The regional acting space today is more dynamic and competitive than ever. A multitude of very different projects, but also actors, of all generations and profiles, different stories, aspirations, target groups... In such an environment, there are few who manage to stand out, take their place and, perhaps most difficult of all, maintain it. Montenegrin actor, Cetinje native Momčilo Momo Otašević is one of them.
The actor who graduated from the Cetinje Academy and became a recognizable face of regional projects, is present and dominant in the theater, recognizable in numerous television series and gladly seen in films, and is equally accepted by the audience, colleagues, and critics. It seems that this is a career that is constantly expanding, a thoughtful approach and a talent that is being nurtured... In an interview with "Vijesti", Otašević remains simple in explaining his path: work, order, perseverance and home education.
Otašević was in Podgorica during the first edition of the International Theatre Directing Festival "Jagoš Marković", within which he played in "The Bald Singer" and "Filomena Marturano", but also spoke about the greatness and importance of Jagoš Marković as a man and as a director, as an artist. He talks about this, among other things, in an interview for "Vijesti", but he also remembers his beginnings, talks about the generations that are yet to come, about the relationship between the audience and the actor, about the challenges of soap operas, about the place of theatre in society... Otašević also talks about parenthood, responsibility and the roles that he still wants to discover, but also about Montenegrin cinema and Montenegro.
Recently, an artist singled you out as a rare one among Montenegrin actors who managed to break through in the region, emphasizing that you have succeeded in being well-accepted by the stage, audience, colleagues, critics, and the profession, recognizing your work and talent.
That's really nice. I'm glad to hear that.
Yes... How challenging is it, not only to fight for an opportunity or your place, but also to keep it and maintain it later and expand your range?
We have to rely on work again. That's what I think. When I was a kid, and I can comfortably say "kid", because when I watch Luka from "Budva na pjenu od mora", I hear a voice that is not yet completely mutated, that is not impostorized, that is not what it is today on stage or on set, but what I was thinking about even then was work - to work as much as possible, to get from rehearsal to the play, from the play to the recording, from the recording to the university... Somehow it all started quite early for me and really only work was important... Work, effort, punctuality - to not be late, to be ready - to know the text, to be responsible, but also to be cultured. All of that goes to one side, that is 50 percent, and the other 50 percent is really home education. That, I would say, was my formula for success. Good day, goodbye, thank you, please... And if you're the youngest - go for a coffee, because you're the youngest and because those hierarchies and levels should still be respected and gradually crossed. I somehow had it all, accepted it, applied it, quite naturally... I mean, I could have spilled it, let's be realistic. I could have had a bad first two, three performances or a bad first film, you never know. Coincidentally, it was good, sometimes solid, sometimes a little worse, but apparently it passed. And so I just rode that wave and it didn't stop.
You remembered your beginnings, and how do you see the generations starting out today? How much and what kind of space do they have at their disposal, and how do they use it, given that various platforms are available?
When I was 20 and when I started working, there were actors back then too... But, from then until today, more and more actors both enroll in the academy, and graduate... I don't know if it was harder then or it's harder today... Maybe it's harder today, because of the quantity, because of the number of actors and actresses, because of the number of projects that are being done. On the other hand, again, everything is kind of open and everything is possible. I can't say for sure, but what I can certainly say is that you just have to get going. Sometimes I think: "This is how I am"... I say again, there was a lot of luck and everything else, but in the end it's still work that decided it. You can't attribute everything to luck.
Despite numerous foreign projects, you are often in Montenegro, both in the theater and on sets?
Whenever I can, but really whenever I can. I left by force of circumstances, and somehow some kind of contract keeps tying me to Zagreb, for some filming, but almost always when I'm free, and even when I'm not - I manage to come to Montenegro. Whenever it suits me to have free time, most often due to filming a series, because when I sign a contract to film a series - I'm its slave, but as soon as I can - there I am. I live for the summer, because in the summer I have 7-8 plays in Tivat every season. That time and those plays come just right for me to wash off the soap opera. I film the soap opera up there, then I come and take an acting shower, I get motivated, because I act in Jagoš's plays and enjoy it for my own money and for my audience.
