Tihomir Stanić: The main goal is to beat yourself

Winner of the award for the best male role at the 38th Mojkovac film autumn festival, actor Tihomir Stanić began his childhood in Kozarska Dubica, where his father worked as a teacher.

It was precisely some events from the life of Stanić's father that served as inspiration for the film "Forger" by Goran Marković.

That film story in which the laureate of the award at the Mojkovac film festival portrays the character of Anđelka begins in 1968. The main character absolutely believes in Yugoslavia and adores Josip Broz. It is hard for him to believe that there is a single mistake in this ideal world. In an effort to correct even the smallest injustices of a system he considers perfect, he becomes a falsifier. Without any satisfaction, he falsifies diplomas in order to provide employment to as many people as possible. In the end, because of his "good deeds", he ends up in a prison in Zenica, one of the darkest from that period.

In addition to playing the main role, the famous Serbian actor is also a co-writer and producer. As he says, the joy and excitement of working on that film was thwarted by the news that his youngest brother died, just before the premiere on February 7.

"A year before that, my oldest brother also passed away, so, to my great regret, they did not live to see that story about our father. Of course, the biography of my father is not absolutely authentically conveyed in the film, but it served as an occasion. The movie "The Counterfeiter" was filmed in the village where we were born. It meant a lot to people from my hometown. We managed to adapt the almost destroyed Cultural Center for filming purposes, so we made several projections there."

In this way, says Stanić proudly, they managed to disprove the saying that "it is most difficult to be a prophet in one's own village". The actor has been successfully engaged in production for some time. So far, he has produced six films, all of them, as he says, in order to "qualify for just one, which is very important to him". With the completion of the film story about Diana Budisavljević, who saved 12.000 children from Ustashi camps, she plans to end her "production career".

"Because of that film, my involvement as a producer began. God willing, after that I will return to my primary profession. Although, a man never knows where life will take him, regardless of his plans", said Stanić.

This actor is also known for the fact that in a certain period of his life he spoke very openly about his problems with alcoholism. He says that battles with oneself are the most difficult, and after them all difficulties are easier to bear and even overcome. He believes that people make a lot of mistakes when they are not inclined to self-criticism.

"It was important for me to talk about it myself, not to let people judge me, and not to hear myself. It helped me. Victory over that vice often later gave me the strength to face, say, business difficulties. I got a new confidence. Victory over one's own weaknesses should be the goal, it doesn't matter if you don't get there, it's important to stay in that pursuit. I had high demands when it came to what I was doing. I don't know how far I have come, but I am constantly striving - says Stanić.

He did not work, he claims, giving advice to young colleagues. However, if they do, recommend that they only follow their intuition. In this way, he says, "the right thing" is always done.

"You should not listen to well-known forms of playing and in general to the creation of a work of art, but only to your intuition. It can only lead us to actions that can mean something to us. Which will also mean the middle. Persist in that personal feeling and don't give up on what your intuition is telling you, no matter how irrational it seems to you" - advises the main protagonist of the film The Forger.

From King Alexander to Djilas

The actor who became famous with the role of King Aleksandar Obrenović in the series "The End of the Obrenović Dynasty" has over 70 roles behind him, many of them in the roles of Zdravko Šotra, claims that he never went to castings or fought frantically for roles.

They were "finding him", and he is convinced that it happened "just when it was supposed to".

“All the roles that belong to you, 'come'. Others that belong to others, 'come' to them. I'm pretty laid-back about that, and I've rarely longed for roles, and even if I have, it's been short-lived and during periods of some private unsettled life. Basically, when I was peeing them, I didn't get them.

Here, for example, Radmila Vojvodić completely surprised me with an invitation to work in a play at the Montenegrin National Theater, in which I play the character of Milovan Đilas. That engagement was beyond all my plans. Because of that two-month work in Montenegro, I put a lot of things on the back burner. I experience it as a great challenge, which I look forward to".