.” Is The House also in some way an homage to Zvezdara Theatre, which is your sec- ond home? “It turns out that way. To open the 40 th season at that theatre with the performance of a wonderful, ten- der, deep text that was written by one actor and is performed with other ac- tors, and is directed by an actor. To me, Zvezdara Theatre is precious for numerous roles, and I acted in the first play performed on that stage, The Spawn of a Carp, directed by De- jan Mijač and written by Aca Popo- vić, on 8 th October 1984, together with Bora Todorović, Branko Cvejić, Mirjana Karanović, Lazar Ristovski... The Zvezdara Theatre scene created itself out of the desire and need for a theatre without an ensemble, and it endures thanks to the engagement of actors and other theatre workers. It is synonymous with freedom of speech and theatrical arts, and pri- marily with an intimate relationship with the audience.” In which theatre do you most feel “at home”? “Since 1969, since the third year of my acting studies at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, I have been act- ing at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre. I remember that, in the beginning, I didn’t even come to rehearsals reg- ularly, when Bojan Stupica directed When Pumpkins Blossomed, because I didn't like the character of the young state security officer who bullies the family, because such people killed my father. And that play was soon stripped from the repertoire by force. And I now perform as a pensioner, because that theatre respects all its pensioners by giving them the sta- tus of lifetime members. There I’ve never felt like a stranger or a guest performer, though I’ve never felt like that at other theatres either.” Have you ever wondered where your home is? Or did you always know that your life is only in Belgrade?
“I’m just one particle in the world, who just happens to be right here. The most important thing for me was for the magical realism of the story of The House to contrib- ute to the message that life is per- manent because everyone who has departed this world lives on within us, in memories and dreams.” But aren’t you a talent- ed particle who would have been equally gifted in Lon- don, on Broadway or in Hol- lywood? “Don’t set me the tough task of rating myself. And that “particle” like Shakespeare wrote and performed plays without knowing how impor- tant his creative works would still be hundreds of years later. I never had, and today am still not familiar with, those appetites and desires to be a world star.” Do you have the same feel- ing when you act and direct, which do you prefer? “I’m an actor who will work for as long as he exists, while I have no plans for new directing work. Nor did I spend very long planning for The House and previously for Train. I suggested to Duško Kovačević that I adapt the text for the play Train and he accepted that, so that play has been performed for eight years already.” That play has become icon- ic, while the direction, act- ing and text are, of course, majestic. Did you succeed, as you once said, in compel- ling the awakening of criti- cal awareness, but also love for humanity? “Unfortunately, the writer of the text which I adapted for Train passed away and I didn’t realise my wish for him to see our play. With it we have to date had almost 300 domestic and foreign performances, and God willing we will perform it again. The Train is absolutely a sto- ry about the love of humanity and freedom, it is neither dark nor pes- simistic. That play has so far been watched by seven bishops, and al- so the sisterhood of Gradac Mon- astery...”
Do you like flying? “I’ve always adored aero-
planes, with their advantage in terms of freedom of move- ment, because they enable us to traverse huge distanc- es at the highest speed. I most often read a book, listen to a text if I have a play waiting for me, or play games on my mo- bile phone as I fly. I’m very dis- ciplined, I also like to stare out of the window, but I still haven’t had a chance to act aboard a plane. Are you aware that Ot- pisani [Written-Off] is be- ing broadcast on RTS again for the umpteenth time? Do you ever watch yourself in that series; what kind of memories does Tihi awak- en in you? “I rarely watch myself, and pre- viously I would never dare watch my roles at all. For example, I only watched Written-Off during one of the reruns, when my younger son became old enough to watch his dad in a young- er edition. And it was then that I ap- preciated just how much quality had been invested in the over four years of filming for those 26 episodes. The director of the series, Aca Đorđević, had confidence in me, and I was just 22 when filming began, and it was only three decades later that I discov- ered that I’d also been defended by the great Dragan ‘Gaga’ Nikolić when some people had doubted my acting ability, insisting that I wasn’t just handsome and attractive for that role. Tihi cost me in terms of other engagements for a while, until the dust had settled around the popularity of that series. As an actor at the start of my career, with that role I’d become famous and popular, and I didn’t have a dinar in my pocket. I spent my earnings and still hadn’t managed to find my way as a newcomer to Belgrade. And peo- ple now still call me Tihi when they recognise me on the street.
If you hadn’t chosen art, the stage, acting, directing, what would you have done for a living? “Perhaps I would be an unem- ployed idler. Or I would heal my soul and whole person in some way, as I was very sickly as a child. I’m sorry that I missed out on the opportuni- ty to bring young people the aware- ness of how to liberate their spirit through acting and not just the desire to show off, because that isn’t acting. I spent my youth making sculptures in my native Valjevo and I prepared for the entrance exam for sculpture studies for six months. But I none- theless lacked the courage to take the entrance exam, doubting my talent for drawing. And I still doubt myself as an actor.” You have amassed a rich ca- reer over decades, one al- most devoid of mistakes. But can you still single out some roles that changed you forever and marked your life; that were more than mere acting roles? “I don’t separate roles into good and bad ones; I consider certain roles
significant and others less so. The doyen of acting and directing that is Laurence Olivier said that you can’t single out more than five roles, and I can’t pick less than ten, because they are all very important and precious to me. I acted in the plays of direc- tors Dejan Mijač, Unkovski and Ma- gelli, so older plays and some new ones, and I select them on the ba- sis of what they meant. For exam- ple, Shakespeare’s plays, Troilus and Cressida, the Croatian Faust, the Mountain Wreath etc. And mean- ing a lot to me among them are plays I didn’t act in and which had their pre- mieres at the time when I was man- ager of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre.” Are your television and film roles equally dear to you? “Film and television have differ- ent requirements, as the most mod- ern forms of performing arts. Cop- pola said that there can be no good film from a bad script and vice versa. That’s a rule. In every success we’ve had in domestic cinematography, we succeeded because of a good script. I’ve shot many series and films, but here I would agree with Olivier and choose up to five of my roles.”
Pozorište treba da obraduje i probudi emocije, ali ne i da se takmiči sa umetnošću zvanom cirkus, zato što cirkus uvek pobeđuje The theatre should bring cheer and awaken emotions, but it shouldn’t also compete with the art form called the circus, because the circus always wins
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