‘Hot Spot’ Director Agnieszka Smoczynska Talks Singing Mermaids, ‘Silent Twins’ and ‘Mentor’ Agnieszka Holland
variety.comMarta Balaga Polish helmer Agnieszka Smoczyńska fought for Tamara Lawrance to be a part of “The Silent Twins,” she said at Karlovy Vary Film Festival. “We had two options: [hire] one actress who plays both characters, but there is no chemistry, or find actual twins, which was not possible.
We had Letitia Wright, who was this amazing actress and ‘Black Panther’ star, and then we found Tamara,” she said. The story was inspired by real-life identical twins June and Jennifer Gibbons, who only communicated with each other. “They are not that similar, so what do you do?
You make a decision. And I knew she was the one, because it was all about this tension between them.” Smoczyńska opened up about difficult choices and her career during an exclusive masterclass for 10 young filmmakers selected for EFP’s Future Frames – Generation Next of European Cinema. “I really wanted to make my movie.
Not somebody else’s movie,” she said about dazzling debut “The Lure.” But its mix of singing mermaids, 1980s nightclubs and dark imagery inspired by artist Aleksandra Waliszewska made it a tough sell. “In Poland, the distributor wanted to hide the mermaids, hide the fishtails, they wanted to get rid of the horror elements.
Read more on variety.com