The audience seems to recognize that.
Well, I somehow feel the same way... Although, in my opinion, it can't be any other way. I respect and love the audience, I have neither the decency nor the upbringing to be any different, because it simply shouldn't be.
You were recently in Podgorica, at the “Jagoš Marković” Theatre Directing Festival. At one time, the now former mayor of Podgorica, Olivera Injac, said that she would advocate for the City Theatre to bear his name. What do you think about that proposal, which, however, fell silent over time?
I have to admit that I'm only just hearing about it, and I have to praise it as a great idea. Yes, it would be right for Gradsko to bear Jagoš's name. Or for Jagoš to get a street. Well, at least that much. It makes me happy that there are such intentions and I'm happy that the Festival has started, it's nice that we had those Jagoš days... Honestly, I'm a little sorry that something like that happened first in Banja Luka, and not in Podgorica, although I'm immensely happy that it exists in Banja Luka, as well as in other theaters... It's important that the Festival has started, even though we may be a little slow, a little lazy, but it's important that it's happening, it's important that we show that we respect Jagoš, it's important that he lives and lasts.
At the opening of the Podgorica Festival, for which tickets were sold out in just a few hours, the audience protested and protested against the protocol speeches of government representatives - state and local. What does this tell us about the relationship between politics and theater that exists and is reflected at different levels?
Well, it seems that these two spheres have always been connected. I guess theater was created as a kind of criticism, criticism of politics and society and everything, so we can start from the commedia del arte, when actors were thrown at everything and anything if they didn't like the play... That reaction of the audience at the opening of the Festival is, in my opinion, quite logical and has been ingrained in man for centuries. I think it was pretty clear that people came to watch the play and to show respect to Jagoš, to celebrate him, and not something else, whatever it was.
Speaking of the relationship between politics and art, primarily theater, we have a specific situation in Serbia where there have been no competitions, finances, budgets, and even the work of theater institutions and events has been suspended... However, theater artists and theater itself always survive... But how do we break away from this and fight for the position of culture and theater in the social circumstances we live in?
I still don't have an answer to that question... Actually, I only have this struggle, this idea that I need to give my all, that I am always there, that I am always present, that I (die) for the film, for the play, for the filming of the series, for, here, the Jagoš Festival at home, for working on the play or on the film in general... That's what I do... And I think that the only way to fight is through work. Because they can't not finance us and they can't not give us as much as we can act, play, work, despite all that. I think that there is, after all, some light ahead of us, some light at the end of this tunnel and that we have to move towards something better. But, speaking of this whole story, maybe we should give a few more speeches before the City Theater opens.
They announce it year after year and every administration wants it for its term...
Year after year. I recently parked in front of that building and I look at it, it looks very nicely done from the field... I would say that it follows Podgorica architecturally, with that stone like Kana Radević did. It all makes sense, but the only thing that doesn't make sense is that something like 15 years of building, and actually much longer... I started about 15 years ago, when the then Kinokultura was being demolished, so I also followed Kinokultura, which I used to go to from Cetinje to Podgorica as a boy, because we didn't have a cinema, so I was additionally tied. The building was demolished and since then we've been waiting... Year after year.
You mentioned soap operas, telenovelas, which we generally approach with certain stereotypes. However, they are still necessary, both for the audience, producers and actors.
Of course they are. If we go into more detail, they are also technically needed by private television stations, or rather those television stations that have received a national frequency... In order to be able to sustain themselves, they need material that they produce themselves. Among other things, that is why they exist, so that a certain percentage of feature material can be produced in their production, and that is why they have licenses, that is why they work, and then everyone makes money from advertising. Everyone is happy, everyone is satisfied - the audience has something to watch, I have work to do, that is great.
Are there still family evenings spent watching television, is there impatience from day to day while waiting for episodes, and the like?
