09/08/2005

You never change a winning team goes the saying and Jan Hrebejk knows that all too well. His Beauty in trouble (“Kraska v nesnazich”), which started filming July 26, features literally the same creative and acting team that helped him win the industry’s top award, the Czech Lion for best film, for Up and down, this year or, indeed that has worked with his in previous successful projects like Pelisky or Pupendo.

“It’s a simple story; frustrated young girl leaves her partner and meets old – and rich – man who offers her a different perspective of life; the only out of place thing so to speak is perhaps the man’s origin that helps the dramaturgy; we decided to make him Czech-Italian” the acclaimed director explains the script who, as usual, he co-wrote with Petr Jarchovsky. Both men were inspired by the work of the same name by famed English poet and novelist Robert Graves.
Ana Geislerová and Josef Abrhám, who play the couple, and Czech pop-singer Raduza who has a supporting role, are the new faces in Hrebejk’s otherwise usual cast. Also a small part of the story and therefore of the production takes place in Tuscany, Italy.

With the exception of the 3-day Italian shooting the rest of the surroundings are very much reminiscent to Hrebejk’s previous films; initial filming takes place in Prague and Barrandov’s Studios Atelier 4, which was also used in films like Divided we fall (“Musime se pomahat”) or Pelisky. Filming there will continue for five weeks until September; the film should go into post-production after Christmas.
Hrebejk has again Jan Malir as his director of photography and Ondrej Trojan and his Total HelpArt company together with Czech TV as his producers, in co-operation with Barrandov Studios. The film is expected to premiere in September 2006.