The film "South Wind" will premiere in Podgorica on Saturday, and one of the main roles is played by the young actor Miodrag Radonjić. This film story written by Petr Mihajlović and Miloš Avramović, who is also the director, is inspired by the authentic experiences of people who were involved in the Belgrade underground, and is addressed to young people. Radonjić portrays the character Baća, who found refuge in the criminal world.
Radonjić talks to Vijesti about this achievement, which broke records already in the first week of its release, but also about the projects in which he played, including the series "Murderers of my father" and "Christmas Uprising".
In the film "South Wind" you play a member of the car mafia, how difficult was it to prepare for this role and how difficult is it to play the villain in general?
It was not difficult, it was a pleasure. The role was brilliantly and inspiringly written so I had a lot of acting "meat" and I enjoyed exploring that world and those people. Given that I grew up in Konjarnik in the 90s, I had the opportunity as a child to see and hear all kinds of things, so I drew certain elements from that experience for this role. I don't divide roles into positive and negative ones - I've already mentioned that in several interviews, such a division does not exist, the essence is in justifying the motives of the hero you play and in understanding them.
One of the screenwriters of the film, Miloš Avramović, said that the film was born out of the need to tell the younger generations what he experienced in the nineties, although such scenes still often happen on the streets of not only Belgrade, but also Podgorica. In addition to the mafia war that was shown in the film, will this story scratch a little and in some way show the (lack of) up-to-dateness of the institutions that should resolve such wars not to be fought on the street?
It is difficult for the film to change anything crucial in this sense. This film serves to warn the audience, especially young people, how people who are part of that world pass by. As far as institutions are concerned, it is certainly always necessary to be even more up-to-date.
From the trailer, we could conclude that there were a lot of "dangerous scenes". Did you have stuntmen on set or did you have to shoot everything yourself? How many cars were destroyed in the speeding scenes?
We had stuntmen in certain scenes, with the fact that we played a lot of scenes ourselves, given that we are in good shape, and it was exciting and fun for us. I think one in three cars were destroyed.
Films like this have never been filmed in ex-Yu locations, and Hollywood stories like this fill cinema halls all over the world. What are your expectations when it comes to the movie "South Wind"?
First of all, I think that this is a genre refresh of domestic film for our audience. People are used to watching those genres that come to us from abroad and there is a large number of people who like and enjoy watching it. Right now, as I'm typing this interview, I received information that we had more than 100.000 viewers in five days of screening. That's a really phenomenal result.
We had the opportunity to watch you in the first two seasons of the popular series "My Father's Killers". Until now, Inspector Zoran Janketić somehow always stayed on the sidelines, will this season finally bring the answer we've been waiting for so long and how much does the character you portray change in this season?
Zoran is a character who is often needed in these structures. Necessary because it is amenable to manipulation. I think this is the reason why it has always been left "on the sidelines" until now. Zoran will become the chief in the third season, as Marjanović promised him, and there I got a nice opportunity to show some of his complexes and the inferiority he suffered until now from certain colleagues. But not to reveal too much, the broadcast will start soon.
You played one of the main roles in the series "Christmas Uprising". What experience do you have from filming that series? How hard was it to get our accent off?
On that series, I met many wonderful colleagues and I really enjoyed my stay in Montenegro. I will also remember the temperature differences. When we were filming some scenes on Lovcen, it was around -16, and then I went down to the sea at +18 (laughs). I mastered the accent working with the language teacher, Jelena. She helped me a lot, I am very grateful to her for that, and this is how I greet her.
Your first role was in the theater, if you had to choose, would you prefer to excel in 'daxes that mean life' or would you choose to act in films and series?
An actor never has to choose. That's the most wonderful thing about our job, that artistic freedom. You can always make a play. For example, my colleagues and I played one piece "Look Back in Anger" in a house for a small number of people, and at that time we were all well represented both in film and on television. So that was our choice.
Here, actors are often profiled and given similar roles. What kind of role do you desire and do you think would be a challenge for you?
I have had the good fortune or the circumstance that I have played a lot of different roles and characters so far. I avoided being put in one "basket", although it is true that it happens. I hope that the variety of roles I get will continue. Well, let's say I could try my hand at a romantic comedy in the near future.
If I had been taught by another professor at the Academy, I probably would have left it
You entered the Academy from the third year of high school, and you studied in the class of Dragan Perović Pelet. What is Pele like as a professor? What was the first piece of advice you got from him?
Pele is the best professor in the world. For me of course. If I hadn't enrolled after the third high school, the question is whether I would ever try to enroll in the Academy again. And even if I did and another professor taught me, I probably would have left it. I was awkward during that period and strong male authority was the only thing that could control me. One of his first pieces of advice is 'less is more'.On the set of "Balkan Lines", he had the impression that he was filming a Hollywood production
Already next year, we will see you in the movie "Balkan Line". Given that it is a Serbian-Russian production, how difficult is it to fight and get a role in that film? What kind of character do you portray in that film?
That film was co-produced by the Serbian production company "Arhangel Studio", so I knew the director and the entire crew long before. Although, regardless, the director wanted us to do a test shoot. At that time I was very busy with other recordings and production, so it was a question of whether I would have time to play anything. In the end, we managed to play Amir, the right-hand man of the gang leader who robs and trades organs during the war in Kosovo. That film is a very strong genre, it is a war action drama and there were a lot of war scenes and it really felt like we were shooting a big Hollywood production.
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