Today, when we have millions of platforms and everything, I don't know if there's a correct answer to that question... I can say that, for example, I don't let my children not watch soap operas, because I don't like it for their age. But, on the other hand, there's a lot of great material for children, so I practice watching something all the time, waiting for something, and now that they're a little older, we turn on some movies together and watch them, like Minions or something like that... But we go from beginning to end. There are no short videos, no skipping, but we learn how to watch a movie. That's why cinemas are great for me... Cinema! I take them to the cinema and we watch together. I think it's important that they learn how it works now... I remember that we used to look for cartoons on Rai Uno, we used to watch the same two cartoons night after night on RTCG when we were little... You had to make an effort to get something, you had to wait, hope, invest something, while nowadays everything is just a click. I think we need to approach it a little differently, because I still think there's something very important and beautiful in that longing and anticipation... We longed for some toys, we longed for a ball, and today a ball can be found for a euro, we can easily buy it and give it to the child right away... The question is what will that child want and how will they realize their desire... These are new challenges for me, both in life, in parenthood, and in work, so I can already say that it's all connected. For example, now I'm already thinking about roles through all of this, like if I have to take off my clothes and be completely naked in a scene, I think about it a little more, because, you know, I have children...
Do these children then create additional responsibility when choosing roles or resources?
Well, it kind of comes to me that way... I mean, as an actor you always think about these things, but when you have children, and as they grow up, you still have another kind of responsibility. On the other hand, privacy should not be allowed to jeopardize professionalism in any way. I try to balance it and be professional. The fact that I am on stage, that is on stage, that is a done deal, that is the art that I do and that is it.
We have opened the first chapter of 2026, what are you working on, are you expecting, wishing for, planning anything, and when it comes to your career?
You know, when I was really young, I said once that I wanted to play Hamlet. I said that more or less pointlessly, practically snorting, because I didn't know what else to answer. We're often asked what role we wanted, and they asked me the same thing, and I said "Hamlet," and I never really wanted it, like I really wanted it. But it happened that I got it, so I did it anyway, directed by Ana Vukotić... Now I'm thinking about it - what I want... Actually, I want some change. I always want that! I want a role that I didn't expect myself, that will surprise me and that I myself don't think I can pull off, that will be impossible and too difficult... I want that, but that it's really something completely opposite to everything I've done and everything I am. So we'll see what that role is. And when it comes to plans, I'm continuing with everything I've done so far, and I can also reveal that a significant co-production between Montenegro and Croatia is supposed to happen, but I can't say anything more about that except that I hope for it and look forward to it.
Domestic is everything we understand.
How do you view Montenegrin cinema?
It's happening. We have a Film Center that works at full speed, a lot of filming is done, for which our film won a few awards, all in all - we are moving. Thank God that there are co-productions, and I hope that there will be more and more of them. Because it is difficult to do it independently. Besides, any film that we understand linguistically is a domestic film for me. That's how I still perceive it, I guess it's been like that since childhood and growing up when "D" stood for domestic film in the video store and that's still the case today. The fact that we all understand each other is actually very good, because basically this is not a small market at all, when all is said and done, there are 15-20 million of us, but we need to know how to use it... I hope that additional work will be done on it, that there will be more co-production and that we will perceive domestic films as domestic, not ours and theirs, here and there, but that it will become normal that it is all domestic. Because we all understand each other, as, for example, in the play "The Bald Singer" - Bane, Olga and Sandra are from Belgrade, Bane, Dube and I are from here, we all work together, and at the same time we speak Bokesh. So, everything is possible and somehow everything is better when we connect, merge, mix... It's more creative, more beautiful, more fun, more serious, because I guess we draw the best from each other.
You play in Bojan Stijović's film "The Black Trumpet"...
Yes, I can't wait for it! During my stay in Podgorica, I actually arranged to meet with Stefan Bošković, who is the screenwriter, with Stiko, the director, and Slaven Sošić, who worked on the film. I saw them all and I can say that we are all looking forward to the film. I mean, and in general, when you do something, you always look forward to it being released, especially when it's a domestic film.
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