TW: For me personally, it was like what I had mentioned in my first answer about taking on the subject matter and events that happen to the homosexual character, basically, an intimate theme of average people has to tear through society. For instance, what also really interests me is the theme of religious minorities. Subject matters like these are non-commercial. And I think that the same thing occurs in America. If you look at the history of cinema in Poland, you will see that often those hard to play characters, which manifest those types of characteristics, are non-commercial. So, when cinema is non-commercialistic, there are fewer profits, and therefore, it rarely stands out, not to mention that it is harder to make. It doesn’t even have much to do with the celebrities — Polish celebrities, great actors, they usually want to play in independent films or very artistic ones, as they give them the capability to showcase their abilities.

In Poland, there aren’t really many film productions…I think we produce around 40, 35 films per year, I’m not 100 percent sure…Most of the time, these are strictly commercial films, but not only. It is my belief that Polish cinema has changed a lot and has opened itself to the world. If Polish filmmakers would focus in on themes related to the middle point of a boundary or edge [of the human condition], people who have been fractured by life, as well as contemporary themes…In Poland, we recently had a time period where we were just releasing films based on classical literature, and that dominated [in the industry] then. Now, I think that that kind of cinema — the original, contemporary kind — is starting to appear. But it would be fantastic if there was a better way, an easier way, to realize such projects, because very often it is hard to do so.

GALO: The role of Kuba is very dynamic. You talk a little bit about casting in the press notes and the complexity of choosing the male leads as well as how Mateusz Banasiuk was perfect for the role. Can you talk a little bit about how the process looked like and how fitting was Mateusz for his role as Kuba? In other words, what fascinated you about Mateusz and convinced you to give him the leading role?

TW: When it comes to the female actors, such as Marta Nieradkiewicz, Katarzyna Herman and Izabela Kuna, I knew from the very beginning that I wanted them to play in my film, and so I sent them the screenplay and I knew that they would play those roles.

It was really hard for me to find the male leads. I met with various casting directors, who would show me different kinds of taped videos, and I chose around 100 actors to come in and try out for the role. However, this wasn’t really the casting portion just yet. Forty of those 100 remained for the next portion of the try-outs. I knew that this was a very tough subject matter for a young actor, and a type of human breakthrough even, because often I had actors come in for this casting who were very talented, but I saw that there was some kind of blockade. I don’t know where this blockade came from, whether from social aspects, but there was a barrier in the freedom of partnering up with another man. And this facet was important since the connection between the two male leads, that emotionality between Kuba and Michał is the most important; that carries the entire character.

I chose for this casting a particularly hard scene to play because I picked the scene in the swimming pool, when the two men are speaking with one another — this is a very intimate scene, where the two characters are very close to one another physically and also emotionally. And this established my decision, because I was able to see very quickly if an actor would be able to break that barrier or not. These castings lasted around three weeks, which is quite long, and on the last day both Mateusz and Bartek [Gelner] turned up at the casting, they started to read together and I was really enthralled with it. Later, I learned that they’re friends, which I think also helped them and instilled a certain naturalness to their roles — they weren’t afraid in any way.

Truthfully, I found them on the very last day of the casting, when I was very agitated that I had already seen so many young actors in Poland and I still hadn’t found my individuals. When after the try-outs I had watched the DVD that I had been recording of them, and I saw those try-out scenes [with Matuesz and Bartosz], I immediately saw my characters — it was obvious to me that they had to play in the film because they became those characters; they were real to me. As I had mentioned before, I look for the truth [in cinema]. If for me it was truthful, then there is a chance that it will be for the audience as well.

GALO: One scene that struck me in particular was the supper scene between the three characters, with almost no dialogue, the suspense is magnified as well as the emotions. Can you talk a little bit about the suspense as well as the human behavior throughout the film, and how you were trying to provoke the viewer’s imagination?

TW: This scene is the type of scene that is personally very sad to me but at the same time very funny. We’re already after two screenings and the audience in New York laughs nervously during this scene — and that is what had been anticipated there, because it is an awkward situation when a guy and his girlfriend, who is starting to come to an understanding about what is going on in her relationship, is starting to understand that her boyfriend, who she loves very much, is becoming fascinated with a man. We talked a lot with Marta Nieradkiewicz, who plays Sylwia; we tried our best to understand this girl, what is suddenly driving her to stay in this — this was first and foremost that love. On the other hand, there is Michał who is starting to also feel certain emotions, love, for Kuba. And then there is Kuba, who isn’t making any decisions.

It’s the same with the ending scene. We don’t know what happens with Michał, but in a certain sense, that scene shows society [and its problems] in Poland, and on the other hand, it shows human mechanisms. If Kuba had said during that supper that he’s going to be with Michał, if he had the courage in himself and to accept this love, then everything could have been different in the film.

We wanted to tell the story of how love sometimes brings about a type of an innocent harm — the person who hurts less is the other person. Very often in life, we don’t make certain decisions in our lives and later there are various consequences that stem from this. The fact that we’re afraid of something causes certain events to keep happening, it falls like dominoes. But if we were to say, “stop, okay, I am not afraid,” if Kuba had said this and that he isn’t afraid to be with Michał, then things would have been different in the film. We wanted to show everything more deeply because the film is very raw, and the way I tell the story is very raw — there are very few close-ups. We wanted for these characters to have a type of human truth internally in themselves. I think that this is how it is in life; that often we don’t have control and frequently it is too late to say “stop.”

GALO: Was there a lot of improvisation in the film or did you work rigidly in accordance to your screenplay?

TW: There wasn’t any improvisation. I work in such a way that I have a lot of rehearsals — with the first film and the second film there were a lot of rehearsals. With the second film, we had four to five months of rehearsals. When I would meet with the actors, even on an everyday basis, we would speak about the characters and would read the screenplay as well as certain scenes, and we would try to understand these characters and how to best embed ourselves in them. Of course, we did give ourselves a certain amount of ease and freedom in terms of alterations, but we knew very well in which direction a scene had to go in and what we wanted to get across or say in that scene, so there isn’t any randomness there. Of course, using the example of the scene of the supper with the three characters that you had mentioned before, this is a scene without much dialogue; therefore, everything is fulfilled with what was occurring at that time in reality. Perhaps, in some sense, this is a kind of improvisation, but a very controlled one. I don’t really like improvisation in film.

GALO: Could you reveal to our readers your future plans — do you already have an idea for a new film?

TW: Yes, I already have an idea — the screenplay is practically already written. Now I have time to go back to it and to edit it a bit. I would like to do a film by showcasing the lives of five women, a life in three chapters of five women living in Poland. This is what really fascinates me. But as mentioned, this is almost finished. What I would really like to work on now, is like I had mentioned before, a film whose storyline takes place in New York, specifically because this city fascinates me. So, once I return to Poland, I will be sitting down and writing. I already have an idea, an outline of the plot, and this is what I think I will be doing for the next few months, so that I can write it and come back to New York to make this film.

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Featured image: Polish filmmaker Tomasz Wasilewski, director and writer of “Floating Skyscrapers” (“Płynące Wieżowce”). Photo Credit: Tomek Tyndyk.