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Our man in the world of magic

After the trilogy of the most powerful boy - Harry Potter the wizard - the movie producers came up with the idea of filming the fourth Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Again viewers will see princesses, witches, wizards and good and evil in Hogwarts. These days filming is near the end and all we're waiting for is the 18th of November, which is the world premiere of the film for children and adults.

Director Mike Newell worked on the fourth J.K. Rowling film. Among the child stars, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, in the movie we also see Michael Gambon, Miranda Richardson, Alan Rickman, Brendan Gleeson, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman...

One of the roles was entrusted to our actor Predrag Bjelac, who plays Eastern European former evil-doer, professor of darkness Karkaroff.

When did you finish filming "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"?

The main part of filming and my six month stay in London, was finished at the end of last month, but additional filming lasted until April of this year. Now I can say with assurance that filming is over.

Was it difficult portraying the character of Karkaroff and what was most difficult?

Not at all, everything about filming was fantastic. It's not in vain that one says that "Harry Potter" is a Rolls-Royce among films. Logistics of filming is taken care of to the most unbelievable detail, and care for the actors is on a high and admirable level. The same team has been working together for years, everyone functions together in harmony and leaving them was most difficult.

Did you give Mike Newell any suggestions about your role?

Even before filming we had enough rehearsals to fix any problems and together find answers to questions. With such a big project, nothing is overlooked; even with improvisation all details of each scene are worked out. Because of this, everything happens as a continuum. The actors arrive ready, then no suggestions are needed. Mike Newell is in many ways extraordinary and during filming was a real "professor" because above all he is intelligent and wise and a person can learn a lot from him.

How difficult was the filming of fights, arguments, defeats, destruction ... What was the most stressful?

Luckily I'm not claustrophobic, since I had to film a scene in jail and spend several days tied up in a small cage. In the end, everything was done as it should have been and I was able to get out of being tied up. That was, I must admit, the most difficult scene I've done in my acting career.

Does the role of evil professor in a way open the door to Hollywood?

That sounds nice, but rushed and not realistic. Hopefully, it will help me get more work and interesting projects, with accomplished authors. With foreigners (that's what I'll always be) even if I speak English very well, the accent is always there so the offers are limited to evil-doers, fiends, terrorists, immigrants, foreign workers, the unlucky and misunderstood Serbs, Albanians, Arabs ... I have nothing against that, I perform quite professionally and without unneccesary emotions. Many phenomenal actors have made worldly careers playing just such roles. I'm sure that in my home country I would not have such opportunities as fantasy, post-apocalyptic thrillers, historical documentaries, because our film industry is unfortunately not very developed. I would only be able to film certain movies with minimal resources.

Do you like to watch "Harry Potter" type films at home?

Yes, I like all good films.

In the meantime did you work on anything else?

I was in an interesting short 20 minute film called "Fatal Love" - a friend directed it - Denis Todorovic, who graduates as a director from a film school in Cologne, Germany (hopefully successfully). We filmed the movie in Montenegro and Germany. Denis was born and lives in Germany. His father is Montenegrin, his mother is Czech. This unlikely combination made for an interesting story about our people in other lands. In the movie "Fatal Love", my partners were Branko Tomovic and Sandra Kouba, young Serbian actors, but born and schooled in Germany. I would like to take this opportunity to say hello to my countrymen from the Yugoslavian Club in Cologne who welcomed us nicely, and helped us film in their Club; they even have credits in our project.

What movies do you watch from Serbia?

Just last night here in Prague, where I live, I watched a beautiful film - "Golden Fur" from Borislav Pekic, in which Nebojsa Dugalic, Vojin Cetkovic and Ivan Tomic were brilliant.

:: Original article, Dijana Maksimovic. Translation by Drajen.