After a long preparation process, the principal photography phase of Something Stronger Than Me – The Story of Dražen Petrović began on Friday 22 September, on location in the Croatian coastal town of Šibenik. Shooting will then move on to Zagreb and finally to the USA, thereby mimicking the professional and personal journey of the titular protagonist. The legendary basketball player was born and raised in Šibenik (where he also took his first steps in basketball), attained national and European glory in Zagreb while playing for Cibona, and ended up in the NBA as one of the most promising European players during the new era for the US professional basketball league. The movie will also cover the 1990s wartime period, when Petrović played for Croatia, his love life, and his tragic, untimely death in a car crash in Germany in 1993.

The premiere of the film is planned to happen on 22 May 2024, marking the 60th anniversary of Petrović’s birth. The script for it was written by Ivan Turković-Krnjak, whose recent credits include this year’s Hotel Pula and The Diary of Paulina P. The feature will be lensed by Ante Cvitanović and helmed by Danilo Šerbedžija, whose previous works include 72 Days [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], The Liberation of Skopje [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] and Tereza37 [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film].

Domagoj Nižić, an actor mainly known for his work on television in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been chosen to play Dražen as an adult, while the more youthful Dražen and his elder brother Aco will be portrayed by a couple of young local lads from Šibenik, who are newcomers to the world of acting – respectively, Tonko Stošić and Lovre Tanfara. Their mother Biserka will be played by Zrinka Cvitešić, while the role of their father Jole has been entrusted to Serbian thesp Dragan Mićanović, who previously collaborated with Šerbedžija on Tereza37.

The main producers of the film and the authors of the project are Ljubo Zdjelarević and Ivor Šiber, from Croatian production house Kinoteka. Something Stronger Than Me – The Story of Dražen Petrović is being co-produced by RTG Pictures from the USA, Living Pictures from Serbia and December from Slovenia. The project has also received support from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, the Slovenian Film Centre, Film Center Serbia, the Croatian Olympic Committee, Croatian Radio-Television and the City of Zagreb.