Dark Blue World

Following the Oscar-winning success of Kolya, Jan Svěrák received an invitation to work in America. Together with his regular screenwriter—his father—they decided: “now or never”, and wrote a screenplay about Czechoslovak pilots serving in the ranks of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Overseas, however, it was decided that no one would be interested in the fate of soldiers from a small country speaking unfamiliar languages. “By a strange coincidence, Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor, about American pilots, was made shortly afterwards, with a surprisingly similar love story… And we made our Dark Blue World as a European co-production, although it took four years to assemble the budget”, Jan recalled. Thus the most expensive film in the history of Czech cinema was made. Perhaps the story of pilot František Sláma (Ondřej Vetchý), celebrating courage, heroism, and male honor, is somewhat formulaic—after all, it was designed according to Hollywood standards—but the result is impressively lavish. The film won the 2001 Czech Lions for directing, cinematography (Vladimír Smutný), editing (Alois Fišárek), and music (Ondřej Soukup), and remains one of the most-watched Czech films in history.

Maciej Gil

Jan Svěrák (b. 1965) – Czech director, screenwriter, and producer. Son of actor and screenwriter Zdeněk (born 1936), and father of editor František (born 1991) and actor Ondřej (born 2001). A graduate of the documentary film department at FAMU in Prague. He won a Student Academy Award for Oil Gobblers (1988) and an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for Kolya (1996). He was also nominated for The Elementary School (1991) and received the Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for The Ride (1994), along with numerous Czech Lions and other awards. His films The Elementary School, Kolya, Dark Blue World (2001), and Empties (2007) rank among the biggest successes at the Czech box office. He has also appeared in cameo roles in films by his colleague Filip Renč.

Zdeněk Svěrák (b. 1936) – Czech actor, screenwriter, playwright, and author of numerous collections of short stories for children and adults (also published in Poland), as well as hundreds of song lyrics. Father of director, screenwriter, and producer Jan (born 1965), and grandfather of editor František (born 1991) and actor Ondřej (born 2001). Trained as a teacher of Czech language and literature. The recipient of countless awards, he has co-created films that won an Academy Award and received two further nominations. In 1967, he co-founded the Jára Cimrman Theatre, for which he wrote all the plays and where he continues to perform to this day. As a screenwriter, he has collaborated with some of the most prominent Czech directors, including Oldřich Lipský, Jiří Menzel, Vít Olmer, Ladislav Smoljak, and, of course, his son Jan. As an actor, he has appeared in films by the aforementioned directors as well as those by Věra Chytilová and Dušan Klein.

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