INTERVIEW Nebojša Cila Ilić: When you are overcome by the "charm of the first" and it cannot pass

When his name is mentioned, the first association is Boško Dunster from the movie "Montevideo, God saw you".

But also the geek Bogoljub Marić from "Barking at the Stars" or Manulać from "Zona Zamfirove". In recent years, it has also been popular as Ćufta and Boža. It is difficult to count his theater roles, and in 212 he was the most engaged actor in his home studio "Atelje 2015" - he played in six plays. He also plays on the boards of the National Theater and the "Boško Buha" theater.

It says in his ID card Nebojsa Ilić, he mostly introduces himself by the nickname he got in elementary school, Cile, and he doesn't even mind when people call him the name of the hero he played so impressively, Božo Dunster.

He received the Steria Award twice - for his roles in the plays "Waiting Room" and "Providence", at the Yugoslav Theater Festival in Užice and at the Classics Festival in Vrš he was declared the best actor for the role of Širzinger in "Kazimir i Karolina"...

In an interview with "Magazin", the famous Serbian actor talked about Orson Welles, an unsuspecting builder, about how he is just as fascinated by acting as when he entered the Academy, that he switched to "you" with the camera, that he tries to find a reason in everything for a laugh...Or at least a smile.

Is it true that Orson Welles and "The Third Man" are to blame for your decision to build roles instead of building structures?

Construction school was one of my wonderful delusions that I had a talent for construction. However, I barely finished that school and if this other door hadn't opened, there would have been big problems. Orson Welles and "The Third Man" are my stories from elementary school, my fascination with that movie and Orson Welles, and some hidden idea that I might be able to act in my life, without any proof that I could really do it, without any inclination towards something expressive and extroverted. I was quite an introvert and it didn't seem like it could be that way. Later, in that kind of silence, that idea flourished in me that in the later grades of high school it would already be realized a little in "Dadovo", later also at the Academy, and then in life. And so, that's what I live for and that's what I live for. I look forward to enjoying that privilege.

After a quarter of a century of playing on boards that mean life, but also on the big screen, does that fascination still last?

Absolutely yes. I am still equally fascinated by this business. Acting is a big secret, a phenomenon. Theater is something that lasts several thousand years in this form - on one side the audience, and on the other side the performance. Something in man is so strong that he wants to listen to a story, to see what happens to someone else, to live his life through it. Acting is an inexhaustible well of various kinds of improvisation, experiences, impressions. When a man grows old, it seems to me that some of his hearing sharpens. It's as if that instrument gets better the older it gets, starts to resonate better and emits an increasingly articulate sound. I enjoy watching other colleagues, watching movies, participating in all of this myself. Cooperation with partners, the fact that some things are always open, that there is the possibility of something new, that you agree to the game, as it turns out, is something that constantly excites me and is wonderful.

In the theater, you can play the same role in a different way every time, to experience it differently. This is not the case in television and film. Where do you feel more comfortable?

I am much happier in the theater. The theater is a place where I live and where I started from. Film and television are some wonderful adventure that I love, a wonderful excursion that I adore. More and more the camera started to become my friend. I feel her presence more and more. It took many shooting days to be able to articulate that feeling. The camera is a miracle - it can be your greatest enemy, and it can be your greatest friend. As time goes on, he seems to be becoming more and more of a friend to me. But, when the recording is finished in the editing, he will do something, he will underline some music, so it is very little yours. And acting in the theater is still in your "power". It is in your "power" to take a second longer pause, to delete a pause, to follow the impulse. If you have good partners who follow you in that, then all of that together grows into a game. Our professors had this expression - "the charm of the first". In the theater, that feeling of something happening for the first time is somehow crucial. You are constantly looking for it to happen every time, only then and there. And that's what's really exciting and that's why he can't get bored.

Acting is a game, and every game requires youth. At least the one in the soul. You once stated that currently the youngest actress in the theater is Mira Banjac. Is that "acting youth" transmitted?

The oldest actors are the youngest because they are relaxed. They are freed from the tasks they set themselves because they no longer have them. They are nonchalant, cheeky in a wonderful way and really are kids at heart. Everyone I found in the "Atelier" when I came was like that. There were many serious people who did not take themselves seriously. Not taking yourself seriously is the way to the hearts of the audience. That you don't see yourself as an unavailable dramatic artist, but as an ordinary person who plays with himself and his work. I think it's healthy, it gives a dose of nonchalance and then everything goes more smoothly. You are light on your feet. All of our oldest actors had that incredible amount of lightness, cheekiness and some childlike readiness to play. I think that we also inherited that spirit, because in "Atelier" there is no status way of life, but that status is constantly proven. In "Atelje", the joy of playing and meeting was always the most important thing, so I am already sure that these young actors have also inherited that spirit and that there are indeed quite a few of them who are serious people and do not take themselves seriously, who are very deep, very light on their feet, who care about acting and I recognize in them my partners for the rest of my life.

One gets the impression that comedies suit you well. Is it difficult to make the audience laugh and how much does everyone need that laughter?

That kind of Chekhovian humor is something I like the most. And when it comes to drama, I look for what's comical in it, because I think that comedy is proof that a person is vital, that he can laugh at himself and at some hardship. It is proof of some kind of intelligence. Comic means to find what is incongruous, what is funny. That was always more fun for me than when something is a "dry" drama. My professor knew how to say that even in ancient tragedy one should look for something comical. It doesn't matter if he doesn't reach it, but to look for some absurdity, for a situation that has some kind of comic character, so that we can see that life is never just a drama, or just a comedy. However, even when you have the best actors and the best director, you can't be XNUMX% sure that you have achieved that humor. We have seen disastrous plays with our greats and brilliant plays where not much was expected. That's also one of the reasons why I didn't get bored of acting because it's always uncertain, because we don't know how the audience will react, whether it's only going to be funny for us or if it's going to be funny for everyone who will watch it. And again, the next performance does not guarantee you anything, because it is a new audience, a new experience. And that's what's exciting and beautiful.

Even after three years, "Mom and Dad are playing war", and "Zbornica" is still interesting. Did you believe that these series would last more than one season?

To my delight, and I love it very much, these are series that are unpretentious, that have no desire to be the best series ever seen, but are close to the audience and the audience embraces them. You can reach many people's hearts more easily when you are not pretentious. When you do everything expensively, you somehow distance yourself from the audience, and this is a kind of hug with the audience. I'm glad that both series are loved and are seeing sequels. I am looking forward to them and the fact that there is still a lot of recording. The series are also interesting because the people who started those stories are actors. It's in one Gordan Kicic, in the second Dejan Lutkic. The idea came from me, and then Dejan Lutkić from the producer and actor side later participated. These are things that started in a reverse process. Usually producers come up with a theme, then hire writers, then hire actors together. And this started from the actors, so there is a little more enthusiasm than usual.

Are there any roles you wish for and are you preparing something new?

I've never had a role that I've been chasing, searching for myself. We almost commented on how the great actor Rade Marković said that as time went on he asked more and more with whom and less and less what. Of course, what matters, but who I work with is very important to me. I hope for roles with talented colleagues with whom I can exchange something on stage or in the frame. I hope they will be good roles. I don't have any that I want, and I want some that will find me. As far as the plans are concerned, apart from the sequels of those two series, "Mom and Dad are playing war" and "Zbornica", next year I am filming "Truckers", and I am also planning to do two plays that I am really looking forward to - one at "Zvezdara Theater", and the other in my "Atelier 212".