Maciej Drobina: In the “Man of Marble” you played with Krystyna Janda. That was her debut. Then you met several times on stage. What kind of an actress was she then, what kind is she now?

Jerzy Radziwiłowicz: Krystyna was a great actress from the very beginning and she still is. She was the kind of an actress with a big power which she has never lost. She still wants to stay in touch with the audience, meet people, she’s really keen on dialogue.

MD: You played mostly in the French movies. Why is that? Why not Polish?

JR: Indeed, it came about that I didn’t have much to do with the Polish cinema. Maybe it is a matter of subjects brought up in Polish movies, maybe a kind of different thinking. Foreign movies seem to be a bit more interesting. But I don’t really have any theory about it.

MD: Do you follow new Polish movies?

JR: Although I’m not really a buff, I’m trying to be in the swim. It’s hard though. A lot of movies appear and disappear like lightning, some of them are not even available outside festivals. 

MD: “Man of Marble” has become an inherent part of the “Moral Anxiety Cinema”, a current in the Polish cinema. Although at the time the movie was produced the audience enjoyed it, now opinions are divided. It is said that the movie is too stressed on political issues. How does the situation and the reception of the movie look like from the vantage point of the main actor?

JR: I don’t quite understand what does it mean: too stressed on political issues. Political fiction being too political? Pure nonsense. To my mind, it was the first movie which shown so forcibly and directly the mechanisms of politics, adulterating history, frauds, manipulations. That was the probable reason why it made such great impression on the audience and was so troublesome for the authority. The script was waiting for his moment almost 13 years. When it comes to this “Moral Anxiety Cinema” phenomenon, “Man of Marble” was not a part of the current, because the term didn’t really exist at that time.

MD: But, there is no denying the fact that the movie had an epoch-making role. How come, what kind of conditions should exist to make such movie nowadays?

JR: This is the reality which influences the film-making process. Some occurrences are now things of past, so the cinema also had to change. I don’t really know why people don’t make movies from that historical perspective nowadays, maybe we should just ask young directors? 

MD: Have they lost the spur to such artistic work, don’t they have anything to fight against nowadays?

JR: It’s possible to find something, don’t exaggerate. The thing is that at that particular time the main topic was within reach, so fundamental. Nobody had to look for it. Now the situation is different and that’s the hitch.

MD: And why is that Polish directors don’t raise any important controversial issues?

JR: I don’t know, really.

MD: I’ve thought that you could tell me, as a – let’s say – foreign actor.

JR: I’m not a foreign actor. Anyway, have you ever seen any movie concerning Polish Round Table Agreement, beginning with the elections in June to the 90’s from the political perspective?

MD: Not really.

JR: Me neither. And I’d come up with the same question: why? I don’t know.

MD: Back to the present time, you’ve just played in “Strawberry Wine”…

JR: The movie shed an unusual light on some characters involved. On the one hand, it is about a forgotten world somewhere in Poland, people who are losers, criminals, but on the other, it pictures them as rather good people. It’s a kind of warmth to be felt while watching the film.

MD: How was it going with the Slovakian crew?

JR: They are very nice people, we have a lot in common.

MD: Any plans?

JR: Theatre, mostly. Now “Balladyna”, we’ve just began rehearsals, it will be my permanent job.

MD: “The world’s gone crazy” is our watchword here. How could you comment on that?

JR: Firstly, we have to agree on what it means. I wouldn’t say the world’s gone crazy. If people are perceived as crazy, it is rather in the positive sense of such expression. It is clear that the younger generation are incomprehensible and crazy in the eyes of the elder. It’s the normal course of action.